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Hildale and Colorado City have their own police force (and until recently, also had a justice court judge) comprised of local citizens who live in these polygamous communities.   The judge and some police officers have admitted to being polygamists; one was found guilty of bigamy in August 2003 (see the section on Rodney Holm - "Police Officer 'Marries' a Child Bride"). Then there was the 1992 decertification investigation by the Arizona Law Enforcement Officer Advisory Council (ALEOAC) of admitted polygamist, Colorado City Deputy Marshal Sam Barlow.   Sam Barlow had already been denied Peace Officer status in Utah after he admitted to the Utah Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) that he was a polygamist.   So, just how did Sam Barlow manage to get so many prominent Law Enforcement Officials to support him in his fight to retain his Arizona Police Officer status?   Were these people not aware that the lifestyle Marshal Sam Barlow was practicing (polygamy) was AGAINST THE LAW? Some people worry that the policemen and judge put their laws of God before the laws of the land and that justice is not being served.   Others think that these officials should not be able to openly practice a lifestyle that is illegal.   Below are some news articles describing the unique situation this causes.   These articles are listed in chronological order.

Lawyer Asks Judge to Stop Hearing for Polygamist Cop

The Associated Press Originally published March 3, 1992

PHOENIX -- An attorney for polygamist law officer Sam Barlow asked a federal judge Monday to stop a certification hearing in which the Colorado City marshal could lose his job for having three wives.   The Arizona Law Enforcement Advisory Council has scheduled for Thursday a certification hearing in which the board, which licenses law enforcement throughout the state, has sought since 1987.   Barlow, who has sired 36 children, belongs to a fundamentalist-Mormon sect that encourages polygamy in Colorado City which, with twin community Hillsdale, straddles the Arizona-Utah border.   He was hired as town marshal in 1986 after serving as a Mohave County sheriff's deputy for 20 years.   Barlow's attorney Mark Canvass said the council is selectively persecuting his client for his religious beliefs while deciding not to pursue other cases against officers involving adultery and incest.     Read more

Polygamist Marshall Claims 'Persecution'

The Associated Press Originally published March 7, 1992

PHOENIX -- A Colorado City town marshal with three wives testified Friday that a proceeding to end his career as a lawman because he practices polygamy is just a continuation of the religious persecution he has known all his life.   Sam Barlow told a hearing officer of the Arizona Law Enforcement Officer Advisory Council on the second day of a two-day hearing that he has three wives in accordance with his fundamentalist Mormon beliefs.   ALEOAC maintains that Barlow's practice of polygamy violates his oath to uphold the state constitution and undermines the public faith in a law enforcement.     Read more

Polygamist Lawman Wins Decertification Fight

The Associated Press Originally published May 16, 1992

A deputy marshal from the polygamist enclave of Colorado City near the Utah-Arizona border has won a five-year legal battle with state authorities who tried to revoke his accreditation as a lawman because he has three wives.   The 11-member Arizona Law Enforcement Officer Advisory council voted Thursday without debate to accept a hearing officer's recommendation that charges for decertification of Sam Barlow be dismissed.   "He's pretty happy, but he would have liked the case to go to the Supreme Court," Barlow's attorney Marc Cavness said.   Barlow, the father of 36 children and member of a fundamentalist sect, did not respond to a request for comment placed to the marshal's office.  The former Mohave County deputy sheriff has been on administrative leave as a deputy town marshal in Colorado City on the Utah line.   Read more

Hildale's entire police force is suspended

Force fails to meet training requirement

By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published August 12, 2003

ST. GEORGE -- Failing to fulfill a 40-hour annual training requirement mandated by Utah state law, Hildale's entire police force has been suspended for six weeks, state and county officials confirmed Monday.   Since the beginning of the fiscal year on July 1, the five officers, who had worked under an inter-city agreement for the police departments in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., have lost their policing powers in Utah, including searching, interrogating and making police arrests.   "Most of them appear to have low numbers of hours needed," said Sid Groll, director of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) at the Utah Department of Public Safety.  "They will have no authority until their hours are made up."   Read more

Entire Hildale Police force suspended

The Associated Press Originally published August 12, 2003

St. George, Utah -- All five Hildale, Utah, police officers have been suspended for six weeks for failing to fulfill a 40-hour annual training requirement mandated by Utah state law, state and county officials said.   Officials said Monday that since July 1, the start of the fiscal year, the five officers working under an intercity agreement for the police departments in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., have lost their policing powers in Utah, including searching, interrogating and making police arrests.   "Most of them appear to have low numbers of hours needed," said Sid Groll, director of Peace Officer Standards and Training at the Utah Department of Public Safety.  "They will have no authority until their hours are made up."   Utah law requires that police officers fulfill at least 40 hours of in-service training to keep their POST certificate.  Groll didn't release the exact number of hours the Hildale officers are still lacking, but he said Police Chief Sam Roundy is "a few hours short."     Read more

Utah Targets Polygamist Police Officers

The Associated Press Originally published October 17, 2003

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Utah authorities are targeting the police force in a small town known for polygamy, where one polygamist officer has already been convicted and his police certification revoked.   The decision Thursday by the Peace Officer Standards and Training council to strip police certification from officers who practice polygamy followed complaints from state officials who said police in Hildale, a town of about 2,000 near the Arizona line, were hampering investigations into underage marriages.   "They are sworn officers, and they are sworn to uphold the law, but they are openly committing third-degree felony bigamy," Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a member of the council, said in Friday editions of The Salt Lake Tribune.   Prosecutors have been going after members of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, and other polygamist sects who take child brides, particularly in Hildale and its sister city Colorado City, Ariz., where many residents are FLDS members.   Former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm was convicted this year of bigamy and unlawful sex with a girl he took as a third wife when she was 16.   He was sentenced last week to a year in jail, and his police certification was revoked.   Shurtleff said Thursday that investigators would be given the names of other Hildale officers believed to have multiple wives.   The attorney general said the state has the right to stop polygamist police officers from being in law enforcement.     Read more

Polygamist cop loses Utah certification; others targeted

The Associated Press Originally published October 18, 2003

Utah authorities have revoked the certification of one polygamist police officer and vow to do the same with others.   The Peace Officer Standards and Training Council made the pledge after state officials said the police were hampering investigations into underage marriages.   "They are sworn officers, and they are sworn to uphold the law, but they are openly committing third-degree-felony bigamy," Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a member of the council, said in a copyrighted story in Friday's edition of The Salt Lake Tribune.   "They are in dereliction of their duty," said South Ogden Police Chief Val Shupe, who also is president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association.   The action particularly targets Hildale, Utah, and its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz.  Most of the cities' residents are members of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  A phone message left Friday by The Associated Press with Hildale Police Chief Sam Roundy was not immediately returned.   Prosecutors have been going after members of the FLDS and other polygamist sects who take child brides.     Read more

Polygamy-police issue stuns Hildale

Shurtleff wants officers fired, says law violated

By Nancy Perkins and Jennifer Dobner Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, October 18, 2003

HILDALE, Washington County — Hildale Mayor David Zitting said he's surprised and baffled by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's sudden urge to fire the town's police force because he thinks the officers practice polygamy.   "I don't know what Shurtleff's doing," said Zitting, who last met with Shurtleff in Salt Lake City months ago before an Aug. 22 Polygamy Summit called by the attorney general in St. George.  Despite a clear invitation then to Shurtleff to contact him if he had questions or wanted to talk about anything, Zitting said, "I haven't heard from him since.  I've invited him to come down and take a tour, but he hasn't done it."   Shurtleff said in a Thursday meeting of the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council that Hildale officers are living in violation of Utah law and should be decertified.  In response, the council has asked POST director Sid Groll to look into the matter.   Shurtleff apparently believes that too many people might be looking the other way, allowing fundamentalist religious tenets that polygamy is central to spiritual salvation to trump state laws prohibiting it.   Former Hildale police officer Rodney Holm was decertified after being convicted in August of felony bigamy for having "spiritually married" a 16-year-old girl when he was already married.   Shurtleff thinks Holm's fellow officers and his chief, Colorado City, Ariz., Police Marshal Sam Roundy, knew about the situation but didn't take action in deference to Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church where Holm is a member.   "It appears to me that chief Sam Roundy is not in control but that (Warren) Jeff's in control," Shurtleff told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday night.   "We need to look into it and see if they are (bigamists)."     Read more

Man who helped runaway arrested

Truman Barlow Shapley held overnight on charge of violation of a protective order

By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published Wednesday, February 11, 2004

ST. GEORGE -- A man who reportedly helped a 16-year-old girl run away from Colorado City was arrested Sunday night in Hildale but was released after a justice court appearance on Monday.   Truman Barlow Shapley, 23, was kept overnight in Purgatory Correctional Facility after he was arrested by Colorado City police on a charge of protective order violation, according to Washington County Sheriff's Office.   He was transported Monday morning to Moccasin Justice Court, where he was released for an unspecified reason, said Trish Carter, spokeswoman for Mohave County Sheriff's Office, which she said was not involved in the case.   Colorado City and Hildale's Town Marshal Sam Roundy didn't return The Spectrum's call for comment Monday.   Flora Jessop, an anti-polygamy activist in Phoenix who ran away from Colorado City 17 years ago, said Shapley was arrested while helping the 17-year-old girl run away again on Sunday night.   Liz Barker, communications director for the Arizona Child Protective Services, which is monitoring the girl's situation, confirmed that the girl was at home on Tuesday.  But she would not comment on the girl's second attempt to runaway.     Read more

Hildale Police Officers May Lose Powers

KCSG Channel 6 - St. George KCSG.com Originally broadcast June 9, 2004

Some Hildale police officers may have their powers stripped if the Utah Attorney General has his way.   An investigation by the Attorney General Mark Shurtleff indicates that several Hildale police officers are practicing polygamy, that some have not completed 40 hours of annual training requirements, and that some have lied about meeting those requirements.   If that training is not completed their certifications could be revoked.   Shurtleff has said that his office has no intention of bringing criminal charges against the officers.   The Utah Police Officers Standards and Training office, POST, is looking into the situation and will have the final decision regarding the revocations.

Hildale officers may be facing decertification

By Nancy Perkins and Jennifer Dobner Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, June 10, 2004

A new report from the Utah Attorney General's Office says seven Hildale police officers have failed to uphold state laws and should be considered for decertification by the state's police academy.   The report alleges that the seven officers knew of crimes being committed by others in the department and in the community but failed to investigate or alert other authorities.   Among the violations considered in investigator Ron Barton's report are crimes typically associated with the practice of polygamy, including underage marriage and child bigamy.   Hildale and its Arizona twin, Colorado City, are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches plural marriage.  Nearly all of the 6,000 residents of the area are members of the church.  The report includes a list of officers that the Attorney General's Office says are engaged in plural marriage.     Read more

Police in Polygamist Community Get Reviews

Several agencies reviewing police officers in polygamist community

The Associated Press KPHO.com Originally published June 17, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Several state and county agencies have started investigations of alleged improprieties involving police officers practicing polygamist lifestyles in southern Utah, it was revealed at a police standards conference.   The state police academy recently started its review of officers in the twin polygamist communities of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., after completion of an eight-month investigation by the Utah Attorney General's office.   That report alleges seven of the 13 police officers are practicing polygamists, officers failed to police each other, and they may have exaggerated their amount of required training.   Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Director Sid Groll earlier had said his office would review only the issue of training hours, deferring an inquiry into other accusations until criminal investigations were complete.   But last week, Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Robert Flowers, Groll's boss, decided to conduct investigations alongside separate reviews by a state police detective and a POST investigator.     Read more

Former members of polygamous sect sue church leaders

The Chicago Tribune Originally published August 29, 2004

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Six former members of a breakaway polygamous sect banished or excommunicated from the church filed a conspiracy lawsuit Friday against the church's prophet and one of his assistants, claiming a pattern of unlawful activity and conspiracy to get rid of surplus boys and men.   The plaintiffs, all former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., included in the court complaint portions of federal racketeering statutes sometimes used in organized crime prosecutions.   They claim that FLDS church president and prophet Warren Jeffs and Sam Barlow, a former Colorado City police chief and close associate of Jeffs, have engaged in assault, threats, unlawful dealing of property, theft by extortion, child kidnapping, official misconduct and theft of services.   According to the complaint filed in 3rd District Court, the church has engaged in "systematic excommunication" of adolescents and young men in order to reduce competition for wives.

New justice center opens in Colorado City

The Associated Press azcentral.com Originally published August 30, 2004

Arizona's Mohave County has established a permanent presence in the polygamous community of Colorado City.   A $200,000 justice center opened last week, providing office space for the sheriff's office, the county attorney's office, and room for state child protective service offices and the Arizona attorney general's office.   "Our closest facility was 85 miles away," Sheriff Tom Sheahan said.  "It's going to be a world of difference."   A deputy will be reassigned to the Colorado City area, and the center also will be available to deputies from the adjacent Washington County in Utah, Sheahan said.   "It should make people feel a lot safer," he said.  "They don't have to rely on the local marshals," who are perceived to be controlled by the dominant Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.     Read more

Polygamist Arrested After Trespassing in His Own House

KSL TV Channel 5 KSL.com Originally published September 8, 2004

Police in Colorado City -- the polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border--arrested a man last night for criminal trespassing .... in the house where he lives!   Ross Chatwin made headlines in January for denouncing FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs as a Hitler-like dictator.   Since then he's battled Jeffs' group over possession of his house.   A judge recently granted Chatwin the right to live in the house for life.   But a dispute remains over the upstairs apartment, where Chatwin's brother lives.   Yesterday, Chatwin entered the upstairs to change the locks and keep his brother out.   That's when he got arrested.   Chatwin's sympathizers claim the police acted on orders from the prophet, Warren Jeffs.

Police Probe in Hildale

KCSG Channel 6 - St. George KCSG.com Originally broadcast September 23, 2004

The department that certifies police officers for the State of Utah has decided to continue an investigation of police officers in Hildale.   The polygamist community is policed by 8 Utah certified officers.  Two of the officers are reportedly practicing polygamists.   The Police Officers Standards and Training board is considering de-certifying these officers for violating polygamy laws in Utah.  The POST investigation follows an investigation conducted earlier this year by the Utah State Attorney General's Office.   AG Mark Shurtleff recommended to POST that the police officers be stripped of their certification and, therefore, their police authority.   Shurtleff told KCSG News today that he has no intention of bringing criminal charges against the officers.   If POST does follow-through with decertifying the police officers, the officers can accept the ruling, or appeal the decision to a civil hearings officer for a final judgment.

Hildale police officers may face decertification

State officials say law enforcement, polygamy don't mix

By Jennifer Dobner and Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, September 23, 2004

SANDY — State officials will seek to decertify Hildale police officers who are practicing polygamy — including Chief of Police Sam Roundy.   Utah's POST Council, the governing body for the state police academy known as Peace Officer Standards and Training, voted unanimously Wednesday to move forward with an investigation begun last year into the Hildale police department.   "If they're going to look at us for polygamy, they better look at every police officer in the state to see which ones have broken any laws of any kind," Roundy said Wednesday evening.  "We're trying to live our religion.  How many police officers around the state have stepped out on their wives or committed adultery?   That's against the law, too."   Roundy was one of seven officers identified in a June report from the Utah Attorney General's office which said some in the Hildale department had either violated state law or knew of violations, primarily for bigamy.  Two officers, including Roundy, are believed to be polygamists, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Wednesday.     Read more

Polygamy abusers in uniform deserve harsh treatment

Topic Opinion Provo Daily Herald Originally published Sunday, September 26, 2004

File this one under "Duh."  The Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training Council, the entity that establishes the rules for Utah's police officers, has decided it will punish police officers who practice polygamy.  The POST Council decided such officers are breaking their oath to uphold the law.   The decision came after the conviction of Rodney Holm, a police officer in the polygamist enclave of Hildale, on charges of unlawful sex with a minor.  He had taken a teenager as a polygamist wife.  Holm was sentenced to a year in prison for the offense.   The fact that it took the conviction of a police officer to bring the Officer Standards Council to this momentous decision is a reflection of the ambivalence that prevails in Utah on the question of polygamy.   The council's soft stance -- that it will punish (it did not say prosecute) offending officers -- is a reflection of the double standard that prevails.  When a Tom Green can be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for a technical violation, and when the very girl he married decades ago is now an adult who, far from wanting out, professes her love for him and has become his chief defender, inequity comes plainly into view.   Let's have a little consistency here.  If Green can be sent to jail, so should any polygamist police officers.     Read more

Commission recommends unseating polygamous Utah judge

The Associated Press KVOA.com Originally broadcast February 25, 2005

ST. GEORGE, Utah The Utah Judicial Conduct Commission has recommended that a judge be removed from the bench because he is a polygamist.   Walter Steed has served as justice court judge in the polygamous community of Hildale, Utah, since 1980.  He's legally married to one woman and married so-called "spiritually" to two other women, and has 32 children.   The hearing panel concluded Steed violated his oath of office because he was breaking the law.   Steed has raised complex constitutional issues in his defense.   The decision whether to boot him from the bench will be made by the Utah Supreme Court.

Sheriff discusses county's growth, law enforcement needs

By Stacy Brandt Mohave Daily News Originally published Saturday, March 5, 2005

BULLHEAD CITY - The county will need a new jail soon because of its rapid growth, according to Sheriff Tom Sheahan.   The county jail houses about 550 people a day and only has about 400 beds, Sheahan said Saturday morning at the monthly meeting of the Colorado River Republican Forum.   About 9,000 people were jailed in the facilities this year, compared with 6,900 in 2002.   With a growing population comes more crime, Sheahan said.   "There's a lot of work to do, because we have a big future here in Mohave County and a massive influx of people," he said.  "Unfortunately not everyone that moves in to the county is going to be a law-abiding citizen."   It can be difficult to patrol the entire county, Sheahan said, because of its size and the number of deputies available.   "We have to concentrate a minimal amount of officers that we have throughout the entire county," he said.   "That's what makes it a real challenge every day."     Read more

Police Chief Could Lose Job Due To Polygamy

The state of Utah is cracking down on polygamists, more specifically on those who are in positions of power.

By John Dunn KSL NewsRadio 1160 Originally broadcast March 16, 2005

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) -- A polygamist police chief could lose his job for that practice.   Police Chief Sam Roundy patrols the border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.   Yesterday, a judge ruled that Roundy was in default because he failed to attend a January hearing that challenged his status as an officer.   In October, the Utah Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training filed a complaint against Roundy.  They allege he's practicing plural marriage, which is a violation of Utah's constitution and state law prohibiting bigamy.   Roundy did not deny he has more than one wife.  He said he did not attend the hearing because he believed the issue would be reviewed at the upcoming Utah POST meeting.   The meeting is scheduled next week in St. George.  A formal vote is expected to approve Roundy's peace officer certification be revoked.

Polygamist officers face loss of badges

By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, March 16, 2005

ST. GEORGE — Colorado City town marshal Sam Roundy is facing the loss of his badge and job of 11 years if Utah takes away his right to patrol the plural community he lives in along the Utah/Arizona border.  Administrative Law Judge Richard Wyss ruled that Roundy was in default because he failed to attend a Jan. 26 hearing that challenged his status as a peace officer.  The Utah Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training filed a complaint against Roundy in October 2004, alleging he was practicing plural marriage in violation of Utah's constitution and state law prohibiting bigamy.  Roundy did not deny on Tuesday that he has more than one wife.  He said he did not attend the hearing in Salt Lake City because he believed the issue would be reviewed at the upcoming Utah POST meeting next week.   "They juiced up that report.  They put things in there that I did not say," said Roundy of the investigator's report provided to Wyss at the hearing.  Roundy is fiercely protective of his family and said that he is living an important tenet of his religion by having more than one wife.  Roundy is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members openly practice plural marriage.     Read more

Polygamous Police Chief May Lose Badge

Polygamous Police Chief Faces Losing His Badge in Utah; Officer Says It's Religious Persecution

The Associated Press ABC News Originally published March 16, 2005

ST. GEORGE, Utah Mar 16, 2005 — A polygamous police chief who patrols his own small Arizona town and one across the border in Utah may lose his status as a peace officer in both states.   Administrative Law Judge Richard Wyss has recommended Utah revoke certification for Colorado City, Ariz., Police Chief Sam Roundy.   The Utah Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training, meeting next week, is expected to approve that recommendation, said Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith.  Roundy and his officers also patrol nearby Hildale, Utah.   Both small communities are dominated by The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; Utah and Arizona prohibit polygamy in their state constitutions.   Colorado City's seven-member police force is cross-certified to work in both states.   "Every cop has a religion, but religion doesn't run my job," Roundy told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday.  "We grew up in this culture and we're part of it.  It's religious persecution going after polygamy, that's all it is."   Roundy said he expected Arizona would probably also revoke his certification if Utah did.   The Arizona board earlier voted to consider revisions that would allow it to address concerns related to polygamy.  The same body tried to revoke a former Colorado City town marshal's certification on the same polygamy charge.   The board was rebuffed by an Arizona administrative judge who ruled there was no evidence to suggest the official was unable to do his job.

Colorado City police chief may lose job

The Spectrum TheSpectrum.com Originally published March 17, 2005

ST. GEORGE - The police chief in the polygamous border town of Colorado City, Ariz., is facing decertification in Utah for having multiple wives.   Chief Sam Roundy and his officers also patrol nearby Hildale, Utah - just across the state line in the 10,000-person communities dominated by The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   Administrative Law Judge Richard Wyss ruled that Roundy was in default because he failed to attend a Jan. 26 hearing that challenged his status as a peace officer.   The Utah Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training filed a complaint against Roundy in October 2004, alleging he was practicing plural marriage in violation of Utah's constitution and state law prohibiting bigamy.   In an interview Tuesday with the Deseret Morning News, Roundy said polygamists in the town were being unfairly targeted because of their religion.   "Every cop has a religion, but religion doesn't run my job," Roundy said.   "We work closely with other agencies and do our jobs.  Utah is saying we don't have the confidence of the people, and it's just the opposite of what they're saying.  We grew up in this culture and we're part of it.  It's religious persecution going after polygamy, that's all it is."   Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said Roundy's certification is in question because he is in violation of the law.  Polygamous officers have sworn to uphold the law but violate the bigamy statute, he said.     Read more

State revokes badges of polygamist officer, chief

By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, March 23, 2005

ST. GEORGE — In a unanimous decision Tuesday, the Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training Council voted to immediately revoke the certification of two police officers who are also polygamists.   Colorado City town marshal Sam Roundy and officer Vance Barlow will be notified by Utah POST of the council's decision, said Jim Eardley, a Washington County commissioner who also serves on the POST council.   "They were decertified as of today," Eardley said of the two long-time officers serving in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Washington County.   Utah POST held its monthly meeting here in conjunction with a three-day gathering of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association.   Roundy, who graduated in 1989 from the Arizona police academy and became Colorado City police chief in 1994, learned of the action through a phone call from a reporter.  Roundy declined immediate comment, saying he wanted a couple of days to think things over before responding.   Arizona POST executive director Tom Hammarstrom said the two officers likely would face the same sanctions from Arizona.   "Utah's action, I'm certain, will initiate the process here," Hammarstrom said Tuesday.  "The fact that Utah voted to revoke certification is an important element that we think has to have some impact (on our decision)."     Read more

Colorado City police chief decertified in ruling on bigamy case

By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published March 23, 2005

ST. GEORGE - The Utah division of Peace Officer Standards and Training officially voted Tuesday to revoke the state certification of Colorado City Police Chief Sam Roundy, who's department also has jurisdiction over the bordering town of Hildale.   No one on the board opposed the motion to uphold the decision to decertify both Roundy and another officer.   An internal investigation judge found Roundy to be violating the bigamy laws, as well as improperly handling a child sex abuse case.  In that case, Utah POST Director Rich Townsend said Roundy apparently did not properly report the incident to the Division of Child and Family Services.   The last time Utah POST decertified a police chief was three years ago when the Gunnison police chief was found to be using or disseminating police information improperly, Townsend said.   The Colorado City Police Department, where officers are certified in both Utah and Arizona, patrols the two towns dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The FLDS church, led by Warren Jeffs, constitutes the largest polygamist group in North America.   Roundy could not be reached Tuesday for comment about POST's decision.  However, in an interview last week with the Deseret Morning News, Roundy said polygamists in the town were being unfairly targeted because of religion.   "Every cop has a religion, but religion doesn't run my job," he said.   There are still five Colorado City officers who retain their Utah certification as a peace officers.   It will now be up to the mayor and City Council to appoint a temporary police chief.     Read more

Board could revoke police certification

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Wednesday, April 20, 2005

ARIZONA – A meeting this morning in Phoenix could decide the fate of two Colorado City police officers and their future in law enforcement in the state of Arizona.   According to Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training compliance manager Bob Forry, the board will hear the case against town marshal Sam Roundy and officer Vance Barlow and decide whether or not to initiate proceedings against them.   "If they initiate proceedings then at that point a complaint letter will be sent out to the two officers and they will be told they have 30 days to appeal," said Forry.   Just a few weeks ago the officers had their certifications revoked by Utah authorities and no longer have police authority in that state.

Sheriff’s Office will be in charge

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Wednesday, April 20, 2005

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. – The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office will now be in charge of abuse and sex cases in Colorado City.   According to Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan, these cases that went to the Department of Economic Security and Child Protective Services had to go through the city Marshall’s Office; however, that is no longer the case.   "Now if there are any abuse cases or sex cases that come out of Colorado City that goes to DES, they will no longer go to the Colorado City Marshall’s Office; they are going to go right to the Sheriff’s Office," said Sheahan.   Although several civic leaders were not happy about this decision, Sheahan said the public safety and protection of those people is a priority.

Board decides to initiate proceedings

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Thursday, April 21, 2005

ARIZONA – The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training board decided on Wednesday to initiate proceedings against two Colorado City police officers.   Compliance manager Bob Forry said the board will be sending out official letters to Sam Roundy and Vance Barlow and once the letters are received they will have 30 days to appeal the matter.   Forry explained what happens if the board doesn’t hear back from them in the 30-day period.   "Then it goes back to the board for final action and that final action could be anything from a suspension through a revocation," said Forry.   Roundy and Barlow have already had their certifications revoked in Utah.

Board cites Colorado City cops

By Kristina Davis East Valley Tribune Originally published April 22, 2005

The state police certification board decided Wednesday to take action against Colorado City’s top police official and a police officer after their certifications were pulled in Utah on accusations of having multiple wives.   Police Marshal Samuel M. Roundy and officer Vance W. Barlow will have 30 days to request a hearing with the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board or their state police certifications could be revoked, said executive director Tom Hammarstrom.   Roundy and Barlow, who live in the polygamous community of Colorado City on the Arizona-Utah border, also contracted police services to the neighboring town of Hildale, Utah.  Their Utah police certifications were pulled March 22 on the grounds they were practicing polygamy, which is illegal in that state.  No criminal charges were brought against them.   In Arizona, polygamy is not a criminal offense, but it is prohibited under the state Constitution.   "We are now taking action against their certification in Arizona based on the fact that they were decertified in Utah," Hammarstrom said.     Read more

Officers appeal proceedings

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published June 7, 2005

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. – Two Colorado City Police Officers have requested a hearing that could possibly save their jobs in the state of Arizona.   According to Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training compliance manager Bob Forry, the board initiated proceedings against Sam Roundy and Vance Barlow after the state of Utah revoked their police certification.   However, Forry said the two responded back to the Arizona board within the 30-day period.   "Sam Roundy has indicated that he wants to have a hearing and when we visited with him he said he thought that Mr. Barlow would too," said Forry.   Now an independent judge will hold hearings and then the board will have to make a decision on what action, if any, to take against the officers.  According to Forry, the board could suspend the officers for a certain period of time or even revoke their officer certification in the whole state of Arizona, like a board in Utah did.   Forry said that a board decision wouldn’t come until at least September.

Power plant that served Colorado City-Hildale will be closed

Associated Press The Arizona Republic Originally published June 15, 2005

The Twin City power plant, which formerly provided power for the twin polygamist communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, will close July 1.   Power manager Lorin Fischer said the wholesale price of natural gas, which fuels the plant, has gone from $1.40 per decatherm when the plant opened in January 1997 to $6.50 per decatherm.   "We lost functionality at $2.50," Fischer told the Hildale City Council on Tuesday.   "We are planning on mothballing the plant."   With the exception of three months last summer, the plant has been idle since January 2004.   Fischer said two employees at the generation plant and two working in accounting will be laid off.  A lineman also may be laid off.   Fischer said one person would remain at the plant to keep things in running condition if the plant is needed for emergencies, and the power company is seeking to restructure the payments with bondholders.   The company purchases power from other sources to serve the two communities.   In other action Tuesday, the council unanimously approved appointment of Jonathan Roundy as acting police chief.   Roundy replaces his brother, Sam Roundy, whose certification was revoked by the Utah Peace Officers Standards and Training Council because he allegedly had plural wives.

Decertification at top of list

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published June 22, 2005

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. – The Arizona Police Officers Standards and Training Board discusses the specific charges against two Colorado City police officers.  Unit Manager Bob Forry said there are four specific charges against Officers Sam Roundy and Vance Barlow.   "At the top of the list is the fact that both Roundy and Barlow have been decertified in the state of Utah," said Forry.   Other charges include bigamy, which is a Felony, and cohabitation in violation of the Arizona Constitution.  In an attempt to contact Barlow at his residence, a female responded that she was sure Barlow would have no comment.  A hearing requested by the two officers is scheduled for the near future.

Review of Colorado City cops nearing

e-Press Tri-States News Network Originally published August 29, 2005

PHOENIX, Ariz. - The hearings by the Arizona Police Standards and Training Board for two Colorado City police officers, Sam Roundy and Vance Barlow, are set for September 15-16.   "When her ruling comes back then we take that back to the board and it's at that point that the board will be in a position to take action," said Bob Forry.  Forry is in charge of standards and certification for the PSTB.  "Anywhere from no action, to a suspension to a revocation."   Both officers have already had their peace officer certifications revoked in the state of Utah.

Ex-marshal failed to report abuse

Colorado City child cases involved

By Mark Shaffer The Arizona Republic - Flagstaff Bureau Originally published September 18, 2005

The former town marshal of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, never notified Utah child-welfare authorities of sexual abuse cases he was investigating in the polygamist communities and acknowledged cohabiting with a wife and two "companions," with whom he has had 21 children, according to documents released Friday.   Samuel N. Roundy, 50, Colorado City's town marshal for 10 years before resigning this year, made those admissions during an interview in October with an investigator for the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.   Transcripts of the interview were released in conjunction with decertification hearings Thursday and Friday in Phoenix for Roundy and another polygamist Colorado City police officer, Vance Barlow.  Neither officer attended the hearings.   Diana Stabler, an Arizona assistant attorney general, said Roundy and Barlow likely would be stripped of certification as Arizona police officers during the board's next meeting on Oct. 19.   Utah revoked the police certifications of the two in March, citing violation of state bigamy statutes.   Roundy said he was never a sworn police officer in Utah.     Read more

AG seeks civil rights probe of polygamist community's police

By Paul Davenport The Associated Press Tucson Citizen Originally published September 30, 2005

PHOENIX - After following the lead of their Utah counterparts by moving to lift the law enforcement certifications of some police officers in a polygamist community, Arizona authorities are seeking a federal civil rights review of the entire Colorado City police department.   Attorney General Terry Goddard said many complaints from other law enforcement officials and citizens prompted him to ask U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to have the Justice Department conduct a preliminary inquiry, a step that could lead to a formal investigation and possible legal action.   "I believe that the officers of the Colorado City Police Department have engaged in a pattern of practices of conduct that deprives individuals of their constitutional and civil rights," Goddard wrote in a letter to Gonzales.   There are reports of young men being forced to leave Colorado City by being threatened with arrest at the same time as they fell out of favor with the polygamist sect that dominates the community and that police turned a deaf ear to the complaints of women who have been forced into marriage or subjected to violence, Goddard said in an interview Friday.   Police officers "seem to be aiding and abetting criminal activity," Goddard said.     Read more

Arizona investigates former Colorado City Police Chief

The Spectrum TheSpectrum.com Originally published October 19, 2005

ST. GEORGE — The Arizona Peace Officers Standard and Training office is conducting a hearing today to determine the certification status of former Colorado City Police Chief Sam Roundy.   Roundy retired June 30 after a Utah investigation found him in violation of bigamy laws, as well as improperly handling a child sex abuse case.  In that case, Utah POST Director Rich Townsend said Roundy apparently did not properly report the incident to the Division of Child and Family Services.   The Colorado City Police Department, where officers are certified in both Utah and Arizona, patrols the two towns dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  The FLDS church, led by Warren Jeffs, constitutes the largest polygamist group in North America.   For more, see Thursday's edition of The Spectrum/Daily News.

State board strips 2 polygamist cops of certifications

Associated Press The Arizona Republic Originally published October 19, 2005

Arizona's law enforcement certification board voted unanimously Wednesday to revoke the certifications of two police officers accused of practicing polygamy in a community dominated by a church that encourages multiple wives.   The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board acted after a state attorney said the officers' practice of polygamy undermines public trust in law enforcement.   "This can't be tolerated," Assistant Attorney General Diana Stabler said.  "The state can't engage in benign neglect."   Even though many or most of Colorado City's residents embrace polygamy, the standing of law enforcement statewide is at stake when questions are raised about law officers turning a blind eye to forced marriages and marriage-like unions involving underage girls, Stabler said.   "You have to take a broad view of the public trust and what community we're talking about," Stabler said.   Stabler acknowledged that a predecessor agency to the Arizona POST Board refused in 1990 to decertify Colorado City's then-marshal on the basis of his practicing polygamy, instead deciding that it amounted to cohabitation - something being practiced by law officers in communities across the state.   "It was really a naive time back then," the attorney said.     Read more

Two Colorado City officers lose certification

The Associated Press KPHO News 5 - Phoenix Originally broadcast October 19, 2005

PHOENIX Arizona's law enforcement certification board voted unanimously today to revoke the certifications of two Colorado City police officers.   The action by the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board came after an assistant attorney general said both officers' practice of polygamy undermines public trust in law enforcement.   Specific grounds for the decertifications of Vance Walker Barlow and Sam Roundy include violating the Arizona constitution's ban on polygamy and an Utah board's finding that both men engaged in bigamy, a felony in that state.   Colorado City is located on the Arizona-Utah line and is dominated by a polygamist church. Roundy is the former chief of the city police force there.  An Arizona investigator says both are still officers on the force.

Arizona strips officers' badges because of polygamist lifestyles

By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, October 21, 2005

ST. GEORGE — Former Colorado City town marshal Sam Roundy resigned from his position of more than 10 years at the end of July, taking a wait-and-see attitude toward his possible decertification by Arizona authorities.   "I'm working construction now," said Roundy during a telephone interview several weeks after turning in his resignation.  "I'm just taking care of my family."   On Wednesday, Arizona's law-enforcement certification board voted unanimously to strip Roundy and another officer, Vance Barlow, of their badges, said Robert Forry, standards and certification unit manager at Arizona POST.   "There was a compelling, complete presentation of the two cases to the board for final action," said Forry.  "Neither one of them attended the meeting and there was little discussion before the vote was taken."   Roundy and Barlow will receive a certified letter detailing the board's position, he said, and decertification will follow in 30 days.     Read more

Polygamist unfit for bench?

High court to hear arguments on S. Utah judge with 3 wives

By Linda Thomson Deseret Morning News Originally published Monday, October 31, 2005

An admitted polygamist justice court judge in southern Utah contends he shouldn't be ousted from the bench for practicing consensual bigamy.  He argues his marital status is protected by the U.S. and state constitutions and doesn't affect his judicial work.   But the state's judicial watchdog agency insists Walter Steed's behavior interferes with justice and brings a judicial office into disrepute.   The Judicial Conduct Commission has asked the Utah Supreme Court to remove Steed from office.  The high court will hear the case Wednesday in the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University.   Steed has been a municipal court justice in the largely polygamous community of Hildale since 1980.  He has admitted he engaged in consensual bigamy with three adult women with whom he has a total of 32 children.   He married the first wife in a state-recognized civil ceremony in 1965 and married the other two in 1975 and 1985, respectively, in religious ceremonies of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which encourages polygamous or plural marriages.   The commission contends Steed's marriages violate the state's bigamy law, which forbids taking another spouse while still married, purporting to marry another individual, or cohabiting with another person.  Bigamy is a third-degree felony.     Read more

Utah Supreme Court to decide status of polygamous judge

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press San Diego Union-Tribune Originally published November 1, 2005

SALT LAKE CITY – For 25 years Walter Steed has served the tiny southern Utah border town of Hildale as a Justice Court judge, handing down rulings on drunken driving and domestic violence charges.  Now, after acknowledging that as part of his religion he is living in a plural marriage with three wives, he's facing an order to give up his post.   The Utah Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Wednesday at Brigham Young University in Provo.   Utah's Judicial Conduct Commission issued an order seeking Steed's removal from the bench in February, after a 14-month investigation determined Steed is a polygamist and as such had violated Utah's bigamy law.   Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Utah punishable by up to five years in prison and fines up to $5,000.   The initial complaint against Steed was filed with the commission in November 2003 by Tapestry Against Polygamy, an advocacy group founded by ex-polygamous women who organized to help others leave the handful of secretive religious colonies that practice the principle.   The case is the first of its kind, said Colin Winchester, the commission's executive director.   "If you are taking the constitutional oath office to uphold the law you should not be breaking the law," Winchester said.     Read more

Polygamist judge case comes to BYU

By Abbey Olsen, Associate Copy Chief BYU NewsNet Originally published November 2, 2005

The Utah Judicial Conduct Commission’s recommendation to remove from office a Hildale justice court judge who practices plural marriage will be reviewed by the Utah Supreme Court Nov. 2 at the BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School.   After an investigation and a hearing Jan. 20, the Judicial Conduct Commission concluded Justice Court Judge Walter K. Steed brought the judiciary into disrepute by willfully engaging in consensual bigamy with three adult women.   Bigamy is a third degree felony under Utah law.  Although Steed has not been charged with or convicted of bigamy, the Commission found his actions violated judicial ethical conduct.  The Commission issued Steed’s order of removal from office Feb. 8, although it cannot be implemented until reviewed by the Utah Supreme Court.   The Utah Constitution requires the Utah Supreme Court to review an order of removal and approve, modify or reject it.  Steed’s lawyer will argue Nov. 2 before the Utah Supreme Court that Steed’s conduct is constitutionally protected and is not grounds for judicial discipline.     Read more

Utah Supreme Court hears arguments on removing polygamous judge

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press San Diego Union-Tribune Originally published November 2, 2005

PROVO, Utah – A small-town judge ordered removed from office because he has three wives says his polygamy should not be grounds for removing him from the bench.   "As long as I can do my job, why should I (be removed)?" Justice Court Judge Walter Steed asked Wednesday outside a courtroom at Brigham Young University where the Utah Supreme Court heard oral arguments.   The state Judicial Conduct Commission in February sought Steed's removal after a 14-month investigation determined he had violated Utah's bigamy law.  Bigamy is a third-degree felony in Utah.   Steed has served for 25 years in the southern Utah border town of Hildale, presiding over cases such as drunken driving and domestic violence.  He told reporters after the hearing he doesn't feel persecuted by the removal action.   "I feel like there's an issue – the constitutionality of the bigamy statute – that needs to be decided," said Steed, who is a truck driver by trade and a part-time judge.   "If I can be a vehicle to help decide it, I don't feel picked on."     Read more

State's top court hears polygamous judge's case

By Michael Rigert Provo Daily Herald Originally published Thursday, November 3, 2005

Taking its docket on the road, the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a packed classroom at Brigham Young University in the case of a justice court judge facing possible removal from the bench for having three wives.   Walter Steed of Hildale, a widely known polygamous community along Utah's southern border, has served as a justice court judge for 25 years.   But the state Judicial Conduct Commission learned two years ago he was married to three women.   "As long as I can do my job, why should I (be removed)?" Steed asked Wednesday outside the courtroom at BYU, The Associated Press reported.   The commission was tipped off about Steed's marital status in November 2003 by Tapestry Against Polygamy, an advocacy group founded by ex-polygamous women seeking to help others leave plural marriages.   Based on a 14-month investigation of Steed ending in February, Utah's Judicial Conduct Commission told the state Supreme Court the judge's relationship with the women violates the state's bigamy law and ordered his removal from the bench.   "I feel like there's an issue -- the constitutionality of the bigamy statute -- that needs to be decided," said Steed, according to the AP.   "If I can be a vehicle to help decide it, I don't feel picked on."     Read more

Polygamist Judge Says He'll Give Up Job Rather Than Give Up Wives

ABC 4 News abc4.com Originally broadcast November 3, 2005

(ABC 4 News) -- Wednesday, polygamy went on trial in an historic case before the state supreme court.   At issue, is whether a polygamist judge should remain on the bench.  Walter Steed is a justice court judge in the Utah border town of Hildale and has been for the past 25 years.   Now, the Utah Judicial Conduct Commission wants Steed removed from the bench ... essentially saying ... you can't rule on the law if you're breaking the law.   Walter Steed not only has a quarter century on the bench, but also three wives and 32 kids.   The issue before Utah's supreme court is this - Is bigamy a crime to be punished or a religious practice to be constitutionally protected?   This unique case is not only making headlines here in Utah, but around the country as well.     Read more

Editorial: Toss out polygamist judge

San Antonio Express-News mysanantonio.com Originally published November 5, 2005

Judges are generally held to a different standard, but it needs to be a higher standard, not a lower one.   Judge Walter Steed is fighting to keep his bench in Utah.   The state's Commission on Judicial Conduct wants him removed from office because he is a polygamist with three wives — and 32 children.   Steed's lawyer claims he should be allowed to keep his judicial post because he has not tarnished his office with his private behavior.   Attorney Rodney Parker argues that while drug abuse might be grounds for dismissal, being married to three sisters should not be, the Associated Press reports.   Parker would be wise to consult his state's criminal code.  Bigamy in Utah is a felony.   Conviction carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.   As a judge, Steed's job is to uphold the law.  He can't pick and chose which laws he wants to acknowledge for himself.

Judge Not

If a judge can have more than one wife, what’s stopping you?

By Ben Fulton Editorial Salt Lake City Weekly Originally published November 10, 2005

Few issues in Utah are as simultaneously boring and yet thoroughly exciting as polygamy.  For proof, talk to a practicing polygamist.  After a long sermon about all the "great" men — and we do mean men — of the Old Testament who married more than one woman you’ll usually get treated to this central question.  A practicing polygamist in Bountiful, British Columbia, posed the question this way.   "Are you going to tell me that in all your life you’ve never had sex with more than one woman?" he asked.   One turn deserves another and, in truth, reporters ought to climb down from their podiums more often.   "No," I answered.  But the trump in my hand was that I’d never ventured below the age of consent, either.   Nor has Walter Steed, who married three women, all sisters, in the rational haze of their adulthood.  Each nuptial was spaced 10 years apart, too, apparently so Steed could properly digest one wife before moving on to the next.     Read more

Polygamist Judge fights for his job

By Carli Saracino Salt Lake Community College Globe Originally published Friday, November 11, 2005

A Hildale judge, Walter Steed, is fighting to stay on the bench after it was revealed that he currently has three wives.   Steed was found by Utah's Judicial Conduct Commission to be a polygamist and the case to remove him as a judge is now being brought before the state's Supreme Court.   Steed and his attorney, Rodney Parker, are arguing that the judge's private behavior does not influence his ability to rule in court.   "As long as I can do my job, why should I [be removed]?" Steed asked the Chicago Sun-Times.   Steed has been a judge for over 25 years, ruling mostly on cases involving domestic violence and drunken driving charges.   Those seeking to have Steed removed argue that the offense has more to do with the legality of his personal lifestyle, because bigamy is a felony in the state of Utah.   "Judges are expected to live to a different standard," Colin Winchester told the Times.     Read more

The judge's three wives

Editorial Toledo Blade - Toledo, Ohio Originally published Sunday, November 13, 2005

A Utah judge wants his seat back on the Fifth District Court, but he has a problem.  He's in violation of the state's bigamy laws.  Maybe he shouldn't be a judge at all.   Judge Walter Steed has three "wives," and he's taking his case to the state Supreme Court.  We are a nation of laws, and judges are sworn to uphold them.  Utah's high court should have no trouble finding him unfit to sit on any court bench.   If the court refuses, and he returns to the bench, it is hard to see how any Utah court could ever fairly convict and sentence a bigamist.  The rules are clear: Bigamy in Utah is a third-degree felony that can bring a penalty of up to five years in prison.   It's a shame that it took so long before Judge Steed - a trigamist, actually - was outed.  He has been a judge in Hildale, Utah, for 25 years, ruling on domestic violence and drunken driving cases.     Read more

Judges must adhere to Utah laws

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published November 14, 2005

The Utah Supreme Court recently heard arguments from the Judicial Conduct Commission that Steed, who has served Hildale since 1981, should be removed from the bench because he is an admitted polygamist.  Steed reportedly has three wives and 32 children.   Justice court judges usually don't make any decisions related to serious crimes.  Instead, they oversee cases involving traffic violations and misdemeanors.   Those types of crimes are far removed from the actions of some polygamists who have had sex with children and who have, in effect, stolen from taxpayers via welfare fraud.  But this case against Steed digs further than what it appears to do on the surface.     Read more

Decision on fate of polygamous judge overdue

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published February 22, 2006

ST. GEORGE - A Utah Supreme Court decision on the possible removal of polygamous Hildale Justice Court Judge Walter Steed is three weeks overdue.   Judicial Conduct Commission executive director Colin Winchester said this is the first time a decision for the commission has been late.   Steed, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has been serving as the Hildale Justice Court Judge for the last 24 years.   The Judicial Conduct Commission is trying to remove Steed from the bench because by his own admission he has 32 children by three wives.   Steed holds court twice a month and is paid about $350 per month.   During the course of the year, the five Utah Supreme Court judges hear about 90 to 100 cases, Supreme Court Clerk Pat Bartholomew said.  Of those, only two or three cases a year are for the Judicial Conduct Commission.   But, according to state code 78-107-7 paragraph 8 section C, the court is to make the decision within 90 days of the date when oral arguments are completed.  Arguments in Steed's case concluded on Nov. 2.     Read more

Rogue Cops

The police force in Polygamyland helps fugitive Prophet Warren Jeffs and his cult break the law

By John Dougherty Phoenix New Times Originally published February 23, 2006

The Colorado City Marshal's Office is in a state of insurrection.   And nobody in authority -- from Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano on down -- seems to give a damn.   As the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Prophet Warren Jeffs exerts absolute control over the Colorado City marshal's office -- even as he eludes a nationwide manhunt.  The polygamist prophet has been on the FBI's most wanted list since last August.   The marshal's office is the police department for Colorado City and adjoining Hildale, Utah, just across the state line.  The polygamist enclave on the Arizona Strip has been controlled for more than 70 years by the FLDS, a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon Church.   In two stunning depositions given Friday, February 17, the chief of police and another police officer both repudiated the state laws they are sworn to uphold along with the authority of a Utah judge.   Colorado City Police Chief Fred Barlow and Officer Sam Johnson made it clear that their renegade police force bows strictly to the demands of the FLDS, which of course means it answers finally to Prophet Jeffs.     Read more

State court removes polygamous judge

Hildale mayor says no decision made yet on how to replace Steed

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published February 25, 2006

HILDALE - The Utah Supreme Court came down with a decision on Friday to remove Hildale Justice Court Judge Walter Steed.   The court's decision was made public on Friday, almost three weeks past the 90-day deadline for rendering a decision.   Hildale Mayor David Zitting said he wasn't sure what the city would do to replace Steed, who has served as the justice court judge for 25 years in the community, which is predominately made up of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy.   Steed, by his own admission, has three wives and has fathered 32 children.   The Utah Supreme Court ordered Steed's removal because he "is flaunting the prohibitions of the bigamy statute."   "It takes certain training and qualifications to replace a judge and I don't think we will rush into it," Zitting said.  "You can't replace someone overnight."   Court will still be in session on Saturday and former Hurricane Justice Court Judge Richard Carr will be filling in, Zitting said.     Read more

Colorado City law officers warned

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published March 29, 2006

ST. GEORGE -Law enforcement officers with the Colorado City Marshal's Office have been notified in writing and in person by Peace Officers Standards and Training officials in Utah and Arizona that if officers are not carrying out their duties, they will be replaced.   The problems with officers from the marshal's office, which includes a chief, four officers and a reserve officer certified in both Arizona and Utah, stem mainly from refusing to take action in what the police called "civil matters" and defying court orders.   Since last May when Bruce Wisan, a Salt Lake City certified public accountant, was named the court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust, the financial arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he has been the overseer of all church-owned property.   Despite the court order, equipment and several buildings have been dismantled and removed from UEP property.   Soliciting help from officers of the polygamist communities of Hildale and Colorado City has been unsuccessful.   "I need law enforcement cooperation," Wisan said.   "The real test is whether Hildale and Colorado City police will function as true law enforcement officers or function as an arm of the church."     Read more

Decertify defiant officers

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published March 31, 2006

We place a great deal of trust in our police officers.  We see them in our daily lives in our communities.  We count on them to keep us safe.  They are role models for local youth.  Police officers are a powerful symbol of our collective belief in the rule of law, and we therefore expect them to follow the laws.   That's why it's hard to have any respect for the men who currently call themselves "law enforcement officers" in the twin polygamist border communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.  They do not appear to have any regard for the rule of law.   Hildale/Colorado City Marshal Fred Barlow and his deputies have refused to help "outsiders" such as Bruce Wisan, the state appointed trustee for the United Effort Plan.  Wisan has been trying to help the people of the two communities by sorting out who has a right to what private property.  Wisan has met with stonewalling and less than energetic efforts when he has made requests of Barlow and his staff.   For example, when asked in a deposition, Barlow has claimed to know little about the names and addresses of various people in the community, even though he has lived there his whole life.     Read more

Attorneys question Hildale police

Equipment owned by court-controlled trust is disappearing

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, April 20, 2006

HURRICANE — Attorneys are hauling in police officers to give depositions about buildings and farm equipment that have mysteriously vanished from the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., in violation of a court order.   Helaman Barlow, a deputy town marshal in Colorado City, sat for more than two hours Wednesday in a conference room inside a bank in this southern Utah town.   Preston Barlow was also brought in to answer questions, said Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for the special fiduciary appointed by the courts to oversee the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, the financial arm of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.   "It's all of the property that we think has been removed unlawfully from UEP land," Shields told the Deseret Morning News.  More officers are expected to be brought in today and Friday.   Officer Mica Barlow was also subpoenaed to appear in Hurricane, but he is currently in the custody of the U.S. Marshal's Office after refusing to respond to a subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury in Arizona.  The grand jury is reportedly investigating the FLDS Church and its fugitive leader, Warren Jeffs.   Some of the Hildale-Colorado City police officers — who are members of the FLDS Church, which has long been headquartered in the border towns — have repeatedly refused to answer lawyers' questions about a grain elevator system that was dismantled in December and other property that has disappeared from Hildale and Colorado City.     Read more

Colorado City officers fight back

Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, April 30, 2006

BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. — Police officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City are fighting back.   In court papers filed in Mohave County, Ariz., Superior Court, town marshals Jonathan Roundy, Fred Barlow and Sam Johnson attack claims made by a lawyer for the court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust.   The lawyers have been investigating the theft of a grain elevator system from land owned by the UEP and say the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office did nothing to stop it from being stolen.   "The UEP has only held Real Property for the last fifty years (not saying it can't hold personal property) but there is no listing of the personal properties' on the UEP's assets only real property," the officers wrote in court papers they filed themselves.   In a police report, the officers claim 4-Square owner Joseph Johnson wanted to sell the grain elevator system and also question the authority of the special fiduciary.   A judge will hold a hearing on May 18 to decide whether the police officers must answer the questions or face contempt of court charges.

Sheriff to add forces in Colo. City

By David Bell Today's News-Herald - Havasu City Originally published Saturday, May 13, 2006

Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said he's ready to station more deputies in the polygamous community of Colorado City.   Sheahan was in the northern Mohave County enclave earlier this week, helping serve Grand Jury subpoenas to Town Marshall's officers.   "The Marshall's Office professes its allegiance to (FLDS leader Warren) Jeffs over their duty as peace officers.  They profess it over their allegiance to the state and U.S. Constitutions," Sheahan said.   "While these officers testify before the Grand Jury, we will be sending extra deputies to enforce the law."   Early attempts to serve the officers were met with nothing.  When Sheahan and his Washington County (Utah) counterpart Sheriff Kirk Smith went to the Colorado City Hall and Town Marshall's office they found the building locked and no employees except for one dispatcher.   That dispatcher said all of the city's officials were out of the community.  However Sheahan was able to make contact with the city manager but only by phone.   Four members of local police force were eventually served.  Two others have been missing for a few weeks but Sheahan said he's confident they'll be tracked down.     Read more

Officers Testify Before Arizona Grand Jury

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press KUTV Channel 2 Originally published May 18, 2006

Police services in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, were shut down for at least one day this week when all five officers were called to appear before a state grand jury in Phoenix, the Mohave County, Ariz., sheriff said Thursday.   Sheriff Tom Sheahan said his office served subpoenas on Chief Fred Barlow and his four officers over the past two weeks.   Andrea Esquer, spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, said she could not confirm or deny the existence of a grand jury, the proceedings of which would be secret.   The hearing was held Wednesday in Phoenix's Maricopa County Superior Court.   Chief Fred Barlow, who like his officers is certified in both Arizona and Utah, did not return multiple telephone calls from The Associated Press seeking comment.   Colorado City resident Isaac Wyler said he telephoned police dispatch Wednesday seeking help from an officer and was told "no officers are in town today."     Read more

Are local cops losing their grip on polygamist communities?

By Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally broadcast May 25, 2006

It is the worst kept secret around Hilldale and Colorado City.  Just about everyone in the twin towns on the Utah - Arizona border know that their local cops -- five full-time and one reservist -- have been hauled before a grand jury in Phoenix.  They also know that one did not come back from his appointment with the grand jury.  Despite the secrecy that is supposed to protect grand jury proceedings, it is common knowledge that Officer Micah Barlow is cooling his heels in the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence, Arizona for apparently running afoul of that grand jury.   Based on interviews with former polygamists who are now living both in and out of Colorado City and Hilldale, ABC 4 News has learned that for several years now the marshals have done the bidding of Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs.  They have enforced the eviction of followers from their homes.  They have turned a blind eye to the harassment of dissidents within the community.  They have sworn an oath to uphold the law, but their only real loyalty is to Jeffs.     Read more

Utah POST to seek action against officer

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press Deseret Morning News Originally published June 29, 2006

Utah's police academy will seek disciplinary action against an officer from a polygamist border town who ignored a subpoena from an Arizona grand jury and was subsequently jailed for contempt of court.   Maj. Rich Townsend, director of the Utah Peace Officer Standards And Training Academy, said he'll seek action against Mica S. Barlow when the POST Council, the academy's governing board, resumes its meetings in September.   "This should not happen," Townsend said.  "These officers are officers of the court, and they are sworn to uphold the constitution of the United States and the constitution of the state they operate in.   When they don't, they are violating the peace officer's code of ethics."   Barlow, 36, is a police officer with the Colorado City, Ariz., marshal's office.  He is also certified by the state of Utah, as are most of the department's officers.   A telephone message seeking comment from Colorado City Town Marshal Fred Barlow was not immediately returned.   On April 5, Mica Barlow disregarded a subpoena to testify before a federal grand jury in Phoenix.  U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton issued a warrant for his arrest on a contempt charge.  Barlow surrendered to authorities April 6 and remains incarcerated at the Central Arizona Detention Facility in Florence.  The judge's order says Barlow is to remain in jail until he cooperates with authorities, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.     Read more

Utah may punish Arizona officer

Barlow in jail for refusing to testify

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, July 2, 2006

While police officer Mica Barlow sits in a jail cell in Florence, Ariz., authorities in Utah are seeking to punish him for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury.   The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Council said Thursday that it will seek disciplinary action against Barlow.  He is an officer in the Colorado City, Ariz., Town Marshal's Office but is cross-deputized to serve in Utah.   Refusing to testify before the grand jury "is exactly what the officers of Hildale and Colorado City were warned not to do," said Major Rich Townsend, the director of Utah POST.  "When you're under court order to answer questions as an officer of the law, you answer questions.   It's really as simple as that."   Barlow is refusing to testify before a federal grand jury in Phoenix.  The grand jury is believed to be looking into the Fundamentalist LDS Church and its fugitive leader, Warren Jeffs.   Barlow, 36, was arrested in April on contempt-of-court charges after he refused to testify.  James Allred, 58, the assistant postmaster for the Hildale-Colorado City post office, was also jailed for refusing to testify.     Read more

Civil Rights Violations Alleged By Ex-FLDS Man

The Associated Press KUTV Channel 2 Originally published August 1, 2006

A former member of a southern Utah polygamist church has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit claiming police handcuffed him and tossed him out of his Hildale home last year because he was no longer loyal to the faith.   Andrew Chatwin said he filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City because police and other city officials in Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., are more loyal to leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - who have long dominated both communities - than to the U.S. Constitution.   "The police department and really the whole Colorado City-Hildale government is a theocracy government.  They're run by the church," Chatwin said Tuesday.   "That's really the appropriate word for what's going on down there and we're exposing that theocracy."   Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Colorado City-Hildale police officers Fred Barlow, Helaman Barlow and Jonathan Roundy.   They were served notice of the lawsuit on Monday.  Hildale City is also named as defendant and Hildale Mayor David Zitting was served notice last week, said Sam Brower, a private investigator hired to serve the notices.     Read more

Johnson: Polygamy runs the show

By David Bell Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona Originally published Monday, September 4, 2006

It doesn't matter that their religious leader is behind bars; the Colorado City Police still are following his orders.  That's what Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson said he found when he went to the northern Arizona community late last week. Johnson's attempt to help a fellow fighter of the abuses in Colorado City ran the duo afoul of the local law.  "Flora Jessop was with me, and she wanted to check in on her sister and her mom.  So we went to the Utah side for her mother, and the Colorado City Police refused her access.  It got pretty heated until a Mohave County Sheriff's Deputy got there to calm the situation down," said Johnson.  State Rep. David Lujan and Donnalee Sarda, regional director for the Arizona chapter of Justice for Children, joined Johnson and Jessop in their visit to Colorado City.  Jessop is a former a member of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a sect that practices polygamy in Colorado City and adjoining city of Hildale, Utah.  Johnson has been working with Jessop on battling the abuses in the community for more than a decade.  He said his latest push is to remove the local police from power.     Read more

Officer resigns after stint in prison for contempt

The Associated Press KVOA News 4 - Tucson Originally published September 10, 2006

COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Nine days after ending a five-month stint in prison for refusing to answer the questions of a federal grand jury, a deputy town marshal has resigned his job policing this Arizona-Utah border community that is home to an insular polygamist sect.  Town Marshal Fred Barlow informed Utah police certification officials Monday of Deputy Mica S. Barlow's resignation, said Maj. Rich Townsend, director of Utah's Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) academy.  Arizona's POST received the same call Wednesday, academy compliance manager Bob Forry said.  There is no phone listing for Mica Barlow in Colorado City, and he could not immediately be contacted.  A public records request submitted by The Associated Press on Friday to Colorado City officials seeking a copy of Barlow's resignation letter was not filled, and Fred Barlow could not be reached for comment.     Read more

Police officer resists deposition questions

The Associated Press KVOA News 4 - Tucson Originally published September 23, 2006

SALT LAKE CITY -- A police officer from a southern Utah polygamist enclave is seeking a protective order - not because he fears for his safety but because he doesn't want to answer certain questions related to a church trust.  Attorney Peter Stirba has filed a motion in 3rd District Court to limit the scope of deposition questions for Helaman Barlow, a deputy town marshal from Colorado City, Ariz., which hugs the Utah border.  Barlow is one of at least eight men, several of them officers, who are being pursued for information about the United Effort Plan Trust.  The request comes from attorneys for a court-appointed accountant overseeing $100 million in property.  The trust was established in the 1940s as the charitable arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamy-practicing sect that dominates every aspect of community life in Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah.  But church leaders, including Warren Jeffs, were stripped of control in June 2005, after a judge said they had used assets for personal benefit.  Church members, however, have largely ignored the court orders and refused to cooperate with accountant Bruce Wisan and his attorney, Jeff Shields.  Barlow and others were first deposed in April, after a grain elevator, a modular building and other property disappeared.  Witnesses have said police, including Barlow, refused to comply with court orders and failed to stop the removal.     Read more

Officer from polygamist town surrenders his police certification

Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, November 15, 2006

A police officer from a polygamist town on Utah's southern border has voluntarily surrendered his certification, ending a state investigation into his refusal to testify before an Arizona grand jury.  Mica S. Barlow has signed a consent agreement that permanently revokes his peace officer certification and ends his law enforcement career, said Maj. Rich Townsend, director of Utah's police academy known as POST — Peace Officer Standards and Training.  "I guess he realized his career in law enforcement was over," Townsend said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.  Barlow signed the agreement Sept. 27.  His certification revocation will become final after a vote of POST's governing board in December, POST Lt. Steve Winward said.  Barlow worked for the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office, a small department which provides public safety services for Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. and where deputies hold certifications from both states.  Arizona officials are seeking a similar consent agreement from Barlow, although it's not yet in hand, Arizona POST Deputy Director Lyle Mann said.     Read more

FLDS policeman seeks judge's help

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, November 29, 2006

A police officer in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., is asking a judge to protect him — from the lawyers for the man in charge of the Fundamentalist LDS Church's financial arm.  A judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court will consider today whether or not to grant a protective order to Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal Helaman Barlow.  The protective order seeks to limit the kinds of questions that lawyers for the United Effort Plan Trust can ask.  "In his deposition, Deputy Barlow was repeatedly asked questions about members of his church, about his belief in his church, about the organization of the church and about its leadership," Barlow's lawyer, Barbara Townsend, wrote in a motion for a protective order filed Sept. 21.  "Not only are these inquiries far afield from the subject matter of this case, they seek privileged information."  Barlow is standing by his First Amendment right to freedom of religion.  Lawyers for court-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan have been grilling Barlow about FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and UEP property that has disappeared.  In court papers, they have characterized Barlow as a "defiant witness who repeatedly gave evasive answers, who utterly refused to provide testimony as to a number of relevant areas of inquiry."     Read more

Judge rejects officer's effort to avoid questioning on FLDS

Deposition ordered, and the man must pay attorney costs

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, November 30, 2006

A judge has denied a police officer's request for a protective order to stop lawyers from questioning him about the Fundamentalist LDS Church and captured polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.  Deputy Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal Helaman Barlow's request was not only denied but a judge granted a lawyer's motion to compel him to answer deposition questions.  "Mr. Barlow is being, in some cases, deliberately obtuse," Judge Denise P. Lindberg said during a hearing Monday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.  She also ordered him to pay attorney costs for the court battle.  Lawyers said that would amount to about $10,000.  Barlow will have to continue his deposition concerning missing property that belongs to the United Effort Plan Trust, the financial arm of the FLDS Church.  However, questions about the polygamist church and its leadership may be tweaked a little bit.  "When counsel are there, the questioning usually is more narrow and will be less problematic," Barlow's lawyer Peter Stirba told the Deseret Morning News outside of court.     Read more

Police under fire in polygamy areas

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Thursday, December 7, 2006

SANDY — Police officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are under investigation by the agency that disciplines cops.  The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council voted Wednesday to put the entire Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal's Office under investigation over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  "We feel like this police department is Warren Jeffs' private goon squad on taxpayer dollars," lawyer Zachary Shields told the council.  He is representing the court-appointed special fiduciary of the FLDS Church's financial arm, the United Effort Plan Trust.  Jeffs is currently in Washington County's Purgatory Jail awaiting a preliminary hearing on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony.  He is accused of arranging a child bride marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.  Jeffs is scheduled to be back in St. George's 5th District Court for a preliminary hearing next week.  The courts took control of the UEP Trust, which Shields said controls about 95 percent of the land in Hildale and Colorado City.  It was recently reformed by a judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.  Shields told the POST Council that special fiduciary Bruce Wisan had no cooperation from Hildale police in investigating theft of property.  Officers have refused to answer deposition questions about the FLDS Church and are believed to be acting under another authority.  "We basically have no trust in the police officers.  They have other loyalties," Shields said.  Those claims angered several members of the POST Council, which handles officer certification and discipline.     Read more

Polygamist cops' loyalty to Warren Jeffs may cost them their badges

By Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 Originally published December 9, 2006

Eventually, the small police agency shared by the polygamist communities of Hildale and Colorado City may have to be closed down.  Why?  Because it appears that the Marshal and his Deputies may be more loyal to Warren Jeffs than they are to the law or the constitution.  The town Marshal is under multiple federal and state investigations.  At least the federal investigation is criminal -- looking into whether the Deputy Marshals may have violated the civil rights of the residents of the community.  But the State investigations deal directly with certification.  The Peace Office Training and Standards - POST - boards of both Arizona and Utah are looking at whether the badges for all or some of the cops in Hildale and Colorado City should be taken away.  Arizona is looking specifically at two people: Fred Barlow, the Marshal or head of the force, and Deputy Marshal Preston Barlow.     Read more

Town marshal pledges his allegiance to Jeffs

Letter says towns' officers are loyal to 'Uncle Warren'

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, December 9, 2006

Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal Fred Barlow has pledged his allegiance to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  "I fill (sic) that without priesthood I am nothing," he wrote in a letter obtained by investigators for the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training board.  The letter was given to the Deseret Morning News after a request under the Government Records Access Management Act (GRAMA.)  The letter was written in October 2005 when Jeffs was still a fugitive and begins, "Dear Uncle Warren."  In it, Barlow says all of the police officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are loyal to Jeffs and are working under his directions.  He updated Jeffs, who has since been captured, on a series of investigations by the Arizona Attorney General's Office and Arizona POST.  "I do not know exactly what we have ahead of us, but I do know that I and all of the other officers have expressed our desire to stand with you and the priesthood," Barlow wrote.  Arizona POST officials are investigating Barlow and two other members of the police force over their loyalties to Jeffs and refusal to answer investigators' questions about the FLDS leader.  Fred Barlow is facing several misconduct charges, along with officers Preston Barlow and Mica Barlow.     Read more

MOHAVE COUNTY SUPERVISOR CALLS FOR FEDERAL ACTION AGAINST FLDS AND CONTROLLED COPS

PRESS RELEASE From The Mohave County Supervisor December 11, 2006

Buster Johnson, Supervisor, District 3 of Mohave County, Arizona responded today to media reports that the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, based on the contents of an intercepted letter, has voted to conduct a probe of the entire Hildale/Colorado City police force. The chief law enforcer in the two border towns, Fred Barlow, has admitted to being the author of the letter to Warren Jeffs, which Federal authorities obtained on Oct. 28, 2005, when Jeffs' brother, Seth Jeffs, was arrested in Colorado. "This comes as no surprise to any of us who have been involved trying to help the women and children of Colorado City. It has been no secret that the police force has always been the enforcement arm for their "prophet". The department has always been used to track down those brave enough to escape, monitor daily activities of the people, keep outsiders out and as a harassment tool to keep those who are rebelling in line by arresting them on bogus charges, placing women in mental institutions, facilitating the reassignment of wives to new husbands and issuing citations for imagined traffic violations. Those who have escaped and try to come back to visit family are especially targeted by so called law enforcement. The FLDS has been protected by the department, especially when it comes to crimes committed against those who have left. The comparisons to Hitler's SS are uncanny. Read more

Misconduct charge may impact MCS0

Allegation against Colorado City marshal eventually could lead to more deputies working there

By Aaron Royster Kingman Daily Miner Originally published December 15, 2006

COLORADO CITY - After sending a letter to the polygamist-supporting Mormon sect leader Warren Jeffs, the chief law enforcer with the Colorado City/Hildale Town Marshal's Office has been accused of misconduct.  The long-range implications include the possibility almost all law enforcement in Colorado City will have to be provided by the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.  The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Council has accused Fred Barlow of seeking direction from the federal fugitive Jeffs, refusing to ask questions during a deposition, and refusing to answer questions posed by an investigator for the Arizona Attorney General's Office.  Barlow is the marshal who oversees officers in bordering Colorado City and Hildale, Utah.  Barlow sent a letter in October 2005 to Jeffs in which he refers to the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as "Uncle Warren."  It was obtained by federal authorities on Oct. 28, 2005, when the brother of Jeffs, Seth Jeffs, was arrested in Colorado with the letter, money and other supplies suspected to be intended for Warren Jeffs.  It updated Jeffs on professional and personal aspects of Barlow's life while Jeffs was a fugitive.     Read more

The Vent

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published December 16, 2006

Concerning the so-called law enforcement in the FLDS twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City, when I moved to the area I thought it was rather strange the towns of enough size in two different states would have one police department.  We now know that this law enforcement department is rather unique in more than one way.  How these people are still in the position to enforce the law when they outwardly defy the law is beyond me.  If Utah won't do anything about this problem, let's hope Arizona will.

Above The Law?

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Tuesday, January 9, 2007

COLORADO CITY, AZ - Peace officers in the communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, are already facing revocation of their state certification for a number of blunders and now will face further problems.  In the town of Hildale, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office is currently looking into the lack of the number of police reports taken, now that statistics show in 2004 only three crimes - two burglaries and a larceny - were reported.  Since 2004, the Washington County attorney’s office has only been given four felony cases.  The numbers, along with statements made by former residents about how crimes are really handled in the town, have given the office reason to believe that the law was not properly upheld by police officers.  Another concern is with a combined population of 6,000, not one case of child abuse or sex abuse was reported.     Read more

Hildale officers could lose badges

Investigators from Utah and Arizona quiz town marshals

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, February 3, 2007

The Bible says "no man can serve two masters," but the police officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are being accused of trying.  Authorities in Utah and Arizona are trying to figure out what to do with the police as investigations continue — heading for a March deadline.  Last week, Utah POST investigators traveled to Hildale to speak with the town marshals.  "We just kind of told them, 'Hey, this is what's going to happen, this is where we are in our investigation, and we do expect your cooperation,"' Utah Department of Public Safety spokesman Jeff Nigbur said Thursday.  The officers have retained an attorney to represent them, POST officials said.  A message left with the Hildale Town Marshal's Office seeking comment was not returned Thursday.  One of the allegations is "dereliction of duty." Officers have been called into question over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  The court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust — the financial arm of the FLDS Church — has been urging an investigation into the police.  He has accused them of stalling investigations into the disappearance and destruction of trust property.  At a meeting last month, the Utah POST Council came close to decertifying the entire police department and handing law enforcement duties over to the Washington County sheriff.  However, the council instead decided to put the entire police force under investigation.     Read more

Rejection of polygamy case

Opinion Provo Daily Herald Originally published Monday, March 5, 2007

Anyone who was hoping to see anti-polygamy statutes overturned can thank Rodney Holm for derailing the argument.  Holm is the former Hilldale policeman who challenged his bigamy conviction on the grounds that it violated his religious belief in polygamy.  The U.S. Supreme Court announced this past week that it would not hear Holm's case, allowing his conviction to stand.  There is some merit to the religious liberty argument Holm raised, particularly where consenting adults are engaging in private behavior that doesn't seem to hurt anybody else.  But Holm's case wasn't the best for raising a challenge.  Had he been one of the more traditional polygamists, marrying only consenting adults, he might have been a more sympathetic figure in the eyes of the court.  He was just the opposite -- a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, is currently in the Washington County Jail for allegedly ordering or encouraging underage girls to marry older men.  Nor did it help that Holm's bigamy charge stemmed from marrying his first wife's 16-year-old sister in 1998 when he was 32.  He was charged with unlawful sex with a 16-year-old as a result of that one.  His employment as a police officer who had taken an oath to uphold the laws of Utah made him an even worse poster child for a religious liberty case.  Instead, Holm fits the polygamist stereotype of an older man who preys on younger women.  That's not the kind of conduct the Constitution is supposed to protect.     Read more

Police academies consider future of officers in polygamist towns

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press Fox 10 - Phoenix Originally published Sunday, March 18, 2007

ST. GEORGE -- Officials from police academies in Utah and Arizona will meet here Monday to consider whether the town marshals who patrol a polygamist enclave on the border should be stripped of their badges.  Officers in the tiny Colorado City, Ariz., Town Marshal's office are all said to be members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an insular faith of about 10,000 whose members practice polygamy and consider their leader, Warren Jeffs, a prophet of God.  An investigation launched by Utah in December accuses officers of misconduct for being more loyal to Jeffs than to their badges and oath of office.  Officers are cross-deputized to work in Utah and are certified in both states.  They patrol Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, where most FLDS church members live.   Police have reportedly ignored court orders related to properties held in a church trust and refused to cooperate in depositions conducted by trust attorneys.  POST officials in both states sent officers a warning letter last year reminding them of their duties as sworn officers.  If Utah were to decertify the whole department, the Washington County sheriff's office would likely be asked to takeover police duties for Hildale.  Currently the county has one deputy who patrols the area.     Read more

High noon for FLDS marshals

Utah council meets today to discuss the officers' future

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Monday, March 19, 2007

ST. GEORGE — Police in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., could soon be stripped of their badges.  The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council will meet here today to discuss what to do with the town marshals under scrutiny over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  The officers are all believed to be members of the polygamist church.  They are also cross-deputized to serve in Hildale and Colorado City.  "Warren told them not to cooperate," Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said in an interview with the Deseret Morning News last month.  "But they need to do the things that are constitutionally required."  Jeffs, 51, is jailed in Hurricane's Purgatory Correctional Facility while he awaits an April trial on charges of rape as an accomplice.  He is accused of performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.  Despite being in custody, it appears that Jeffs still issues edicts from behind bars.  A law enforcement source told the Deseret Morning News last year that the FLDS leader would hold "church" services from his cell, phoning in sermons to some of his followers.     Read more

Lawyer defends officers in FLDS towns

By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press YAHOO news Originally published March 19, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah - There is no evidence that officers in two polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border are more loyal to a jailed religious leader than the law and should be stripped of their badges, an attorney said.  Peter Stirba sent a letter defending the town marshals ahead of a Monday hearing of the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council and Arizona's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.  The certification agencies were to determine whether officers in neighboring Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., should be relieved of their duty.  "The officers of Hildale acknowledge that they have room to improve and that they can benefit from more training," Peter Stirba said in the letter, dated Friday.  "However, they also hope that the ... council and the public at large understand that they do support the law of the land and that they do take their oaths of office seriously and sincerely," Stirba said.     Read more

Plans tabled to put Colorado City officers on notice

3TV Staff KTVK-TV - Phoenix Originally published Monday, March 19, 2007

A move to issue formal Letters of Caution to six polygamist police officers was tabled today by Utah and Arizona officials.  The six Colorado City-Hildale police officers were to receive "Letters of Caution."  The formal letters were composed by representatives of Arizona's and Utah's Peace Officers Standards and Training boards.   Law enforcement officers along the border are cross certified by both agencies.  The six sworn police officers have been under investigation for months as questions have been raised about their loyalties to polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs and their willingness to uphold the law.  A source tells 3TV that the Letters of Caution were originally going to be issued at a meeting in St. George, Utah, this afternoon, but during the meeting, the officials voted to table the recommendation.  The six officers will retain their badges and continue to police the streets of Colorado City.

Attorney for polygamous community officers says they want to keep badges

By Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally published March 19, 2007

(St. George, Washington County) It has long been suspected that the 7 full-time members of the Marshal's office in Hildale and Colorado City are more loyal to Warren Jeffs than the law.  Their critics have charged them with obstructing justice, harassing outsiders and violating the civil rights of those who have fallen out of favor with Jeffs.  At the beginning of this year, Police Officer Standards and Training -- POST -- the organization that oversees certification of law enforcement officers in the state of Utah, launched an investigation into the entire Hildale Marshal's department.  That may have been biting off more than its investigative staff could chew.  Today, meeting in St. George, the POST council voted unanimously to put it's investigation on hold while Arizona proceeded with it's own investigation of the Marshals.  Since Hildale and it's twin town of Colorado City straddle the Utah and Arizona border, the town Marshals have to be certified in both states.  Arizona's investigation is said to be further along.  It is also more focused.  Arizona is looking into specific charges that Chief Marshal Fred Barlow and two of his officers stonewalled state and federal inquiries.  Arizona POST should have a decision by this summer.     Read more

WCSO locates Hildale missing person

Press Release Washington County Sheriff's Office Originally published March 19, 2007

On August 31, 2006, Flora Jessop and some of her siblings filed a missing person report with the Hildale Town Marshal's Office.  They said they had been unable to locate or contact their mother Patricia Jessop for over a year and they were concerned for her welfare.  Washington County Sheriff's Office Deputies were present when the complaint was made and provided the Hildale Marshal's Office with the forms necessary to complete an NCIC missing person report.  On November 22, 2006, Flora Jessop contacted the Washington County Sheriff's Office and expressed concern that not enough was being done to locate and verify the welfare of Patricia Jessop.  The Sheriff's Office began a separate missing person case for Patricia Jessop.  At that time, she was entered as missing into the NCIC database.  Our deputies made several attempts to locate and contact Patricia Jessop in the months that followed.     Read more

Not cleared yet

Investigation of FLDS police to remain open

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published March 20, 2007

ST. GEORGE - Despite uncovering deficiencies within the Colorado City Marshall's Office, which also covers Hildale, Utah Peace Officer Standard and Training didn't believe the deficiencies were enough to suspend or revoke Utah peace officer certification for officers of that department.  POST's recommendation, announced during its meeting Monday afternoon at Dixie State College, was to keep the investigation open and issue a letter of caution to all current Hildale peace officers.  But the recommendation was tabled after a motion made by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.  The motion passed unanimously.  Shurtleff said his reasoning for tabling the recommendation was that he was concerned that POST would be sending the wrong message to the officers.  "By taking action today, I didn't want them to think we we're done and that they've been cleared," Shurtleff said.  Part of POST's recommendation was to send a letter to cover specific expectations of the Utah POST Council, which include full compliance with all court orders, fulfillment of each officer's duty to uphold the Constitution of the United States, Utah and Arizona and full cooperation and support of surrounding law enforcement agencies.  Tom Hammerstrom, director of Arizona POST, spoke at the meeting about investigations that agency has pending against Chief of Police Fred Barlow, Preston Barlow and Mica Barlow.  Hammerstrom said he expected the cases against the officers to be heard before July.  Officers of the communities are cross-certified in both Arizona and Utah.  In the past, Arizona has decertified several officers, including Sam Roundy, Rodney Holm and Vance Barlow.  Utah POST has decertified Holm and Mica Barlow.     Read more

FLDS police investigation

Opinion The Spectrum Originally published March 25, 2007

The inaction of Utah's Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (POST) to decertify police officers in the polygamous towns of Hildale and Colorado City means five marshals get to keep their badges.  Badges which at times have been alleged to get tucked away to uphold the "higher law" in loyalty to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints President Warren Jeffs.  Jeffs is heralded as a prophet, seer and revelator.  These titles are given more credit and validity than any Utah Code of Law within the twin towns' police force as evidenced by an intercepted letter from Chief Fred Barlow in 2005 to then-fugitive Jeffs.  Barlow reaffirmed his allegiance to Jeffs and in the letter sought his advice on how to run the police department.  This, in part, has caused wide-spread concern that law enforcement direction has come primarily from Jeffs, even while he sits in a jail cell at Purgatory Correctional Facility awaiting a trial to face charges of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice.  He has additionally been charged in federal court with unlawful flight to evade prosecution.  It makes sense for POST, which oversees Utah peace officers, to keep its investigation open to see how a similar inquiry by Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board turns out.     Read more

Is Jeffs losing his hold over FLDS marshals?

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, June 17, 2007

The officers took an oath to uphold the law, and they swore it before God.  In the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the town marshals face scrutiny over their loyalties — to the constitutions of both states or to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  Now, authorities in Utah say they are beginning to notice a change in the town marshals.  "In your heart of hearts, you would like to think, 'Are they changing?  Have they really come to a conclusion what a good solid policing agency is supposed to do?'" said Rich Townsend, the director of Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training, which certifies and disciplines cops.  "I would like to think yes, but I'm not so foolish as to think that transition has completely occurred."  At its meeting on Thursday, the Utah POST Council said it would wait for the results of hearings by their Arizona counterparts before deciding whether to discipline members of the polygamous communities' police force.  At the heart of the officer misconduct investigations is a letter written by Marshal Fred Barlow to Jeffs, while the polygamous sect leader was still a fugitive.  "I love you and acknowledge you as my priesthood head," Barlow wrote, pledging his allegiance to Jeffs and seeking guidance in the police department's day-to-day affairs.  "They swore an oath to uphold the law but at the same time, put yourself in their position," said Wayne Caldwell, an attorney who has represented the officers.  "They are still members of a church, and whether or not their leader has been arrested or accused of crimes on a fundamental religious issue, he's still their religious leader.  They still look to him for religious guidance."     Read more

Town marshals on hot seats

Hildale pair face Phoenix judge; Jeffs hearing also toda

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, July 17, 2007

The Hildale/Colorado City town marshal and one of his deputies will face an administrative judge today over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  Marshal Fred Barlow and his deputy, Preston J. Barlow, are accused of refusing to answer investigators' repeated questions about the FLDS leader.  The marshal also once wrote a letter to Jeffs, pledging his loyalty to the FLDS leader, who was a fugitive at the time.  "Dear Uncle Warren," the letter begins, and pledges the loyalty of all of the officers in the Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal's Office.  "I love you and acknowledge you as my priesthood head," Barlow wrote.  "And I know that you have the right to rule in all aspects of my live (sic).  I yearn to hear from you."  According to the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, Fred Barlow is accused of:     Read more

Colorado City police torn between religion and law

By Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic Originally published August 9, 2007

COLORADO CITY - One by one, police officers in Colorado City are being stripped of their law-enforcement certification because they cannot serve two masters: a polygamous church and their oath to uphold the law.  In a police department normally staffed with just six full-time officers, four have lost their badges in recent years.  Two more, including town Marshal Fred Barlow, are awaiting decertification rulings from the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, or Arizona POST.  All the ousted officers belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that teaches salvation is attained through plural marriage.  Authorities from Utah and Arizona have cracked down on FLDS child marriages and fraud in this isolated red-rock country.  Warren Jeffs, church president and prophet, garnered most of the news coverage as a federal fugitive charged with acting as an accomplice to child rape.  Now in custody, he is awaiting trial in September.  By contrast, the policing woes in this community of 6,000 attracted little attention, even as the standards board began moving against some deputy marshals.  Some officers were decertified after admitting bigamy.  Others failed to assist in the nationwide manhunt for Jeffs or allowed looting by FLDS church crews.  "How many police departments, even large police departments, do you know that have had this many officers decertified for misconduct?" asked Gary Engels, a Mohave County investigator assigned to the town.  "It's gotta scream to the people in charge that there's something wrong here."     Read more

Charges dropped in Az. polygamy case

The Associated Press The Boston Globe Originally published August 27, 2007

KINGMAN, Ariz. --Prosecutors have agreed to drop charges against a former police officer in the polygamist communities of Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, before his trial was scheduled to get underway next week.  Rodney Holm faced three counts of sexual conduct with a minor between Dec. 1, 1998, and March 31, 1999, and was the last of eight Colorado City men facing similar charges for taking underage girls as plural wives.  But the Mohave County Attorney's Office entered into an agreement with Holm to dismiss the charges without prejudice because his victim allegedly took part in a blackmail scheme.  Authorities said the woman and her brother allegedly tried to obtain money from a leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Based in Hildale and Colorado City, the sect of nearly 10,000 members practices polygamy in arranged marriages.     Read more

FLDS police cadets in the state's sights

POST is wary due to officers' alleged loyalties to Jeffs

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published September 19, 2007

SANDY — When two cadets from the polygamous border town of Hildale get close to graduating from the police academy, Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training director Rich Townsend will sit them down for a chat.  "I'll be admonishing them to take very seriously the matters at hand," Townsend told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday.  "We sincerely hope the police officers down there understand the critical nature of following the constitutions of the United States and this state."  The police officers from the Fundamentalist LDS enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., continue to face scrutiny over their loyalties to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.  Arizona POST officials will decide today whether to take the badges of Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal Fred Barlow and his deputy, Preston Barlow.  They are accused of refusing to answer investigators' questions.  Fred Barlow also is accused of seeking direction from Jeffs when Jeffs was a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.  "Dear Uncle Warren," Barlow wrote in a letter to Jeffs that fell into the hands of Arizona authorities.  In the letter, the marshal pledged the loyalty of all of his officers.  "I love you and acknowledge you as my priesthood head," he wrote.  "And I know that you have the right to rule in all aspects of my live (sic). I yearn to hear from you."  The letter was signed, "Your servant, Fred J. Barlow Jeffs."  In July, an administrative law judge in Phoenix held hearings on the allegations.  An 80-page decision concluded the marshals refused to answer repeated questions from investigators and attorneys.  They were obstinate when responding to calls about disappearing property from Hildale and Colorado City, shortly after the FLDS Church's financial arm, the United Effort Plan Trust, was taken over by the courts.     Read more

FLDS cops stripped of their badges

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published September 19, 2007

Arizona authorities have revoked the badges of two police officers from the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.  At a meeting in Phoenix on Wednesday, the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted unanimously to revoke the certifications of Colorado City Town Marshal Fred Barlow, and one of his deputies, Preston Barlow.  "This was about peace officers not doing their job," said Tom Hammarstrom, the director of Arizona POST.  Utah POST officials told the Deseret Morning News they were considering what action to take next, but were expected to follow Arizona's lead.  The marshals are cross-deputized in both states.  "It's a little bit up in the air whether we'll take emergency revocation action or suspension," said Utah POST director Rich Townsend.  The marshals have faced continued scrutiny over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs, who is now on trial in St. George's 5th District Court on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony.  The marshals were accused of refusing to answer questions from investigators.  Marshal Fred Barlow was also accused of seeking guidance from Jeffs, who was on the FBI's Most Wanted list at the time.  "I love you and acknowledge you as my priesthood head," he wrote in a letter obtained by Arizona authorities.  "And I know that you have the right to rule in all aspects of my live (sic). I yearn to hear from you."  The marshal signed the letter, "Your servant, Fred J. Barlow Jeffs."     Read more

Ariz. Lifts Certifications of Colorado City Officers

The Associated Press KTAR News 92.3 - Phoenix Originally broadcast September 19, 2007

PHOENIX - Arizona on Wednesday revoked the law enforcement certifications of two more officers from Colorado City, taking the total of de-certifications of officers from the polygamist-dominated community to six.  The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted unanimously to revoke certifications of Fred J. Barlow and Preston L. Barlow, said Executive Director Tom Hammarstrom.  The men were found to have engaged in misconduct stemming from refusals to cooperate with one or more legal inquiries, Hammarstrom said.  Those inquiries included depositions regarding disappearance of property belonging to a church trust and a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of sect leader Warren Jeffs.  At the time of the investigation, Jeffs was a fugitive.  He now is on trial in St. George, Utah, on charges of two counts of rape as an accomplice.  Located in an isolated area north of the Grand Canyon, Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, have been dominated by the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that broke away from the Mormon Church.  An attorney for the two decertified officers did not immediately return a call for comment on the board's actions Wednesday.  The de-certifications were the latest in a series of actions by Arizona and Utah authorities against members of the Colorado City marshal's office.  Two officers decertified by Arizona in 2005 were based on findings that the men violated the Arizona Constitution's ban on polygamy and also that they engaged in bigamy, a felony in Utah.  However, the Arizona board had no information that either Fred Barlow or Preston Barlow had violated the polygamy prohibition, Hammarstrom said.  The action still leaves the Colorado City marshal's office with five or six certified officers, according to Hammarstrom.

State lifts certifications of 2 more Colorado City officers

The Associated Press KOLD News 13 - Tucson Originally broadcast September 20, 2007

PHOENIX (AP) - Arizona has revoked the law enforcement certifications of 2 more officers from Colorado City.  That brings the total of decertified officers from the polygamist-dominated community to 6.  The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted unanimously to revoke certifications of Fred J. Barlow and Preston L. Barlow.  The board's director says the men were found to have engaged in misconduct stemming from refusals to cooperate with 1 or more legal inquiries.  Those inquiries included depositions regarding disappearance of property belonging to a church trust and a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of sect leader Warren Jeffs.  Jeffs was a fugitive at the time.  He's now being tried on charges of rape as an accomplice.

Polygamist town police officers stripped of their badges

The Associated Press ABC 4 Originally published September 20, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - The Utah agency that certifies police officers will open its own case after two people were stripped of their badges in Arizona, an official said Thursday.  Colorado City, Ariz., Marshal Fred Barlow and a deputy, Preston Barlow, work both sides of the Utah-Arizona border in communities where many residents belong to a polygamous sect.  The Barlows were decertified in Arizona on Wednesday after an investigation found them guilty of misconduct.  Utah officials were waiting for a decision by Arizona before pursuing their own investigation, said Maj. Rich Townsend, executive director of Police Officer Standards and Training, known as Utah POST.  The case centered on allegations that the Barlows failed to cooperate in civil legal proceedings involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a criminal probe of its embattled president, Warren Jeffs.  The Barlows can appeal to an Arizona court.  Phone calls to their attorneys seeking comment were not immediately returned.  "Arizona received the information first, and we just didn't feel like it was right or appropriate for Utah to jump right in the middle of it," Townsend said.     Read more

Utah will investigate officers

The Associated Press KOLD News 13 - Tucson Originally published September 20, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - The Utah agency that certifies police officers will open its own investigation after two people were stripped of their badges in Arizona.  Colorado City Marshal Fred Barlow and deputy Preston Barlow work both sides of the Utah-Arizona border in communities where many residents belong to a polygamous sect.  The Barlows were decertified in Arizona after an investigation found them guilty of misconduct.  The director of Police Officer Standards and Training says Utah officials were waiting for a decision by Arizona before pursuing their own investigation.  The case centered on allegations that the Barlows failed to cooperate in civil legal proceedings involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a criminal probe of its embattled president, Warren Jeffs.  The Barlows can appeal to an Arizona court.

Cops in polygamous town stripped of badges

From Amanda Townsend and Gary Tuchman CNN Originally broadcast Friday, September 21, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah, (AP) -- Two officers in border towns where many residents belong to a polygamous sect were stripped of their badges in Arizona, and Utah will open its own probe, an official said Thursday.  Fred Barlow, marshal in Colorado City, Ariz., and Preston Barlow, a deputy, were decertified Wednesday in Arizona after an investigation found them guilty of misconduct.  They were accused of not cooperating in civil proceedings involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a criminal investigation of its embattled leader, Warren Jeffs.  In October 2005, when Jeffs was on the run from authorities, Fred Barlow wrote a letter in which he warmly referred to him as "Uncle Warren" and pledged "our desire to stand with you and the priesthood."  Utah officials were waiting for a decision by Arizona before pursuing their own investigation, said Maj. Rich Townsend, executive director of Police Officer Standards and Training.  "Arizona received the information first, and we just didn't feel like it was right or appropriate for Utah to jump right in the middle of it," Townsend said.  He said he will meet with Hildale, Utah, Mayor David Zitting next week to discuss what the city plans to do with the Barlows.  Hildale pays Colorado City $12,000 a year for police services, according to the contract.     Read more

COLORADO CITY, AZ POLICE OFFICERS LOSE BADGES

e-Press Tri-State News Network Originally published Sunday, September 23, 2007

COLORADO CITY, AZ - The town marshal and deputy marshal of the polygamous northern Arizona community of Colorado City has been stripped of his law enforcement powers, in part for his failure to cooperate in the manhunt for church leader Warren Jeffs, whose sex crime trial is winding down in Utah.  The Arizona Peace Officer Standard and Training (POST) Board voted Wednesday to revoke the peace officer certifications of Marshal Fred Barlow and Deputy Marshal Preston Barlow.  POST Executive Director Tom Hammarstrom said the Barlow's were sanctioned for their lack of cooperation with investigators who were looking for Jeffs when the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) was on the run more than a year ago.  Hammarstrom said the Barlow's can request a rehearing essentially challenging the POST Board findings and revocation of their peace officer status.  "This is not surprising and is certainly expected," Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said of the POST action.  Sheahan said the questionable conduct of the Marshall’s Office and its officers extends beyond the hunt for Jeffs.  "They have very seldom worked with us when we’ve had arrest warrants for people in their community and we had suspected for a long time that they [marshals] had tipped them (suspects) off when we were looking for them," Sheahan said.  "We've had numerous instances of the Colorado city Marshall’s Office not taking action on legitimate law enforcement complaints."

Shots under review: Incident under investigation in Colorado City

By Patrice St. Germain The Spectrum Originally published October 10, 2007

HURRICANE - A shooting incident in Colorado City on Friday is under investigation by the Colorado City Marshal's Office.  Resident Isaac Wyler was at a horse corral on property owned by the United Effort Plan when three shots were fired.  Bruce Wisan, a court-appointed special fiduciary for the UEP trust, the financial arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said he had been told that it was a truck backfiring, not gunshots that Wyler heard, but Wisan isn't convinced that's true.  Wyler posts tax notices in the polygamist town for Wisan.  "They (the police) seem to have an answer for everything," Wisan said.  "Initially they came up with some people then they find out who it is and it just disappears and everything is OK."  Wyler was out of town and unavailable for comment but Wisan said this isn't the first time Wyler and others who do work for him have been subject to harassment.  Wisan said Wyler, along with Andrew Chatwin, has sued Colorado City and the police department.  Another man who works for Wisan, Jethro Barlow, has also been harassed, he said.  Wisan said Wyler also had a vehicle break into his corral, drive around and hit a stallion worth approximately $25,000.  The animal had to be destroyed.  That incident also took down about 200 feet of fencing -- all of which is UEP property.  Wisan said the report was investigated by Colorado City police but had not been resolved.     Read more

Two Hildale cops quit over questions of FLDS loyalties

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Two police officers in the polygamous border town of Hildale, Utah, have resigned amid questions and accusations over their allegiance to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.  The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council confirmed the resignations of Hildale Town Marshals Fred Barlow and Preston Barlow, Utah Department of Public Safety spokesman Jeff Nigbur said.  "It was within the last couple of months that they resigned," he said Wednesday.   The two marshals were cross-deputized in Colorado City, Ariz., but their certifications were revoked in September.  Proceedings are still under way to decertify the two ex-marshals in Utah, despite their resignations.  "There is concern about their refusing to answer questions in a deposition and their communications to a known felon," Nigbur said.  "We will be fair and impartial. Fred and Preston need to be able to explain their side."  Utah POST is planning an administrative law hearing sometime in late December to give the two ex-police officers a chance to explain their side of things.     Read more

2 FLDS marshals may lose badges

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, December 7, 2007

SANDY — Two marshals from the Fundamentalist LDS border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., will face disciplinary action over their loyalties to polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs.  The Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council decided Thursday to move ahead with an administrative law hearing next month to formally take the badges of Hildale/Colorado City town marshals Fred Barlow and Preston Barlow.  "We're looking to schedule a default hearing," Utah POST investigator Steve Winward said Thursday.  "We're looking to have it all finalized in March."  The two officers' certifications were revoked in Arizona back in September, and they resigned from the town marshal's office a short time later.  Yet the POST Council has decided to proceed with the hearings.  "Do we have to do a default hearing? Can't we just take action on it?" Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff asked.  "As per our administrative rules and guidelines, it's recommended we do this.  It's just so the process is clean," Winward replied.     Read more

2 Hildale officers cleared in '04 case

Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, February 22, 2008

Two Hildale police officers acted lawfully in detaining a man in 2004, a federal judge ruled this week.  U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball dismissed the case against Hildale and the officers Wednesday.  "There has been somewhat of a drum beat against these Hildale marshals for some time, and it is satisfying that we have shown them to be the professionals they truly are," attorney Peter Stirba said in press statement Thursday.  In September 2005, Andrew Chatwin accused Hildale marshals Fred Barlow, Helaman Barlow and Jonathan Roundy of violating his constitutional rights when they handcuffed him and detained him for more than an hour.  The incident started when Chatwin tried to move into a home owned by the United Effort Plan trust, which owns much of the property around the polygamous community.  In his lawsuit, Chatwin claimed to be the homeowner.  He said he left the property under his father's care in 1996 and was blocked by then-leader Warren Jeffs when he tried to return in 2004.  When Chatwin went to visit his father at the home in 2004, police were called.  The man was handcuffed and investigated for trespassing.

Police misconduct hits record high

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, March 25, 2008

ST. GEORGE — A record 35 cases of police officer misconduct were brought before the agency that certifies and disciplines officers.  The majority of the cases the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council dealt with on Monday involved sexual misconduct, prompting POST's newly appointed director to suggest more ethics instruction to officers and cadets.  "Officers think, 'That's not happening,' when in fact it is," POST executive director Scott Stephenson told the Deseret Morning News.  "We're hitting ethics really, really hard."  As they ran down the long list of officers facing sanctions, many council members took a hard-line stance.  In some cases, they rejected what they believed were lighter suspensions.  "Whether it's one time or repeated times, I really think we have to send a strong message that that type of behavior is intolerable," said Utah Department of Corrections director Tom Patterson, when reviewing the disciplinary actions against four Utah County sheriff's deputies involved in a jailhouse sex scandal last year while on-duty and off-duty.  The deputies received suspensions ranging from two to four years and have resigned from their jobs.     Read more

Colorado City residents say sheriff unfairly targeting marshal's office

By DAVE HAWKINS SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published March 17, 2009

KINGMAN, Ariz. -- Leaders of Colorado City, where members of a polygamous religious enclave reside, are filing complaints accusing Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan of misconduct.  Town Manager David Darger told Mohave County supervisors Monday that Sheahan has gone overboard in efforts to discredit and decertify members of the marshal's office in the northern Arizona community.  Colorado City is home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  "This wholesale attack on the city police department is far outside the bounds of propriety of any elected official," Darger said at the meeting.  "The town is currently filing a complaint with the governor's office and the attorney general's office concerning this ongoing problem of how the county handles Colorado City issues."  Sheahan and Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith contend that county law enforcement presence in Colorado City is necessary.  They said several town marshals have been decertified in recent years because they were less loyal to the law than they were to their religion and to FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, who is jailed in Kingman and awaiting trial.     Read more

County considers office site near polygamous town

The Associated Press KSWT-TV - Yuma, Arizona Originally published May 19, 2009

KINGMAN, Ariz. (AP) - Mohave County officials are looking into a parcel of land just south of a remote polygamous town to house government satellite offices.  The county began searching for a new property after a 5-year lease it had on the Mohave Community College campus in Colorado City expired last month.  The Mohave County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to consider a site one mile south of Colorado City near the airport that possibly could be donated to the county.  County spokesman Darryle Purcell says options for other sites aren't off the table.  But he says this one is favorable because it would save taxpayers money.  Some Colorado City residents have objected to the presence of the county sheriff's department and other officials in their town.

FLDS Member, Ex-Cop Sues Over Job Loss

Stripped Of His Badge Over Questions Of His Allegience, FLDs Member Claims Arizona Authorities Crossed The Line

By Ben Winslow Fox 13 News Originally broadcast September 20, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY - A former police officer from the polygamous border town of Colorado City has filed a lawsuit against Arizona authorities, accusing them of violating his religious freedom rights.  In the lawsuit, Fundamentalist LDS Church member Preston Barlow seeks his job back, as well as compensation.  Filed in Phoenix, the lawsuit names the Arizona Attorney General's Office as well as the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the agency that certifies and disciplines police officers.  Two Arizona POST investigators are also named in the lawsuit.  Barlow, 30, claims that he had only been a Colorado City town marshal for about a month back in 2006 when Arizona POST investigators came to him with questions as part of an overall inquiry into the police department in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.  "They told him it was not an investigation, even though it was an investigation," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Barlow.  The twin cities' marshals had come under increasing scrutiny over their allegiances to their faith and the law.  At the time, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was a fugitive and on the FBI's Most Wanted list.  Arizona authorities had already obtained a letter penned by another town marshal who pledged his loyalty to the polygamist leader.  According to a transcript of an interview conducted by POST investigators, Barlow was quizzed about Jeffs.  "If you knew where he was would you tell us?" POST investigator John Malkiewicz asked Barlow, according to the lawsuit.  "I choose not to answer that," Barlow replied.     Read more

FLDS man sues Ariz. over loss of police job

By Jennifer Dobner Associated Press The Arizona Republic Originally published Monday, Sept. 21, 2009

SALT LAKE CITY - A former police officer from a polygamous community has filed a lawsuit against Arizona officials, claiming he was defamed and his civil rights violated when they revoked his police certification.  Attorneys for Preston Barlow filed the lawsuit Friday in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix.  Named as defendants are Attorney General Terry Goddard, two investigators and the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board.  Barlow's certification was revoked in September 2007 after allegations of misconduct the previous year.  The lawsuit contends that Barlow, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was targeted for his faith and misled about the nature of the investigation that ended with his decertification and the loss of his job.  Barlow, 30, is one of at least six officers from the Colorado City Town Marshal's office to be decertified by authorities in Arizona or Utah since 2003, some for the practice of polygamy, a tenet of the FLDS faith.  Barlow is the first to file a civil rights lawsuit against officials in either state.  "The FLDS people are no longer going to allow the state to ignore their constitutional rights and they are going to hold the state accountable when it does trample on those rights," Parker said Monday.  In addition to unspecified punitive damages, legal fees and lost wages, the lawsuit seeks Barlow's reinstatement as a police officer and a retraction of statements which Barlow believes were defamatory.  Goddard spokeswoman Anne Hilby declined comment Monday, saying the office has not yet been served with the lawsuit.  A telephone message seeking comment from Arizona POST Director Lyle Mann was not immediately returned.     Read more

Read the Preston Barlow v Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and Arizona POST lawsuit filed September 18, 2009

Read a transcript of the Disagreements between Police Chief Jonathan Roundy and Fred Jessop and Shawn Stubbs over UEP farm land

Read the letter from the attorney for the UEP Special Fiduciary to the Hildale/Colorado City Police Department dated April 11, 2008

Read the Arizona POST Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Decision and Order of Revocation regarding Marshal Fred J. Barlow and Deputy Preston L. Barlow dated September 21, 2007

Read the Arizona POST Notice of Errata regarding Marshal Fred J. Barlow and Deputy Preston L. Barlow dated August 10, 2007

Read the Arizona POST Administrative Judge Law Decision regarding Marshal Fred J. Barlow and Deputy Preston L. Barlow dated August 7, 2007

Read exerpts from the February 16-17, 2006 legal depositions taken as part of the investigation into the disappearance of a grain elevator from the Four Square Mill in Colorado City, Ariz., in January.

Read the 2005 Hinkley Journal of Politics study Child Abuse in Arizona and Utah Polygamous Families by Carly Castle starting on page 33

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