Please Do Something!

There is finally some action being taken to investigate and hopefully alleviate much of the abuse that has gone on in the Hildale, UT/Colorado City, AZ and Bountiful, BC communities for generations.  The US and Canadian governments are starting to look more closely into the abuses that are occurring.   Citizens are standing up for their rights and fighting back. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office and the Attorneys General of Utah and Arizona started aggressively looking into financial mismanagement of the Colorado City Unified School District; arresting men for marrying child brides; and issued a warrant and reward for the arrest of Warren Jeffs.   The FBI put Warren on their "Top Ten Most Wanted" list and he was apprehended on August 28, 2006.   Warren was convicted of 2 counts of Rape as an Accomplice on September 25, 2007 for forcing a 14-year-old underage girl to illegally "marry" her first cousin and ordering her to submit to him sexually.  On November 20, 2007 Warren was sentenced to 2 consecutive sentences of 5 years to life for the rape charges and sent to the Utah State Prison in Draper.  Now he also faces similar rape and incest charges in Arizona and Federal charges for flight to avoid prosecution. Below are some news articles describing what is being done about some of the problems occurring in this polygamous sect.   These articles are listed in chronological order.

Bill targets polygamy

By Robert Gehrke The Associated Press Originally published February 6, 2001

SALT LAKE CITY -- When she was 16, Sarah Cooke ran away from her family and their polygamous community to avoid becoming the third wife of a 45-year-old man.   On Monday, Cooke, now 18, urged Utah lawmakers to make it a felony to arrange or perform a marriage involving a girl who is not of legal age.   "I think we need to help to make it obvious to these young girls, my friends, that they aren't obligated into these marriages," she said.   The bill, sponsored by Sen. Ron Allen, D-Stansbury Park, is a small step toward tackling some of the abuses allegedly common in polygamy.  And it has drawn opposition from one normally secretive polygamous clan.   "What these people are doing is not just performing an illegal marriage," Allen said.  "They are aiding and abetting child abuse."   Allen said anecdotal evidence indicates that a handful of religious leaders may be performing hundreds of polygamous child unions each year involving girls as young as 12 and 13 years old.     Read more

Polygamy laws scrutinized

By Robert Matas The Globe and Mail Originally published March 9, 2002

The British Columbia government has urged Ottawa to toughen the law on polygamy, the province's Attorney-General, Geoff Plant, says.   Members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect who live in the rural community of Bountiful, in southeastern B.C., are believed to be part of the only established colony in Canada that practises polygamy as part of its religion.   Some women who fled Bountiful have repeatedly called for the government to take action against the polygamists they left behind.  Canada's Criminal Code says that any kind of marriage or conjugal union with more than one person at the same time is a criminal offence and subject to imprisonment for up to five years.   However, provincial government lawyers say the law conflicts with the right to freedom of religion.  They have advised the province that charges of polygamy would likely be challenged under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and the Charter arguments would likely win.   In an attempt to clarify the law on polygamy, the province recently began discussions with the federal government on the issue, Mr. Plant said in an interview.  "It's too soon to say where we're going to go," he added.     Read more

An Eye On Polygamy

By Matt Canham Canada News 4 U Originally published July 13, 2002

Educating Canadians about the serious issues surrounding polygamy is the purpose of a public awareness campaign called "Eye on Polygamy."   A public forum called "Polygamy... NOT a Victimless Crime," was held in the lower mainland last night, to discuss the following issues: - Sexual and physical violations of women and children - Violations of rape - Incest and domestic violence - Trafficking of child brides across federal lines - Misuse of social service funds, tax evasion, and insurance fraud - Blood atonement One of Canada's well-known polygamist colonies is called Bountiful, which is near Creston.   Reports indicate it is associated with The United Effort Plan, a polygamist group in Colorado City, Arizona, where many of these issues are said to be played out daily.  The birthrate of the colony is estimated at approximately 100 children per year.  The purpose of "Eye on Polygamy" is to generate dialogue and offer some solutions on some serious concerns.     Read more

Polygamy in campaign spotlight

Governor’s race puts issue in N. Arizona on center stage

By Michelle Rushlo The Associated Press Originally published October 18, 2002

PHOENIX — Polygamists have lived mostly undisturbed for the better part of a century in northern Arizona, but antipolygamy activists are hoping recent publicity given to their cause by an independent gubernatorial candidate will bring about change.   A handful of activists gathered Friday at the state Capitol to accuse authorities of going easy on members of a religious sect that believes in plural marriage.   Polygamists have lived for decades near the Utah state line in Colorado City — suffering only periodic crackdowns.  But activists are pushing authorities to act now, fearing that interest in the issue will subside after the Nov. 5 election.   Independent gubernatorial candidate Richard Mahoney has been accusing Democrat Janet Napolitano, currently the state Attorney General, and Republican Matt Salmon of being soft on the polygamists living in Colorado City.     Read more

Officials suggest solutions to Colorado City problems

By Ken Hedler Kingman Daily Miner Originally published December 20, 2002

Mohave County officials disagree about whether federal officials should investigate alleged criminal activity in the polygamous community of Colorado City.   District 3 County Supervisor Buster Johnson said the state Attorney General's Office or the federal government should investigate Colorado City.   Johnson said investigators could enter a home and request birth certificates and seek DNA samples to determine parentage of children.   "If I was going in, go to a house with numerous children," he said.     Read more

Proposed bill to protect child brides

By Meagan Hansen BYU NewsNet Originally published February 25, 2003

Lu Ann Kingston received her first proposition for marriage at the age of 15.  "I told them I was too young," Kingston said.  "They told me that if I wasn't ready to get married it was because I wasn't a good person."  Despite her objections, Kingston's mother, religious leaders and future husband all pressured her to say yes.  After two months of intense pressure, Lu Ann agreed, and three days later became the fourth wife of her new husband.  Kingston and girls like her are the target of new legislation that would increase the penalty for child bigamy.  Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, whose office is responsible for prosecuting these cases, was concerned for the safety of young girls and approached Rep. Susan Lawrence, R-Salt Lake, to sponsor legislation.  House Bill 307 would make it a second-degree felony for a married adult to take an additional spouse under the age of 18.  It would also make it illegal for a parent or religious leader to pressure or force an underage girl into marriage.  "Many have turned an eye to it for too long," Lawrence said. "These girls need our help.  We want to buy them time to reach adulthood before they have to make this choice."     Read more

Utah House Ups Underage Polygamy Penalty

By C.G. Wallace The Associated Press Originally published February 28, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Legislature is debating whether to increase the penalties for married men who wed underage girls, an attempt to protect teens from being married into polygamist relationships.   A bill overwhelmingly approved by the House on Tuesday makes marrying a second wife who is under the age of 18 a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison.   The 68-4 vote sent the legislation to the Senate.   "I think it's many, many years too late," said state Rep. Sheryl Allen.  "Late is better than never, let's get this passed."   The marrying of teenage girls is common among some of Utah's isolated polygamist communities, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has said.  The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has long outlawed the practice.     Read more

Leavitt adds new polygamy offense to crime books

The Associated Press Originally published April 1, 2003

Salt Lake City -- Gov. Mike Leavitt quietly signed into law a tougher criminal sanction for men who take young girls as their polygamist wives.   House Bill 307 created the new crime of child bigamy - marrying a second wife who is under the age of 18.  The second-degree felony is punishable by one to 15 years in prison.   The penalty for ordinary bigamy is zero to five years.   Without any fanfare he reserves for other bill signings, Leavitt gave his approval March 14.   The marrying of teenage girls is common among some of Utah's isolated polygamist communities, said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.  His office drafted the legislation.     Read more

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Arizona and Utah officials decide to curb underage marriages by erecting a sheriff's substation in polygamy country

By John Dougherty Phoenix New Times Originally published May 22, 2003

KINGMAN -- A simple eviction trial in Mohave County has evolved into a battle over the scope of power a religious group can exert to control its members including their behavior, their relationships and even where they live.   The leaders of a fundamentalist Mormon polygamous sect could have kicked Milton Holm out of their church years ago because of a drinking problem and domestic turmoil.   Such behavior is not in "harmony" with church doctrine and is grounds to strip Holm of his "priesthood" status in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   The FLDS is a renegade branch of the Mormon Church and is based in the remote Arizona Strip town of Colorado City.   The congregation is the single largest concentration of polygamists in the country.   Losing one's FLDS religious standing can have devastating consequences far beyond the spiritual realm.  Being tossed out of the FLDS also could have jeopardized Holm's right to stay on church-owned land where he had invested 25 years of his life, building and paying for a 5,000-square-foot home for his family.     Read more

Utah cracks down on multiple marriages to protect underage brides

The Observer (UK) Originally published August 3, 2003

The Mormon state of Utah has launched a crackdown on polygamists who for generations have used their religious beliefs to justify marriage to underage relatives.   Although multiple marriages are illegal, state attorney Mark Shurtleff insists it is not a witch-hunt against Utah's estimated 20,000 to 50,000 polygamists, who live mostly in large family groups or cults.   "The bottom line is that we have to protect the children, especially the young girls, who are the victims here.  People have looked the other way for too long," he said.     Read more

Polygamy drawing scrutiny

Ariz., Utah officials to discuss issues

By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Originally published August 22, 2003

As law enforcement officials and legislators from Arizona, Utah and Canada gather in St. George, Utah, today for a summit on polygamy, proponents of multiple marriage are facing their worst crisis since the state of Arizona raided the enclave of Short Creek, now Colorado City, 50 years ago.   Consider:    -- A former Colorado City policeman, Rodney Holm, was convicted in Utah district court last week of unlawful sexual contact and bigamy.  He wed his third wife, who was 16 at the time, in 1998.     -- Support groups for underage victims of polygamy say that about two dozen female teenagers have fled Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, during the past eight months.    -- A group called the Citizens' Coalition to Protect the Children formed in Mohave County earlier this summer and is well on its way toward acquiring 5,000 signatures on petitions.  Its goal is to try to prod the state to enforce its child-abuse laws in the town of about 4,000 located on the isolated Arizona Strip.     Read more

Polygamist Women Jam First Ever Summit Meeting

KSL-TV Channel 5 Original broadcast August 22, 2003

The first ever polygamy summit involving officials from Utah and Arizona turned into an extraordinary event today. The extraordinary summit meeting was the first such effort in a half century.   Dozens of polygamist wives and fundamentalists jammed the meeting room insisting they have a right to practice their religion.   Although the women are upset about the trend to prosecuting polygamous they did find common ground with state officials today on many issues.   Utah and Arizona are developing a joint strategy to enforce the law and provide social services in the polygamous community that straddles the Utah Arizona line.   So many polygamists jammed the summit meeting that it had to be moved to the Dixie Center.  An hour before the summit began, fundamentalist women began showing up, many with babes in arms and wearing the distinctive dress and hairstyles of polygamist communities.  By the time officials and invited guests arrived, the room was jammed and the meeting had to be moved.   The purpose of the summit was to thrash out a two state strategy for enforcing the law and for dealing with social problems in polygamist communities.  Fundamentalists say it's time for society to simply accept their culture.     Read more

AG opens polygamy summit

Shurtleff convenes meeting in St. George on abuse, illegal activity in polygamist communities

By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published August 23, 2003

ST. GEORGE -- It's only a beginning, but Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff feels it's a beginning that eventually will help eradicate any child abuses, tax fraud and other possible crimes occurring within religious polygamist communities, such as Colorado City and Hildale.   The Utah Attorney General's office organized Friday's polygamy summit in St. George, the first of its kind where government agencies from Arizona and Utah came together in open and closed meetings to start the process of rooting out illegal activities.   "Fifty years ago may have been a mistake, but it's a bigger mistake to ignore it," Shurtleff said.  "(We are) calling on people outside and within polygamy.  We all need to get involved ... to protect our children."   In the open meeting, with those involved in polygamist communities and those outside polygamist communities, Shurtleff called on those who knew of abuses to come forward and, on sheets provided outside the meeting room, write down information to assist agencies in finding abuses.     Read more

Women seek polygamy rescues

Officials from Arizona, Utah and Canada hold a summit to find ways to put legal pressure on such communities

By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Originally published August 23, 2003

ST. GEORGE, UTAH - Carla Holm said she was one of the lucky ones when she ran away to Seattle from her polygamist household in Colorado City, Ariz., at age 15 in 1996.   Holm said she eventually was able to make it on her own.  She even earned a high school degree two years ago.   But more typical, Holm said, was the plight of her three teenage cousins.   They all fled their surroundings six months ago, couldn't make it elsewhere and were all forcibly married within a week upon their return.   Holm said yesterday during the first polygamy summit of Arizona, Utah and Canadian law enforcement officials and elected leaders that more safe havens are needed to keep the teens who choose to leave off drugs and off the streets.   During a two-hour meeting behind closed doors, the officials discussed a wealth of subjects concerning Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, including child safety and sex abuse, potential legislation, penalties for bigamy, welfare and school district fraud and certification of police officers in the two communities.     Read more

Getting the Message

By Duane Cardall KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally published August 23, 2003

By now, people who practice plural marriage in Utah ought to be getting the message: sexual abuse of children perpetrated under the cloak of religion in polygamous communities or elsewhere won’t be tolerated.   A St. George jury delivered that message when it convicted Rodney Holm on unlawful sex and bigamy charges for having three wives, including a 16-year-old girl who was a minor half his age when they married in 1998.   Holm’s is just the latest in a series of child-bride polygamy related cases.   David Ortell Kingston served a prison term after being convicted in 1999 of having sex with his 16-year-old niece.  She was identified as his 15th wife.   Avowed polygamist Tom Green is serving time for marrying and impregnating a 13-year-old girl.   And another Kingston clan member has been arrested and charged with incest for allegedly marrying his first-cousin when she was 15 and he was 24.   KSL endorses the message state prosecutors like Kristine Knowlton are sending those who abuse children in the name of religion:   "We will prosecute you.  We’re going to hold you accountable."   The prosecution of these cases is not religious persecution, as defense attorneys have charged, but a matter of upholding laws designed to protect children.  Those who think they can ignore such laws with impunity need to get the message.

Polygamy Summit a "Historic Turning Point"

John Hollenhorst Reporting KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally broadcast August 26, 2003

Many of those involved in last week's suprisingly overcrowded polygamy summit are calling it a "historic turning point".  In spite of sharp divisions, various factions seem to agree on a general blueprint for government action.   However, a parallel effort long ago in Salt Lake City didn't turn out so well.   The polygamists who jammed last week's summit demanded freedom to live their religion.  Anti-polygamy crusaders demanded a legal crackdown.  But Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says there was a surprising amount of agreement.   Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General: "We have the same goal, at least, in this.  And that is to protect children and women who are being victimized."   The result is a suggested action plan for the polygamist border town of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah.  Law enforcement will not target bigamy but it will target welfare abuse and sex abuse, particularly of child brides.   The state no longer recognizes the legal authority of the local police force controlled by polygamists   The Washington County Sheriff will likely establish a sheriff substation right in town.   Mark Shurtleff, Utah Attorney General: "The county sheriff has a duty to be there and be present and protect those people."     Read more

County plans to increase presence in polygamous community

By Marvin Robertson Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Wednesday, August 27, 2003

Mohave County could more easily investigate allegations of sexual abuse in polygamist Colorado City and better serve residents if a county court and office facility were built there, officials said.   Mohave County Supervisor Pete Byers said he is working with Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow about putting a county facility near the state line, visible from the highway, on land that has utility service.   Colorado City is in Byers’ supervisor district.   The plan for a county facility near the community has the support of several top county officials.   “We have four deputies covering all of the thousands of square miles in the (Arizona) strip and they are located at Beaver Dam/Littlefield,” Sheriff Tom Sheahan said.   “A location near Colorado City could serve individuals not comfortable with the city law enforcement.”     Read more

Victims' Refuge

Arizona and Utah officials decide to curb underage marriages by erecting a sheriff's substation in polygamy country

By John Dougherty Phoenix New Times Originally published August 28, 2003

Arizona and Utah authorities plan to join together for the first time in an effort aimed at curbing the widespread sexual abuse of minors within a Mormon polygamist enclave that straddles the border between the two states.   Law enforcement officials have agreed to open a sheriff's office substation close to Colorado City, Arizona, that is independent of the polygamist-controlled town police department.  Hildale, Utah, is adjacent to Colorado City across the state border and is also patrolled by the same police force.   The Colorado City Police Department has lost credibility with other law enforcement agencies in the area, and with state officials in Arizona and Utah, for failing to protect underage girls from coercion into plural marriages.  Utah authorities have suspended the department from operating in Hildale because most, if not all, of its officers have failed to maintain mandatory continuing education requirements.     Read more

St. George Summit

By Buster Johnson Mohave County Supervisor MohaveCountyNews.com Originally published September 3, 2003

Wheels are starting to turn on investigating the abuse of women and children along with monies for the schools and welfare in the Colorado City area.  This past spring, a tentative meeting was set up between Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and Senator Linda Binder.  As the summer progressed new developments came into play.  AG Shurtleff successfully prosecuted Rodney Holm, ex-police officer of Hilldale/Colorado City.   With this court decision, the summit grew in attendees.  The meeting was a chance for Utah and Arizona to finally sit down and make a plan that could possibly combine the efforts on both sides of the border.  A joint task force was seen as the best solution to the tremendouse amount of investigation that needs to take place and would help with jurisdictional problems.  Government decision makers, as well as law enforcement officials, were in attendance.   The meeting, while not meant to be secret, was scheduled to be a working session to find out what everyone had to offer and combine efforts, if possible.  Word did get out and a sizable number of polygamists as well as anti-polygamists showed up.   It was decided to take public comment.  Nothing new was introduced by this testimony but it did give everyone there a chance to be part of the summit.  The drawback was that the summit was to try and get a co-ordinated effort and a plan in place to move ahead with investigations.   The limited time we had together was used up by this public testimony.     Read more

Justice Court Planned for Polygamist Towns

The Associated Press KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally published September 15, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Arizona and Utah are a planning a justice court with room for sheriff's officers from both states that would serve the polygamist communities straddling the states' common border.   Some polygamy opponents are opposed to the plan to locate the facility in Colorado City, Ariz.   They contend it should be nearby but not where members of that community and adjoining Hildale, Utah, could be seen going for help.   Douglas White, a Bountiful lawyer who represents Tapestry Against Polygamy, which is fighting to stop abuses in the polygamous community, said the plans are positive steps, but the substation should be where residents could go without being spotted.   He also contends the polygamist law enforcement officers in the two towns should be fired.   "People don't think of them as law enforcement," White said.  "They think of them as bodyguards for the prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Most of the 6,000 residents of Colorado City and Hildale are members of the FLDS church, which embraces polygamy.   "If they're looking for a place where victims could come for safe haven, they need to do more study," Mohave County (Ariz.) Supervisor Buster Johnson said.   He fears there could be a backlash if the county builds a center big enough to accommodate all the offices and residents don't come for help because they fear being seen and forced to return home, where they could be punished for trying to leave.     Read more

Officials looking at Colorado City land

By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Mohave County officials are negotiating with Colorado City, Ariz., on a land lease to build a justice courthouse near the border of Colorado City and Hildale, Utah.   No official land deal has been made with Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow, said Pete Byers, who represents the Arizona Strip on the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, the county's governing body.   But he said he is looking at a piece of land north of the main road dividing Hildale and Colorado City.   Prompted by a study sponsored by the court system three years ago, Byers said Mohave County has allocated $500,000 in facility's funds, judge's fines and other money Arizona courts collected to build a justice court in Colorado City.  Housed in a double-wide trailer in Moccasin, the current courthouse is about 20 miles from Colorado City and 90 miles from Littlefield, Ariz.  "We'll put it (in an area) with good visibility," he said. "It's more accessible to the rest of the county if it's there."     Read more

Arizona border towns would be better off in Utah

IN OUR VIEW The Spectrum Originally published Monday, September 22, 2003

A proposal to unite Southern Utah and northern Arizona law enforcement agencies in an attempt to cut down on polygamy abuses in the small border towns in the region is an example of thinking outside the box and looking for a new solution to an age-old problem.   While such new ideas are being exchanged, why not lay a new one on the table -- a restructuring of the border between Arizona and Utah in that region?   Colorado City, Hildale, Littlefield, Beaver Dam, Mocassin, Fredonia and a host of other small dots on the northwestern Arizona map are ill-served by their current position and not only because of polygamy beliefs.   The county seat for most of these communities is in Kingman or Flagstaff, both a good distance away, putting the communities out of sight and out of mind to those who should serve them best.     Read more

Polygamist sect target of Arizona-Utah inquiry

For decades, allegations of child abuse, forced marriage, incest and misuse of public money fell on deaf ears

The Arizona Republic Originally published September 28, 2003

Colorado City -- For most of the past seven decades, authorities refused to listen to the cries of women who claimed their children were being raped in this remote religious community astride the Arizona-Utah line.   They ignored allegations of incest, wife-beating, White slavery and forced marriages.   More often than not, they simply shrugged when insiders whispered about tax dodges, welfare fraud, educational neglect and misspent public funds.   But all that is changing.   For the first time in generations, authorities in Arizona and Utah are coming together to investigate members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a sect that broke from the Mormon Church 70 years ago in bitter disagreement about the practice of plural marriage.   "We have seen compelling evidence that crimes are being committed, children are being hurt and taxpayers are footing the bill for those who are causing pain," said Mark Shurtleff, Utah's attorney general.  "We respect sincere religious belief, but we cannot tolerate crimes committed under the guise of religion."     Read more

State authorities use joint effort to investigate polygamists

The Associated Press Originally published September 29, 2003

PHOENIX (AP) -- For decades, allegations of wife-beating, forced marriages, child abuse and welfare fraud in polygamist communties were ignored.   But a joint effort by authorities in Arizona and Utah to investigate polygamist sects signals some change.   Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard confirmed last week that a lawyer and investigator are looking full time into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, The Arizona Republic reported.     Read more

County plans courthouse near Colorado City

By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published September 30, 2003

ST. GEORGE -- Mohave County officials are looking to purchase three-quarters of an acre in the Colorado City area, on which they plan to build a justice courthouse to replace the current double-wide trailer in Moccasin.   The county is accepting proposals for land through Thursday.  As of Monday, three parties had expressed interest in selling land, including Colorado City, the Kaibab Paiute Indian Reservation and Moccasin Justice Court Judge McKay Heaton, who owns property in the area, according to Mohave County Procurement and Central Services in Kingman.   The courts system has allocated $500,000 for the new courthouse, which is estimated to be 3,500 square feet, said Larry D. Imus, presiding justice of the peace for Mohave County Courts.  A partially completed building design was turned over to an architect six weeks ago, he said.  And construction can start as soon as 90 days after the bid selection.   The new courthouse will be closer to bigger cities on the Arizona Strip, especially Colorado City, the justice court's biggest precinct.  The Moccasin Justice Courthouse is 20 miles from Colorado City and 90 miles from Littlefield, Ariz.   "I think we can put it close to the highway," Judge Imus said.  "I think it will better serve the people out there because it will be easier to find.   It will be easier to get in and out of."   Earlier this month, Pete Byers, who serves on the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, expressed interest in leasing land from Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow.  But anti-polygamy activists said they would protest any association the court has with the city administration.     Read more

States turn up heat on polygamists

The Arizona Republic Originally published October 15, 2003

The use of civil litigation is one of a handful of pressures now being applied on polygamists and their communities in Arizona and Utah.   The attorneys general in both states are coming together to crack down on polygamy-related crimes.   Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard confirmed last month that he has a lawyer and an investigator looking full time into the polygamist community of Colorado City, a town of 6,000 that sits on the Arizona line directly across from Hildale, Utah.   Other recent developments include:     Read more

Arizona AG wants safe haven established in polygamous town

By Beth DeFalco The Associated Press Originally published October 29, 2003

Phoenix -- Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard wants a safe haven established in the polygamous town of Colorado City to serve underage brides and abused children.   "The nearest (Child Protective Services) station is 30 miles away, and that's unconscionable given what we know today," Goddard said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press.   Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, are heavily populated with members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a splinter offshoot of the mainline Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates those who practice plural marriage.   Critics of the sect contend underage girls are sometimes forced into marriage.   Goddard said he thinks that after a year or two, townspeople would realize the state center was permanent and might start calling in anonymous tips and seeking shelter from abusers.   "Absolutely.   I think he's right on target," said state Sen. Linda Binder, R-Lake Havasu City, whose district includes Colorado City.  "There needs to be a place that's not intimidating to victims."     Read more

Colorado City area needs 'safe haven'

In Our View The Spectrum Originally published Sunday, November 2, 2003

An idea presented by Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, mirrored by a proposal spearheaded by the Help the Child Brides organization, might provide another important step toward ending abuses in the Hildale/ Colorado City area.   Goddard, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he favored setting up a "safe haven," perhaps in the form of a Child Protective Services office, in Colorado City.  He believes such a presence is necessary to put an end to sexual abuse of teenage girls, who sometimes are taken as spiritual brides by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   That matches the concept promoted by Help the Child Brides, which favors having law-enforcement and women and children services available to girls who want to leave the polygamist lifestyle for one reason or another.   The concept is fairly straight-forward.  If a girl wants to flee, she would have an agency independent of police forces in that area to which she could turn.   Officials working in and for the FLDS church consider such a proposition to be unwarranted.  They have said that girls and women can leave whenever they please.  For the most part, that's true.   But there is an intimidation factor that has to be considered.  How likely is a woman or girl in an abusive situation to call the local police if she knows the police contribute to the problem.  One need only look at the recent case of Rodney Holm -- a man who was a sworn police officer when he fathered children with a spiritual wife who was also a minor -- to see an example of how local authorities can be viewed by distrustful girls as supporting the practices.     Read more

Mojave will not fund Colorado City center

By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic Originally published November 5, 2003

In a setback to the state's immediate efforts to monitor polygamy in Colorado City, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors has killed a proposal to build a new law-enforcement center in the area.   The most surprising aspect of the unexpected decision was that Supervisor Buster Johnson of Lake Havasu City, who has been one of the state's leading crusaders against multiple marriages and alleged child abuse, put the kibosh on the measure.   "I thought the whole thing was a go," said Supervisor Tom Sockwell of Bullhead City of Monday's vote.  "Then Supervisor Johnson pops up and says that he doesn't think it's necessary after all the hoopla he's raised about the issue.   We wanted a courthouse building with a sheriff's substation and room for Child Protective Services."   Johnson said his reasons for opposing the building are purely fiscal.  He said it's much too early to talk about funding a building when no commitment has been made by the state to put its offices in it and no site has been selected.     Read more

Officials decry Colorado City abuse

By Mark Hall Today's News-Herald Originally published January 8, 2004

Arizona Sen. Linda Binder and Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson briefed the London Bridge Rotary Club Wednesday about their efforts to combat polygamy and resulting abuse in Colorado City and Hilldale, Utah.   The elected officials talked about recent allegations regarding sexual and physical abuse surrounding the polygamist group — a fundamentalist splinter group of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   “As far as I’m concerned we have the Taliban sitting in our backyard,” Binder said of the community.  "It’s Arizona’s dirty little secret."   Binder said she is not attacking alternative lifestyles, but specifically the Colorado City area — an isolated community in which middle-aged men allegedly are marrying and having sex with girls as young as 15 years old.   "I do object to young girls —14 and 15 year olds — being married off to 30- to 40-year-old men," Binder said.  "This is truly a cult."   Both Binder and Johnson said another key issue is the amount of money being given to the community by county, state and federal governments.   Johnson said Colorado City receives $8 for every tax dollar it injects into the county, while Lake Havasu City receives a little more than $1.     Read more

Mayor says Hildale cop crackdown is biased

Utah AG acts quickly to keep 17-year-old safe

By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published Sunday, January 18, 2004

ST. GEORGE -- In the state's first case concerning runaways from polygamist families after the recent shakeup in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Utah Attorney General's Office intervened Saturday morning in St. George to put a Colorado City girl in state protective custody.   The 17-year-old girl, whose name wasn't released for safety reasons, was picked up from home at around 7:35 a.m. by a man driving a Chevy truck, according to police reports.  An undisclosed complainant left her father's cell phone number with the dispatcher, asking officers to "hold the female for return to family."   The girl contacted the DOVE Center, a domestic violence shelter, where calls were made to Bob Curran, founder of Help the Child Brides, a St. George agency that targets abuses in the polygamous culture.   Hours later, said Paul Murphy, spokesman for Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a state attorney appeared before a judge and put the girl in the custody of Utah State Division of Child and Family Services.     Read more

Utah official's word backed up with actions

IN OUR VIEW The Spectrum Originally published Tuesday, January 20, 2004

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff means business. And that's a positive stance for all who have a stake in the recent discord in Southern Utah's polygamist society.   Last year, Shurtleff made it clear that abuses of children and government programs would be investigated and prosecuted.  The prosecution of former Colorado City-area police officer Rodney Holm on sexual misconduct charges provided the first example that the attorney general planned to back up his statement.   The latest example comes in the actions his office has taken to provide safe surroundings for girls who are fleeing the polygamist lifestyle.   In the past week, at least 10 girls have fled the border towns of Hildale and Colorado City.  Some have traveled south, but others sought sanctuary within Utah's borders.   Some of those girls since are feared to have either fled or been taken from their safe houses.  More information on them is likely to surface in the coming days.   Because of the secrecy in that area of the state, few details also are known right now as to why so many girls have chosen to flee in such a short amount of time.  But their actions do coincide with the expulsion of 21 men from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The men were ordered to leave the border towns and to give up their wives and children by the church's leader, Warren Jeffs.   Shurtleff's office has worked with law enforcement officers and others in the legal and social work fields to find these girls safe places to stay.  Too often in the past, girls seeking to leave the polygamist lifestyle were sent back into bad situations.   Now that word is getting out that they can find safe places to stay, more may seek to leave.     Read more

Supervisors meet to discuss tension in polygamist community

By Jim Seckler Mohave Daily News Originally published January 27, 2004

KINGMAN -- Due to continuing tension in Colorado City, the Mohave County supervisors will hold a special meeting this afternoon to discuss the situation.   District 3 Supervisor Buster Johnson is asking to set aside $50,000 in county contingency funds to assist the state in transporting and finding temporary housing in case a large group of women and children flee the polygamist community.   Currently, two teen-age girls have left the community to stay with relatives in St. George, Utah and Phoenix, Johnson said.   "If there is a mass exodus of women and children seeking asylum, the state of Arizona is not equipped to handle these people's needs," Johnson said.   Colorado City has been home to a polygamous sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for more than a half-century.   Last year, former police officer Rodney Holm was convicted of bigamy and sexual misconduct with a minor.   Two weeks ago, church leader Warren Jeffs excommunicated Colorado City Mayor Dan Barlow and about two dozen others from the church leading to their removal from the community of about 6,000.   Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan recently dispatched additional deputies and a canine unit to Colorado City for re-enforcement in case of trouble but none so far has existed.   Also under discussion at today's meeting is the progress of the county law enforcement facility proposed to be built in Colorado City.     Read more

New law enforcement facility in works for town

By Dave Hawkins Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published Wednesday, January 28, 2004

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- Mohave County and the state of Arizona are working together to establish a joint law enforcement facility in Colorado City, home to a religious sect that preaches polygamy.   The town drew national attention after the January ouster of Mayor Dan Barlow and about 20 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by the church's so-called prophet, Warren Jeffs.   The county Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to use as much as $200,000 to place a modular facility on land that will be leased from the community college at the southern edge of town.   The town is in a sparsely populated area of northern Arizona, a good distance from many public services.   County Manager Ron Walker said the building could be ready for occupancy within 90 days.   It would provide working space for sheriff's deputies and county attorney's office personnel investigating allegations of the abuse of women and children, and forced marriages of underage girls to older men in the predominantly polygamous community.     Read more

Board ok's multi-use building in Colorado City

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Wednesday, January 28, 2004

KINGMAN, Ariz. - During a special meeting Tuesday, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a multi-use governmental facility to be located in Colorado City.  The modular building, to be located on land leased from Mohave Community College, will house the Sheriff, County Attorney, State Attorney General and Child Protection Services.  In a prepared statement, Mohave County manager Ron Walker said county staff is beginning the process of procuring a suitable modular facility and preparing a workable floor plan to accommodate all users.   Meanwhile county residents are beginning to respond to the reports of alleged abuse of women and children in Colorado City and adjoining Hildale, Utah.  Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson, R-Dist. 3, has been collecting cash and other goods to help the women and kids that have escaped the border communities.   "Some people in Kingman have called that had a lot of clothing.  There is a church putting on a program, they're going to bring clothing plus they are going to show an investigative reports movie and some others movies to their people and get more information out.  One of the schools has brought in quite a bit of clothing and that sort of stuff," Supervisor Johnson said.     Read more

County to build police facility in Colorado City

By Linda Stelp Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Thursday, January 29, 2004

The Mohave County supervisors have voted to spend $200,000 for a new law enforcement building in Colorado City.   During a special meeting Tuesday, the three members of the Mohave County supervisors voted unanimously to release the funds immediately because of recent unrest in the polygamist community.   The county will negotiate a land lease with Mohave Community College and develop an intergovernmental agreement with the state of Arizona for shared use of the facility, which will be a modular building.   This month, 21 men were excommunicated from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including Mayor Dan Barlow.   The struggle between two factions has torn the tightly knit polygamist community, which is along the Utah border in the Arizona Strip, north of the Grand Canyon.  Allegations of child abuse, incest and welfare fraud have forced public officials to take a closer look at the secretive society in which teen girls are forced to marry older men.   The building will be shared by the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office, the county attorney’s office, the State Attorney General’s Office and Arizona Child Protection Services.   The closest sheriff’s deputies have been stationed is the Littlefield area, which can be reached only by about an 80-mile trip through Utah.     Read more

We need to identify the real issues in the border towns

IN OUR VIEW The Spectrum Originally published Sunday, February 1, 2004

As the religious leadership turmoil churns in Colorado City and Hildale, the battling factions and public are losing sight of the real issue at hand, which is not polygamy, but the specter of child abuse and a prevailing mindset that defines the women of this community as chattel that can be assigned from one man to another.   This is not about what consenting adults do or religious freedom, and solutions are not simple.   With members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints feuding over leadership of the sect, church members are being tossed from their homes and families are being scattered.  The legal aspects, of course, are that the church owns the property the people have built their homes on, giving them rights to what goes on there and who can reside on that property.   It gets further complicated when legitimate human rights issues are brought forward, such as the charges that the little border community is repressive in its attitudes toward women -- who many church leaders believe are the property of their husbands -- and the sexual abuse of children.  It's also very easy for the onlooker to pose the obvious question: Why don't these women and children simply leave the culture?     Read more

More youths flee polygamy

Arizona and Utah officials decide to curb underage marriages by erecting a sheriff's substation in polygamy country

By Jason Emerson, Lorraine Whetstone and Betty Webb East Valley Tribune Originally published Tuesday, February 3, 2004

The Fawns in Phoenix opened the floodgate.  Less than a week after 16-year-old redheads Fawn Holm and Fawn Broadbent escaped the polygamist stronghold of Colorado City, Ariz., eight more "absolutely terrified" teens have fled — and more are expected to, activists and officials said Sunday.   "The word spread like wildfire that we had received the court order here in Arizona giving these children safety," said Flora Jessop, executive director of the Child Protection Project, which is based in California.   "It was a ray of hope," said Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson, who helped arrange money for the eight to leave.   Jessop, an activist who on Jan. 11 helped the two girls flee, praised the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for a court order late Friday afternoon that put the girls in state custody.   "This is the first time that we’ve successfully created a legal pathway through this system for the children to go to," she said.   Normally, authorities just bring the children back, Johnson said.     Read more

Lawmakers want aggressive AG polygamy action

By Le Templar East Valley Tribune Originally published February 4, 2004

A group of state lawmakers is demanding more aggressive action from Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard on reports of widespread child abuse and welfare fraud in the polygamous community of Colorado City.   A letter to Goddard signed by 26 Republicans and one Democrat in the House of Representatives says Arizona law enforcement must address renewed reports that women and teenage girls have been compelled by the community’s religious leaders into polygamous marriages for years.   "For too long, Arizona has allowed this grave problem to deteriorate," says the letter, which is dated Jan. 27 but was released to the media Tuesday.  "Too many young women have lost their virtue without their consent.  Too many young lives have been shattered.  Too many witnesses have been ignored.  The time has come for Arizona to act."     Read more

AG says steps being made to stop polygamy

By Le Templar East Valley Tribune Originally published February 5, 2004

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard pledged Wednesday that state and local authorities are taking every possible step to end child rape and forced polygamous marriages in Colorado City.  But Goddard wouldn't discuss details of ongoing criminal and civil inquiries of residents and religious leaders in the community on the Utah border, saying he must protect the privacy of victims and the safety of investigators.   Goddard held a news conference Wednesday at his Phoenix office in response to a letter signed by 26 state lawmakers demanding more aggressive action to deal with reports of underage girls being forced to live as wives with members of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   He said Colorado City has been a priority since he took office in January 2003.  But joint investigations with Utah authorities are moving with caution as officials work to build trust with Colorado City residents and encourage them to testify against men who participate in multiple "spiritual" marriages.   Goddard said he and Gov. Janet Napolitano are also building new support among state authorities to openly address the situation in Colorado City after decades of ignoring the isolated community.     Read more

Caleb's Corner: Colorado City now getting attention it deserves

By Caleb Soptelean Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Friday, February 6, 2004

Something is finally being done about Colorado City.   Recent news that the Mohave County supervisors approved funding for a building that will be jointly used by various county and state agencies represents some of the best news in a long time about the northern Mohave County community.   All three supervisors deserve credit for voting for this funding as does state Sen. Linda Binder, who has been on top of this issue for some time.   Although this issue is probably one of the few things I agree with the Lake Havasu legislator about, the soon-to-be-departing state senator deserves credit for keeping this issue on her agenda.   Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has also been very active lately in pressing this issue legally.  His recent remarks that he intends to bring charges against FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs represent a positive sign that something is being done about the problem.     Read more

Honeymoon is over for US polygamists

Katherine Biele in Salt Lake City The Scotsman - Scotland NEWS.scotsman.com Originally published Sunday, February 8, 2004

FOR decades they have thought nothing of marrying a 15-year-old cousin who is also an aunt, but the 100,000-strong polygamist community in the United States is facing a new crackdown as those no longer willing to turn a "blind eye" confront what many consider to be no more than criminal behaviour.   A number of recent events in Arizona and Utah have refocused attention on plural marriage which has gone on quietly for many years despite being outlawed by mainstream church leaders and state authorities.   Most controversially a power struggle within the polygamy-orientated sect that dominates the town of Colorado City in Arizona has seen some men ex-communicated and their wives and children simply "reassigned" to other men.   And last week a member of the Kingstons, a large clan in Utah that has long-practised bigamy, was sentenced to a one-year prison term for taking as his wife a 15-year-old cousin who was also his aunt.   Now authorities in Arizona and Utah, with an eye on Colorado City, are stepping up investigations into the sect there - so-called fundamentalist Mormons - including concerns about forced marriages involving underage girls.   "We have all just turned a blind eye to what’s going on," said Utah attorney-general Mark Shurtleff.  "It’s an embarrassment."     Read more

AG Shurtleff visits S. Utah to push hotline

By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published Friday, February 13, 2004

ST. GEORGE -- Outside the Washington County Courthouse on Thursday, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff reminded polygamists of the resource of the Utah Domestic Violence Information Line.   The Utah Domestic Violence Information Line answers calls and provides help and information when individuals find themselves in a violent situation.  As part of the effort to make the hotline more useful to those seeking help in polygamist cultures, the staff answering phone calls received sensitivity training for plural wives from those who live in and those who have left the polygamist lifestyle, said the hotline's coordinator, A.J. Hunt.   While Shurtleff said abuses are not unique to polygamist communities, the hotline would help the government and agencies reach out to everyone in the state -- even those in closed societies.   "This is the beginning of our efforts to provide assistance to those underserved in the community," Shurtleff said.   "The state and county are here to help ... we are not the enemy," he said.     Read more

Outreach assists plural wives and children

State promoting use of toll-free domestic violence help line

By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published February 15, 2004

ST. GEORGE — It's confidential and it's free.   "This is the beginning, not the end, of our efforts to provide assistance to women and children in polygamous communities," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said of the state's effort to promote the use of a toll-free Domestic Violence help line.  "We want to help.  We are not the enemy.  We just want to get the information out."   The hotline, 1-800-897-LINK (5465), has been around for a long time, but Shurtleff and others who work with domestic violence victims believe thousands of plural wives are unaware of the resource.   "Without intervention we can't end the abuse," Shurtleff told a small gathering of reporters, attorneys and plural wives Thursday during an afternoon press conference held on the steps of Fifth District Court in St. George.  A similar press conference was held in Salt Lake City earlier in the day.   Current and former polygamous wives provided sensitivity training for help line staff so that callers would be treated with dignity, said A.J. Hunt, Domestic Violence Line coordinator.     Read more

Time for Utah to enforce laws against polygamy

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published Sunday, February 15, 2004

To the editor: I agree with Bryce Dixon's column, "Polygamy is a blight on S. Utah." Utah state and local law enforcement officers have been looking the other way for too long. It is time for them to vigorously enforce our Utah Constitution and also state laws against the flagrant abuses taking place in Hildale and other parts of Utah. I believe that polygamy is inherently demeaning to women. Once entrapped into a polygamous society (usually at an age too young to vote or even drive a car), it is almost impossible to escape. Such a woman would have to admit that her "marriage" was not valid, that her children were illegitimate and that she would some day have to answer to the outside world and even to God for living an adulterous life. How many women can stand up to this much shame? She is trapped. She is not free to change her mind. It is no wonder that most of those defending polygamy at the recent Utah Attorney General's conference on polygamy here in St. George at the Dixie Center were women from Colorado City and Hildale. Arza Evans St. George

Bill targeting polygamy involving minors advances

The Associated Press Originally published February 23, 2004

The Arizona Senate approved a proposal intended to combat the forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist enclaves.   The full Senate voted 29-0 Monday to create the crime of child bigamy.   The bill (SB1335) now moves to the House.   Modeled after a Utah law, the legislation would make it a felony for a married adult to marry a child or otherwise cohabit as husband and wife with a child.   It also would make it illegal to arrange marriages or cohabitation under those circumstances.     Read more

Smith seeks Colorado City probe

By Linda Stelp Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Tuesday, February 24, 2004

Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said he plans to ask the county to hire a special investigator for the Colorado City area.   An investigator will follow up on allegations of child abuse within the polygamous Colorado City community, Smith said.   "No one really knows what is going on up there.   I have to believe they are not making up allegations of sexual abuse," he said of teenage girls who have come forward with allegations of forced marriages and other abuses.   The secretive polygamist community along the Utah border has come under increased scrutiny by officials from both states during the past year.   Officials also are looking into allegations of child abuse, incest and the squandering of taxpayer money in the community, where men often have more than one wife with some women with a dozen or more children receiving welfare payments.   Smith said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard is looking into reports of welfare abuse, but because Colorado City is within Mohave County, it is the county's responsibility to investigate all claims of child abuse.     Read more

Supes approve Colorado City investigator position

e-Press The Tri-State News Network Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published Tuesday, April 6, 2004

KINGMAN, Ariz. - Mohave County Supervisors have approved use of more than $30,000 to hire an investigator to probe allegations of abuse in the remote border community of Colorado City.   The Board approved the expenditure Monday after hearing from county attorney Matt Smith.  "I think there's a general consensus that we have a serious problem in Colorado City right now," Smith said.   He said police in Colorado City are under pressure from the community-controlling church and are disadvantaged from objective handling of abuse allegations.  Smith suggested hiring someone from outside the community would better ensure fair and impartial investigations involving alleged abuse of women and children and forced marriages of teenagers to adults who have other wives in the polygamous community.     Read more

Investigator being added to check Colorado City

Arizona News Briefs The Arizona Republic Originally published April 7, 2004

LAKE HAVASU CITY - Mohave County supervisors agreed to hire a special investigator to look into allegations of domestic violence, child abuse and sexual abuse in the polygamist community of Colorado City.   Creation of the position was recommended by Mohave County's top prosecutor.   "I think there is a general consensus that there is a concern up there in Colorado City," said County Attorney Matt Smith.   Polygamy is practiced openly in Colorado City, a remote enclave on the state line with Utah that is dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.   The fundamentalist group touts plural marriage as a key to reaching the highest place in heaven.

Legislators out to ban child bigamy

House gives tentative nod to felony bill

By Robbie Sherwood The Arizona Republic Originally published April 16, 2004

The Legislature is poised to strike a blow against the forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist enclaves such as Colorado City in northern Arizona.   The House tentatively approved a bill Thursday that makes child bigamy, a religious marriage between a minor and an adult who is already married, a felony.  Senate Bill 1335 would also allow authorities to prosecute the religious leader who performs the marriage ceremonies and the parents of the minor.   The bill still faces a formal House vote and a final vote in the Senate before moving to the governor.   "I'm not going to speculate if this will stop the practice, but I think it will have a chilling effect," said Attorney General Terry Goddard, who pushed for the bill.  "This gives us a legal tool to bring prosecutions in cases we can't prosecute now.  In other words, right now we can only go after the bigamist husband for child abuse, which is extremely difficult to prove."     Read more

House OKs bill targeting polygamy

The Associated Press Originally published April 20, 2004

The House unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that is intended to help combat forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist enclaves.   The bill (SB1335), approved 56-0 and modeled after a Utah law, would make it a felony for a married adult to marry a child.   Other provisions are aimed at holding parents responsible for forced marriages of their children.   The proposal has already cleared the Senate but now returns there for consideration of changes made by the House.   The Arizona Constitution already prohibits polygamy.   But Arizona's bigamy law addresses only state-sanctioned marriages, not those recognized only by churches.   Polygamy is practiced openly in Colorado City, a remote enclave on the state line with Utah that is dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Polygamy fight

Our Opinion The Tucson Citizen Originally published April 21, 2004

It's about time Arizona officialdom recognized the forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist Colorado City are wrong and should be outlawed.   The state House of Representatives unanimously has approved a bill, modeled after a Utah law, that makes it a felony for a married adult to marry a child.   A similar proposal, which already has cleared the Senate, also would hold parents responsible for forced marriages of their children.   The Arizona Constitution prohibits polygamy, but state law does not address marriages recognized only by churches.  Differences between the House and Senate versions will have to be ironed out before the bill could become law.   The polygamy practiced in Colorado City has drawn national attention and condemnation for being one step removed from pedophilia.  Young girls there often are forced against their wills to marry much older men who have dozens of wives and children.  The group split from mainstream Mormonism after the church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.   Arizona should follow Utah's lead and outlaw this despicable practice.

Governor gets bill targeting forced teenage polygamist marriages

The Associated Press KVOA News 4 - Tucson Originally published April 27, 2004

The Arizona Legislature approved a proposal to combat the forced marriages of teenage girls in polygamist enclaves.   The bill creating the crime of child bigamy now goes to Governor Janet Napolitano.   The bill would make it a felony for a married adult to marry a child.   Other provisions are aimed at holding parents responsible for forced marriages of their children.   The Arizona Constitution already prohibits polygamy.  But Arizona's bigamy law addresses only state-sanctioned marriages, not those recognized only by churches.   Proponents of the proposal say the state doesn't have a law specifically outlawing child bigamy.   Opponents say the proposal targets people because of their religious beliefs.

Child-bigamy law explained

Goddard outlines strategy

The Arizona Republic Originally published May 21, 2004

A state law banning child bigamy was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Janet Napolitano this month.   The law makes religious marriages or cohabitation between a married adult and a minor a felony.   It also gives the state the ability to charge church pastors who perform the ceremonies and the minors' parents with felony crimes.   Modeled after a Utah law, the statute grew out of reports of teenage girls being forced into marriages in Colorado City, a remote community near the Arizona-Utah line dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   It goes into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.  Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard advocated the law and discussed it recently with Arizona Republic reporter Amanda J. Crawford.     Read more

County building update for Colorado City

e-Press The Tri-States News Network Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published Monday June 7, 2004

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. - The building being proposed for a Mohave County resource in Colorado City is currently being worked on. The site plan, utility location, and one line electrical drawing have been reviewed by Colorado City. The City has indicated GE Modular should receive the reviewed drawings by Friday, June 7th. GE Modular will be attaching their detailed building drawings and specifications to the site, utility and electrical drawings, and will overnight them to the State Fire Marshall's office. Once State Fire Marshall approval is obtained, the package will be resubmitted to Colorado City for final approval.     Read more

Group Seeks Help For Ousted FLDS Boys

ABC 4 News Originally published August 1, 2004

Fundamentalist prophet Warren Jeffs has pushed hundreds of young men out of the two polygamous communities on the border of Utah and Arizona.   About 50 of the cast-offs took to the Utah Capitol today to support the nonprofit group Diversity, which announced a program to help the young men.   Polygamist sect member Richard Gilbert was thrown out at age 16 for saying he wanted to attend public schools.   Gilbert says the fathers of these young men aren't to blame; they too are being pushed around by Warren Jeffs.   Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has volunteered to mentor one of the lost boys.   Shurtleff credited Midvale dentists Dr. Dan Fischer for pushing the mentor program.   The effort has the backing of best-selling author Jon Krakauer, who explored fundementalist sects in Utah, Arizona, Mexico and Canada for his book about religious extremism, "Under the Banner of Heaven."   If you'd like to help, tax-deductible donations and pledges of mentoring will be accepted at 877-GET-A-DAD.  For more information on FLDS boys and how to help them, call Barb Rohrer at (801) 867-2489 or Lynette Phillips at (801) 597-6080.

Investigation launched into polygamous sect dubbed 'Canada's dirty little secret'

By Catherine Elsworth London Telegraph Originally published August 5, 2004

The peace of a secretive polygamous sect that has quietly practised its controversial - and illegal - way of life in a remote part of Canada for more than 60 years is about to be shattered.   Murmurings about alleged sexual abuse and forced marriage within the 1,000-strong community of Bountiful have reached fever pitch as women have fled the group with tales of exploitation.   The "escaped wives" claim that girls in their early teens have been compelled to wed middle-aged men and have been routinely trafficked between Canada and the group's fellow Mormon communities in Utah and Arizona.   They also complain of biased and truncated schooling that brainwashes children into following the sect's way of life and leaves them ill-equipped to live outside its confines.   Geoff Plant, the attorney general of the western Canadian province of British Columbia, has now launched an extensive investigation into the allegations.   "It's child abuse of the worst kind, within a religious context," said Audrey Vance, co-founder of a support group for former Bountiful wives in the nearby town of Creston.  "One woman who left said what goes on out there is evil.   "This is Canada's dirty little secret, but no one round here wants to believe what's going on."     Read more

Hotline helps men ordered out of polygamous communities

Tri-Valley Central Originally published August 5, 2004

Phoenix -- About 200 people have called a hotline offering money clothing, jobs and housing to boys and men who were thrown out of the nation's largest polygamous community near the Arizona-Utah state line.   The calls came after dozens of young men and boys gathered on the steps of the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday to say how their lives were shattered by the leadership of their polygamous faith, The Arizona Republic reported Tuesday.   "We've had a wonderfully large response," said Lynette Phillips, director of Smiles for Diversity, a nonprofit group that launched a nationwide appeal for the boys.   The youths said they represented a fraction of more than 400 males who either were excommunicated or driven from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1998.   Those expulsions coincide with the rise to power of Warren Jeffs, president and self-proclaimed prophet of the church.   Jeffs, who is said to have as many as 50 wives, was accused in a lawsuit last week of serially sodomizing his nephew as a child and covering up widespread sexual molestations by other church leaders for decades.  He denies the allegations.   The men who came forward last weekend said Jeffs personally ordered them out of the twin communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City for perceived violations of church policy ranging from rolling up the long sleeves on their shirts to watching movies or wanting to go to public school.

Polygamy town gets outside aid

By Amanda J. Crawford The Arizona Republic Originally published August 10, 2004

The outside is unassuming: a plain gray, modular building surrounded by red dirt.   It is what the building represents that is important: the first independent outside presence in the community of Colorado City, headquarters of the nation's largest polygamist community.   On Monday, the Mohave County/State of Arizona Multi-Use Facility opened in the community, which is dominated by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The building will be used by Child Protective Services, the Arizona Attorney General's Office, the Mohave County Sheriff's Office and the County Attorney's Office.   Andrea Esquer, spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General's Office, said the office will be a resource for victims who want to come forward to report abuse.     Read more

Justice center opens in polygamist town

By Mike Watkiss KTVK NewsChannel 3 - Phoenix Originally published Tuesday, August 10, 2004

In a community rocked by persistent and ongoing allegations of sexual abuse, welfare fraud and forced marriages, suddenly there is a new force in town.  This week, the state of Arizona and Mojave County opened a new justice center in the border straddling polygamist town of Colorado City.   The polygamist enclave has long been isolated by geography and hostile to outsiders, but Monday a new justice center opened its doors.  The building will be used by Child Protective Services, the Arizona Attorney Generals Office, the Mojave County Sheriff's Office, and the Mojave County Attorney's Office.   Officials say they hope the new facility will serve victims who, in the past, have had nowhere to turn in Colorado City.     Read more

Colorado City government center opens

By Jim Seckler Mohave Daily News Originally published August 11, 2004

KINGMAN -- A joint county and state government facility opened for business Monday in the troubled community of Colorado City.   The county placed the 2,000-square-foot modular building on about a half acre of land owned by Mohave Community College.   The building will house Mohave County Sheriff's Office deputies, deputy county attorneys and state officials from the Child Protective Services and the Attorney General's Office.   Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said his deputies will start rotating in and out of the building between Beaver Dam and Colorado City.   In the past, sheriff deputies were based about an hour away in the Beaver Dam area.  The county justice court is currently located in nearby Moccasin.   Sheriff deputies will also share office space with Washington County (Utah) sheriff deputies.     Read more

Cracking the cult

Paperwork, not police sirens, more likely to foil 'prophet' and his polygamous followers

Opinion The Arizona Republic Originally published August 26, 2004

Sirens scream.  Cell doors slam.  Book 'em, Danno.   Arizona wants justice to blast through the nation's largest polygamist cult.  The outrage at what's being committed in the name of religion by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints demands a response that's appropriately big.   Dramatic.   But it won't happen that way.   Justice will not carry a club into the twin cult towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.   It can't - no matter how deeply satisfying it is to imagine some swift, sure rescue of those who are being victimized by the self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs.   Those victims include the young girls married off to old men as second and third wives; the teen boys driven out of the community without an education; the women treated as property; and even the men, whose lives are directed and controlled by a theocracy designed for domination.     Read more

Domestic Violence Grant to Help Polygamy Victims

Jed Boal Reporting KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally broadcast August 30, 2004

There's new assistance for victims of polygamy in Utah, and all victims of domestic violence.  It's called the Safe Passage Program.  It's the first time the state has received federal funding to help.   This is a unique Department of Justice grant, nearly $700,000 to help domestic violence victims from polygamous communities in Utah and Arizona.   Safe Passage will expand services for all victims of domestic violence with a focus on polygamous communities.  Many victims of polygamy struggle to get help; they are isolated, poor, and have to battle cultural pressures.   St. George and Washington County law enforcement will add patrols and victim advocates in the twin polygamous towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.  Safe Passage will also provide social services, legal aid, housing, and extended hours for a domestic violence hotline.   The Attorney General's Office says it's a good start in tackling a problem with complex solutions.     Read more

Polygamy Victims Get Help

The Associated Press KPHO News 5 - Phoenix Originally published August 30, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The feds are kicking in money to help victims of domestic violence in polygamous communities along the Utah-Arizona border.   Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says the Justice Department has approved a $700,000 dollar grant for the Safe Passage Program.  The program will provide additional law enforcement to rural areas, including the twin polygamous communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.  It will also help provide social services, legal aid, housing, transportation and additional hours for a domestic violence hotline.   The Utah A.G.'s Office will work with the Utah agencies, as well as the Mohave County sheriff's office in Kingman to distribute the money.

Grant to help domestic violence victims in polygamous communities

By Mark Thiessen The Associated Press Originally published August 30, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY - A federal grant worth nearly $700,000 will be used to help the victims of domestic violence in rural Utah, especially targeting women and children who have fled the nation's largest polygamous enclave in southern Utah.   The money will be used for the state's Safe Passage program, which will coordinate law enforcement, social services, legal aid, housing and transportation, and expand a domestic violence hotline.   "Hallelujah," proclaimed Rowenna Erickson, a co-founder of Tapestry Against Polygamy, a Salt Lake City group that counsels women after leaving polygamous relationships.  "This is just the beginning of what can be done."   The $698,636 grant announced Monday was from a U.S. Justice Department program designed to assist rural communities.   The department noted the unique nature of the state's application when targeting problems in Utah's rural polygamous communities, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told The Associated Press on Monday by telephone from the Republican National Convention in New York.   "We thought it might be a long shot," he said, but officials decided to try because "we've been so frustrated that we didn't have finances."     Read more

Ousted from sect, 'lost boys' start anew

2 former believers offer helping hand

By Angie Wagner The Chicago Tribune Originally published September 7, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY -- Cast out by his religion, denied by his family and left with nowhere else to go, the teenager slept in a tool shed just steps from a company owned by relatives.  They went home at night while Tom Sam Steed stole bread and nutrition bars from a gas station to survive.  He tried several times to kill himself, convinced, he said, that he was worth nothing.  His salvation came when he got a job cleaning carpets and finally left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, and its leader, Warren Jeffs.  The FLDS is different from the mainstream Mormon church, which has denounced the FLDS.  Former FLDS members describe a religion that thrives on domination.  Every detail of their life, they say, was scripted -- from plural marriages to what they could wear, whom they could associate with and what job they could have.     Read more

Police standards board vows to punish bigamists in their ranks

The Associated Press KVOA Channel 4 - Tucson Originally broadcast September 22, 2004

SANDY, Utah Officials with the Utah law enforcement standards board say they'll remove officers from duty if they're breaking bigamy laws.   The Peace Officer Standards and Training council met today in Sandy, Utah.   On the agenda was how to deal with the thorny issue of officers in the twin polygamist communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.   Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says investigators believe at least two officers in the area are practicing polygamists.   Police officers must vow to uphold the laws of Utah.  The state constitution prohibits the practice of polygamy.   In an unanimous decision, the board says that officers breaking the law would face revocation of their law-enforcement certification.

Utah Appears Close to Yanking the Badges of Polygamous Police Officers

KUTV Channel 2 Originally broadcast September 22, 2004

Utah appears closer than ever to yanking the badges of polygamous police officers.  A state panel moved to investigate cops in the polygamy enclave of Hildale.   Brian Mullahy has more.   Hildale Police Chief Sam Roundy is one officer Utah's attorney general believes is a practicing polygamist along with at least one other Hildale officer.   If they refuse to leave polygamy Mark Shurtleff says they should lose their badges.   "Then revocation is the only option.   They ought to be revoked.  They ought not to ever be police officers again," said Shurtleff.   The POST council made up largely of police administrators has the power to pull polygamists off the Hildale force.   "If they're polygamists, should they be police officers?" Mullahy asked.     Read more

Utah Police Standards Board Vows To Punish Bigamists In Their Ranks

By Debbie Hummel The Associated Press Originally published September 22, 2004

SANDY, Utah (AP) -- The state board that sets police standards on Wednesday vowed to punish officers who break Utah's bigamy law.   The issue has grown over the past year since the sentencing of a former southern Utah officer who was convicted of bigamy and an unlawful sex with a minor.  Despite the conviction, some officers who are sworn to uphold the state Constitution violate it by practicing polygamy, officials told the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.   "There are some cases where we could proceed with disciplinary action," Assistant Attorney General Cheryl Luke said.   The council voted unanimously that officers breaking the law would face revocation of their law-enforcement certification.   "I can't believe that any citizen would think that practicing polygamy ... is anything that would make law enforcement look good," said Ogden Police Chief Jon Griener, vice chairman of the board.  He said the men were giving law enforcement a black eye.     Read more

Slow Start for Mohave County Justice Center

The Associated Press KSL-TV Channel 5 Originally broadcast October 5, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Arizona officials concede that they have had a slow start for the Mohave County Justice Center in the polygamous community of Colorado City.   But they tell The Salt Lake Tribune that it will not stop them from trying to help suspected abuse victims.   The recently opened justice center is the first time the Arizona state government has had a presence in town.   The building has just two offices so far, one for a victim advocate and a caseworker to help with issues like food stamps and child care.   There's also space for police officers, government attorneys and child protective services, but office furniture for those haven't arrived yet.   Mohave County Supervisor Pete Byers says it has been slow going because of trouble getting land and then utilities to the site.   Also, a local construction crew first hired to set up the building walked off the project after learning of its purpose.

County close to hiring investigator of practices in Colorado City

By Caleb Soptelean Kingman Daily Miner Originally published October 6, 2004

KINGMAN – Mohave County is close to hiring an investigator to look into problems in polygamous Colorado City.   On Monday, County Attorney Matt Smith said that a decision was made to hire an investigator on Friday but that the man must pass a background check.   Smith said the investigator, who likely will be hired this week, will look mainly into reports of child sexual abuse and sexual conduct with minors.   Another possible facet of the investigation is crimes associated with the state’s new child bigamy statute.   In bigamy cases, Smith said it’s usually necessary for the victim, such as a second spouse, to come forward.  But in case of child bigamy, the state doesn’t necessarily need a witness.   Smith said if a man has fathered a child with a minor and is married to the woman the state can prosecute without testimony from the minor.   Sheriff Tom Sheahan said the Mohave County Sheriff’s office is now investigating child sexual abuse in Colorado City.  Previously, the Colorado City town marshal’s office handled the investigations.     Read more

Interviews begin in Colorado City abuse investigation

By Caleb Soptelean Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Wednesday, November 10, 2004

KINGMAN – Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith gave an update to the Miner on Monday about an investigation into possible illegal activity in Colorado City.   Smith said newly-hired investigator Gary Engles has begun interviewing people in the polygamous Arizona Strip community in relation to possible child sexual abuse and sexual conduct with minors.  Engles interviewed Flora Jessop during the last week of October, and has since interviewed "many people," Smith said.   Jessop, 34, is involved with "Help the Child Brides," an organization that was founded in 2001 in an effort to help girls who are forced into marriage.  Jessop was born into a polygamous family in Colorado City and has 28 brothers and sisters.   Jessop said her father began sexually abusing her when she was 13 and her life became a living hell, according to a previous Miner report.  She walked away from the community one day when she was 16.   Engles previously worked as a police officer in Bullhead City.  His first day was Oct. 18, and he will be employed for up to six months at a salary of $15,267.

Investigation Into Missing Polygamist Girl

A new investigation into a Southern Utah polygamous church. Authorities in Arizona say they'll look into claims about a 17-year-old girl, and her possible connection to leader of the fundamentalist LDS church.

KSL 1160 NewsRadio Originally published November 16, 2004

(KSL News) -- Authorities are now investigating allegations surrounding a 17-year-old girl from the Fundamentalist LDS Church.   Janetta Jessop's sister claims the girl is a bride of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.   FLDS lawyer Rod Parker tells KSL Newsradio Jeffs is not paying attention to these accusations.   Parker says anti-polygamy activists are pushing this to authorities to further their agenda.   The Washington County Sheriff has interviewed someone believed to be the girl.   The Mohave County Attorney is investigating if she is, in fact, married to Jeffs.

Sister reports FLDS girl missing

Teen thought to be spiritual wife of Warren Jeffs allegedly calls for help

By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published November 16, 2004

ST. GEORGE -- In the bordering polygamist towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the report of a missing 17-year-old girl thought to be a spiritual wife of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints prophet Warren Jeffs has prompted an investigation from the Mohave County Attorney's Office.   The girl's parents live on the Mohave County side of the community and an attorney with the Mohave County Attorney's Office said he had been authorized to look into the report, although the alleged call for help occurred in Washington County.   Suzanne Johnson, the sister of 17-year-old Janetta Jessop, reported Thursday to the Washington County Sheriff's Office that her sister called Nov. 5 asking to be picked up, yet Johnson never heard from her sister again.  Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said Friday a deputy contacted the minor girl's parents who said she was fine and at home with them.   That answer wasn't good enough for Johnson and some of those researching the polygamist culture, who contacted multiple agencies.     Read more

Colorado City girl missing?

e-Press Tri-State News Network A Production of Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published Wednesday, November 17, 2004

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. – Reports that a 17-year-old Colorado City girl had been missing since Nov. 5 are being called inaccurate by the Washington County Sheriff’s office in Utah.   "Well it’s wrong according to the child the parents produced," said Washington County Chief Deputy Robert Tersigni.   According to Tersigni, deputies observed the alleged missing girl, Janetta Jessop, at her parent’s house yesterday.   Due to the fact the parents live in Arizona, the investigation is now in the hands of the Mohave County Attorney’s Office, and according to Assistant County Attorney Jace Zach they will not be releasing any information on the ongoing investigation.

Girl Reported Missing Found and Interviewed

Afternoon Update The Spectrum Originally published November 17, 2004

Gary Engels, of the Mohave County Attorney's Office, said Wednesday he organized an interview with a girl reported missing last week by a concerned sister.  The girl, reported to be married to a polygamist as a minor, told investigators she did not want to say whether she was married or where she had been for the last year.  The investigation i