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| Support Your Local Sheriff | |
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. | |
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| Lawyer Asks Judge to Stop Hearing for Polygamist Cop | |
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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' | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
| 1/2 of town's cops are polygamists | |
| But state officials not pursuing criminal charges against officers | |
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YOUR GOVERNMENT AT WORK WorldNetDaily.com - Washington, D.C. Originally published June 10, 2004 | |
| An eight-month investigation by the state of Utah has found more than half of the police officers in the southern town of Hildale practice polygamy – that is, having more than one spouse. "Hildale has 13 officers who are certified by Utah, seven by our records are polygamists," Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told the Salt Lake Tribune. He says some on the force were aware of the illegal activity by fellow officers, but did not take any action. And though Shurtleff himself ordered the inquiry, he's not pursuing criminal charges on any of the accusations. "We just don't have the resources to start charging bigamy," Shurtleff told the paper. The attorney general, who maintains police officers need to be held to a higher standard, is instead looking to strip the officers of their ability to enforce the law. The population of Hildale and its sister city, Colorado City, Ariz., include many members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which practices polygamy. The more well-known Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has disavowed its previous doctrine that polygamy was acceptable. The mayor of Hildale, David Zitter, is reportedly not pleased with the probe, calling the attorney general's polygamy investigator, Ron Barton, "a nuisance," adding that Shurtleff was making "a direct assault on polygamy." Read more | |
| Police in Polygamist Community Get Reviews | |
| Several agencies reviewing police officers in polygamist community | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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. | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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? | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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? | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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' | |
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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 | |
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PRESS RELEASE From The Mohave County Supervisor December 11, 2006 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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? | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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? | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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. | |
| Read Judge Dale Kimball's Memorandum Decision and Order regarding the case of Andrew Chatwin vs Fred Barlow, et al., filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah on February 20, 2008 | |
| Police misconduct hits record high | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
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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 | |
| Tense relations lead to violent threat in FLDS communities | |
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By Emiley Morgan Deseret News Originally published Wednesday, July 14, 2010 | |
| HILDALE, Washington County — An ongoing rift between those who live in the twin polygamist communities of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz. and those who have been court-appointed to oversee their assets has escalated to the point that the Arizona Attorney General's Office is asking for a emergency court hearing to address the issues. The "emergency report" was filed last week and outlined conflicts over grain silos, fields, basic utilities and homes and allegations that local law enforcement has failed to abide by arrangements made by accountant Bruce Wisan who oversees the Fundamentalist LDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust. The trust was created by the FLDS Church in 1942 on the concept of a "united order," allowing followers to share in its assets. Utah courts took control of the trust in 2005 following allegations that it had been mismanaged by church leader Warren Jeffs. Members of the sect have long held that 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg's decision to reform the trust, which is valued at more than $110 million and holds most of the property in Hildale, Colorado City, Ariz. and Bountiful, British Columbia, was a violation of their First Amendment rights to practice their religion freely. Lindberg appointed Wisan as the special fiduciary of the trust and later authorized the sale of Berry Knoll, a 438-acre parcel of land church members claim was consecrated for a temple, to repay the trust's $3 million in debt. One exhibit attached to the filing includes a tape recorded threat allegedly made by frustrated Trust Advisory Board member Seth Cooke. In the recording, he tells a law enforcement officer that if a plowing issue on Berry Knoll wasn't resolved, he would "go get my .270 and come out here and start shooting people." Read more | |
| EXCLUSIVE: Have the cops in Colorado City become "Lawless" lawmen? | |
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Reported by: Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally broadcast July 22, 2010 | |
| COLORADO CITY, AZ (ABC 4 News) - Are the local police in the polygamist communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City playing favorites? A small minority of people in town answer, "yes." This minority is made up of people who are no longer members of the FLDS faith -- they're called apostates. But while many who have left the polygamist church have also left town, these people either refused to leave or have recently returned after getting occupancy agreements from a court-appointed administrator for some of the abandoned homes in the towns. The apostates have long claimed to be victims of the majority's relentless drive to "purify" the community by forcing out non-believers. But recently, they say to has gotten worse. Much worse. On Tuesday Matt and Genevive Hainline were hauled off to jail by town marshals for trying to clean out a work shed in their backyard. The marshals claimed to have a restraining order signed by a local justice of the peace keeping them from an address that does not exist -- an address apparently identifying the backyard of their corner lot. The day after they were released from jail, the marshals were back warning the Hainlines not to step foot in their backyard. Matt told them, "If we're banned from our property then they should stay off the property." Hainline was referred to FLDS members who had occupied the property more than two years ago. They were continuing to come onto the Hainlines' property getting in and out of the shed. Read more | |
| Read the Moccasin Court Injunction Against Harassment filed by Alvera J. Black against Matthew and Genevive Hainline and signed by Justice of the Peace Mitchell Kalauli on July 20, 2010 | |
| Read the Colorado City Marshal Office's Arrest Report of Matthew and Genevive Hainline on July 20, 2010 | |
| Fiduciary Requests FBI To Investigate Cops In Colorado City And Hildale | |
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Reported by: Brian Mullahy KUTV 2News Originally broadcast July 25, 2010 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - A spokesman for the "special fiduciary" overseeing property in Hildale-Colorado City said police in the polygamous communities have gone "rogue." Val Oveson said the fiduciary's firm "would love to have federal law enforcement be more vigilant in the communities, to make sure all the laws are enforced." Specifically, Oveson said the fiduciary wants to the FBI to keep an eye on the activities of local police, known as marshals. Oveson is a former Utah lieutenant governor, and now partner in an accounting firm run by Bruce Wisan. Years ago, Wisan was tapped by a state judge to run the United Effort Plan Trust, an entity that controlled much of the property where FLDS members live and work. The appointment followed suspicions of misuse of trust assets. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, now spending time for being an accomplice to rape in an "arranged" marriage of a teenage girl, once seemed to hold sway over the property, reportedly assigning people to houses, and evicting others from homes. Marshals in Hildale-Colorado City, no strangers to controversy, have faced questions about whether their prime allegiance is to the law, or the FLDS leadership. "They are discriminating and not enforcing the law in a fair and even manner," said Oveson, citing as an example a recent dispute over wheat stored at granaries. Read more | |
| EXCLUSIVE: FBI looking into Colorado City arrest | |
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Reported by: Brent Hunsaker ABC 4 News Originally broadcast July 29, 2010 | |
| COLORADO CITY, AZ (ABC 4 News) - The FBI is taking an interest in the arrest last week of a Colorado City couple by town marshals. Matt and Genevive Hainline were arrested on Tuesday, July 20th, on their own property. The marshals claimed to have a temporary restraining order signed by a local justice of the peace against the Hainlines. The TRO essentially forbid them from entering their own back yard. The TRO identified their back yard and a work shed in it by a separate address. It appeared to subdivide the Hainline's property creating a separate lot where one does not exist. The Hainlines have roots in the town, but are not part of the FLDS polygamist group. Two years ago they received an authorization of occupancy for the property from an administrator appointed by a Utah judge to oversee the UEP trust. The trust owns most of the land in the community. Last week ABC 4 News first showed you video of Genevive Hainline's arrest by two marshals. They appeared to pull her down off a truck and throw her to the ground. Even after being handcuffed, Hainline was held face-down on the ground with a knee in the small of her back. Some people in the town dominated by the FLDS complain the marshals routinely ignore the law, instead following the directions of their religious leaders. Sources tell ABC 4 the Hainlines, as well as some of the people who witnessed the arrest, were interviewed by FBI agents in Kingman, Arizona. The point of the interviews is unknown. The FBI will not confirm or comment on current investigations. See photo | |
| Sheriff's office investigating Colorado City police activities | |
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By JIM SECKLER Mohave Daily News Originally published Sunday, September 5, 2010 | |
| KINGMAN — The Mohave County Sheriff's Office is investigating numerous complaints against the Colorado City police officers. Colorado City, along with Hildale, Utah, is the home of the polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church. The incorporated city employs about a half dozen police officers. Sheriff Tom Sheahan said his office has investigated 20 to 25 complaints against Colorado City's town marshals in the past year. The complaints range from trespassing, criminal damage, harassment and the death of domestic animals in recent months. The complaints include city marshals causing the release of animals from fenced areas and plowing under of crops owned by non-FLDS residents who have lived in the area for years, Sheahan said. The sheriff also said the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice has been to Colorado City in the past two weeks and is working with MCSO in investigating the complaints. Sheahan said he has seen an increase in defiance and incidents by Colorado City officials in the past year. He has also seen an increase in traffic back and forth between Colorado City and an FLDS compound in Texas. The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training (AZPOST) board has decertified five Colorado City town marshals since 2005 and eight marshals since 1990. The sheriff's office has worked with the AZPOST board in investigating the city's police officers in actions including malfeasance, being uncooperative with other law enforcement and practicing multi-marriages, Sheahan said. Read more | |
| POST takes disciplinary action against 27 officers | |
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By Kelly Just Deseret News Originally published Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2010 | |
| SANDY — The Peace Officer Standards and Training council took disciplinary action against 27 current and former law enforcement officers from 15 agencies across Utah on Monday. POST council members revoked the certification of eight officers for assault, possession of a controlled substance, theft and lying under a law enforcement oath, known as Garrity. Seventeen other officers were suspended from duty for a period of nine months to an indefinite amount of time. Seven of those suspensions went to officers found guilty of driving under the influence. Former Midvale Police Sgt. John Salazar received a two-year suspension of his certification for driving while under the influence through a Holladay neighborhood in November 2009. While driving an unmarked Midvale police car, Salazar sideswiped and damaged a couple of parked cars, totalling the department's vehicle. Salazar resigned from the Midvale Police Department and has since retired from law enforcement. Another DUI-related suspension was imposed upon former West Valley Police Lt. Kory Newbold. In February, a UHP trooper spotted Newbold's car weaving across the street and speeding through South Salt Lake. The council suspended Newbold for nine months. He, too, has retired. Former Farmington Police Lt. Shane Whitaker earned a one-year suspension for soliciting a prostitute. Whitaker was second in command at the department when he was arrested in an undercover prostitution sting at a Layton hotel in July. Whitaker resigned from the Farmington Police Department. Read more | |
| Feds working Colorado City corruption probe | |
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By Dave Hawkins SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published July 29, 2011 | |
| Federal authorities have been conducting a corruption investigation in Colorado City, Ariz., this week. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said FBI agents and others are focusing on allegations involving city government and the town marshal's office. "I can confirm that we've been working with Department of Justice officials from the Civil Rights Division in Washington, D.C.," Sheahan said. "We have been working together on various issues for close to two years and they're following up on some of the information." Sheahan said he is not at liberty to disclose further details. Colorado City and the neighboring community of Hildale, Utah, are home to some 6,500 members of a polygamy practicing sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Church leader Warren Jeffs, 55, is on trial in Texas on child sexual assault charges. | |
| BILL TO REPLACE LAW ENFORCEMENT IN COLORADO CITY PASSES SENATE COMMITTEE UNANIMOUSLY | |
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February 08, 2012 Press Release For immediate Release Contact: Amy Rezzonico (602) 542-8019 www.AZAG.gov | Facebook | Twitter | |
PHOENIX (Wednesday, February 08, 2012) -- A bill which would have the effect of replacing law enforcement in Colorado City with the Mohave County Sheriff's Office this morning passed the Senate Government Reform Committee unanimously. Attorney General Tom Horne testified that, of 17 bills he has suggested to the legislature, this one has the highest priority in terms of the safety and well being of Arizona citizens. Young women trapped in polygamist arrangements with much older men, who had escaped from Colorado City, have stated that other women trying to escape were caught by the local police (referred to as "Marshalls") and forcefully returned to their husbands. In one case, the husband threatened "blood atonement" if the woman tried again escape, which involves execution by a method too horrible to describe here. Read more | |
| Arizona bill would force Colorado City police to disband | |
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by Dennis Wagner News from The Arizona Republic Tucson Citizen Originally published February 8, 2012 | |
| The polygamist-controlled town of Colorado City would be forced to disband its police department under a bill that passed an initial legislative hurdle Wednesday. The measure was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Government Reform at the urging of Attorney General Tom Horne. If adopted by the full Legislature and signed into law, Senate Bill 1433 could shut down a municipal police force whenever more than half of the average number of officers has been decertified over a period of time. Among Arizona's 91 incorporated communities, Colorado City is believed to be the only one that would meet that criteria. The town along the Utah line serves as base for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which teaches that plural marriage is instrumental to heavenly exaltation. Members of the sect control the town and its police agency, known as the Marshal's Office. Town officials did not respond to interview requests. Colorado City and its sister community, Hildale, Utah, have been targeted for years by authorities in connection with under-age marriages, fraud and other crimes. The church's president and prophet, Warren Jeffs, is serving a life sentence in Texas for having sexual relations with underage girls. Investigators and former church members complain that town officers ignore the law and instead carry out directives from spiritual leaders. Read more | |
| Arizona bill targets police in FLDS border town | |
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Paul Davenport Associated Press Deseret News Originally published Wednesday, Feb. 8 2012 | |
| PHOENIX — A bill advancing in the Arizona Legislature would abolish the police department in Colorado City, a northern Arizona community where state Attorney General Tom Horne says officers who are followers of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs flout the law. The bill would set up a process for a local police agency to be abolished if at least half of its officers have lost their law enforcement certifications, and Horne said there already have been enough de-certifications of Colorado City officers to pull that trigger. The Senate Government Reform Committee's approval of the bill on Wednesday positions it for consideration by the full Senate following a legal review by the Rules Committee. Senate passage would send it to the House. Chief Marshal Jonathan Roundy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the bill. Horne said Colorado City officers who have been decertified "are simply replaced by other followers of Mr. Jeffs, who put their loyalties to what Mr. Jeffs says rather than to court decisions or to the law. He still runs things from prison." Jeffs, head of the Utah-based Fundamentalist LDS Church, is serving a prison sentence of life and 20 years in Texas where he was convicted of sexually assaulting two underage sect girls whom he took as plural wives. Horne was Arizona's elected state superintendent of public instruction when Arizona seized control of the Colorado City school district based on findings of financial mismanagement. The district has since emerged from receivership. Read more | |
| Read Arizona Senators Gray's and Gould's Arizona SB 1433 regarding the Colorado City Police, dated February 8, 2012 | |
| Read Arizona Senators Gray's and Gould's Arizona SB 1433 regarding the Colorado City Police, dated March 15, 2012 | |
| Bill would force Utah polygamous town to disband police department | |
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By Dennis Romboy Deseret News Originally published Monday, Feb. 13 2012 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY — The polygamous town of Hildale would be forced to close down its police department if half its officers were to lose their certification under a bill initiated in the Utah Legislature on Monday. At the request of the Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said he opened a bill file that would allow a county sheriff's office to take over law enforcement if majority of a department's officers were decertified. "It's a real problem in the polygamous communities," Bramble said. "Anecdotally, there are stories of police whose allegiance is to something other than the Constitution and the laws of the state and have been apprehending people improperly." Specifics of the bill are still being worked out. The proposal comes on the heals of similar legislation aimed at Hildale's polygamous sister community, Colorado City, Ariz. The twin cities are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It also comes during a time of turmoil in the FLDS community. Many are leaving the faith due to recent edicts from imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs. At the same time, there are reports of increasing devotion to the man who is serving a life sentence for raping underage girls. Read more | |
| Police Force in Polygamous Town Could be Decertified | |
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by Jessica Gail KCPW Wasatch Public Media - Salt Lake City, Utah Originally published February 13, 2012 | |
| (KCPW News) Big changes could be on the way for the polygamist community of Hildale. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tells KCPW behavior in the small town has grown increasingly erratic since the arrest of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, and now the state is looking to step in and clean up the local police force. "Local law enforcement is not respecting and enforcing the role of the special judiciary Bruce Wisan down there, not following the orders of the court as far as who has the right to be on certain properties," he says. "So, a number of citizens down there appealed to us, saying you need to protect us too, things are getting heated up, we don't feel like local law enforcement is protecting equally and fairly across the board." Shurtleff says he began working with the legislature on developing a plan that would allow the county to take over if most of the officers in the town are decertified. "We would take this through the standard process that we do with any police disciplinary matter and that is through POST council. And only through POST council investigation and possible decertification of a majority of officers in the Hildale town marshall's office would be then be looking at maybe the county taking over primary law enforcement authority there in Hildale," says Shurtleff. Arizona is currently working on a bill that would apply to Colorado City. Shurtleff says their approach is significantly different than what he wants to do here, because it would give all the power to their Attorney General to go and shut down the police department right away. | |
| New bill targets polygamy police | |
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Reported by: Chris Vanocur ABC 4 News Originally broadcast February 13, 2012 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Warren Jeffs' polygamy police force is now coming under fire. A new bill is being written on Utah's Capitol Hill, one which could do away with the Hildale cops. For several years, ABC 4 has led the way reporting on alleged police abuses in Southern Utah's polygamist community. Now, Utah's Attorney General and key legislators may be getting ready to disband the polygamy police in Hildale, Utah. Arizona's legislators have already given early approval to a similar bill, one disbanding the police force in Colorado City, Arizona. But those same marshals police Hildale, Utah. So, Utah lawmakers are targeting alleged law breaking lawmen there. ABC 4 began raising questions about Hildale's marshals years ago. Like the time marshals forcibly removed a couple from their own land. Now, finally, Utah legislators are paying attention too. Sen. Curt Bramble, the bill's sponsor, told ABC 4, "Are they acting in the public's best interest in enforcing the law or are they using their position of authority for their own agenda?" There was also the time marshals dug up another couple's front yard without a warrant. Or the family farm that was vandalized while marshals reportedly stood by and did nothing. Read more | |
| Legislation would disband police force | |
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Josh Loftin and Jennifer Dobner Associated Press The Spectrum Originally published February 15, 2012 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY - A Utah senator is proposing legislation that could disband the police department that serves the Utah-Arizona border towns dominated by followers of polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff asked him to sponsor the legislation. The bill has not yet been drafted but is envisioned as a companion to Arizona legislation that proposes to dismantle any police department where half or more of officers have been decertified, Bramble said. Arizona's legislation targets the six-member Colorado City Town Marshal's Office, which polices Colorado City and Hildale, where authorities allege officers put loyalty to their church ahead of the law. The bill was passed by an Arizona Senate committee last week. Since 2003, six officers have been investigated by police academies in both states and had their certifications revoked. The last two were in 2007. Their offenses included practicing polygamy, refusing to answer questions about Jeffs during the time he was a fugitive and failing to enforce court orders related to Utah's takeover of a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints land trust that holds the land and homes of church members. "If their oath is not to the Utah Constitution and to the U.S. Constitution, then how do they serve and protect, 'we the people'?" Bramble asked late Monday. "The issue really is that if the law enforcement officers have been decertified, the department ought to be decertified and the county sheriff should come in and take over the law enforcement." Read more | |
| Hildale police | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published February 16, 2012 | |
| A bill in the Utah Legislature related to the Hildale-Colorado City area has its flaws, but the concept behind it is one that lawmakers should explore, refine and pass. The bill - which hasn't been drafted yet - is being sponsored by Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, at the behest of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. If passed, it would disband the police department that serves the border towns that are dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The legislation is a companion bill to one under consideration in the Arizona legislature that would disband police departments in which half or more of its officers have been decertified. While there are statistics to back up the need for such legislation - since 2003, six officers from the Hildale-Colorado City department have been decertified - this is a not-so-veiled attempt to address the issue of police officers there putting loyalty to their church ahead of their oath to enforce the laws of the land. The concept behind this bill is worthwhile. It's been documented that some police officers there refused to answer questions about FLDS church leader Warren Jeffs when he was fleeing authorities, and they failed to enforce court orders related to the United Effort Plan land trust, which owns a majority of the land and homes of church members. Laws are needed on both side of the border to prevent the department from simply moving from one state to another to avoid the ramifications. Read more | |
| Hildale, Colorado City residents watch lawmakers' bids to disband police | |
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Kevin Jenkins The Spectrum Originally published February 26, 2012 | |
| ST. GEORGE - An Arizona legislative bill that could lead to the dissolution of Hildale and Colorado City's police department is receiving praise from some members of the community who say officers there routinely favor fellow members of their polygamous church when conflicts arise with others. "I'm actually excited and hoping it's going to go through," said Dawna Bistline, a Hildale resident who grew up in a Colorado City polygamous family that practiced the tenets of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Bistline left the FLDS church in 2006, but she remains a member of the twin towns' community and said she believes the police department that jointly serves Colorado City and Hildale tends to ignore requests for help from law enforcement when the requests come from "apostates" who are not among the FLDS faithful. "I definitely think they're biased," Bistline said, recounting an example of how she had asked for help when a girl living with her threatened suicide and ran away from home. "The cops said they couldn't do anything for 24 hours," Bistline said. "If FLDS parents call the cops, they're looking within the hour." Arizona Senate Bill 1433 establishes a process for a police agency to be abolished and replaced with sheriff's deputies if at least half of its officers have lost their law enforcement certifications within the past eight years. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said there already have been enough decertifications of Colorado City officers to bring that about if the bill passes this year's Legislature. Read more | |
| Senate votes to add protections to religious beliefs | |
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HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services Arizona Daily Sun - Flagstaff, Arizona Originally published Wednesday, February 29, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX -- Citing the fight in Washington over insurance coverage for birth control, the state Senate voted Tuesday to provide new legal protections for professionals who act or refuse to do things that violate their "sincerely held religious beliefs." Sen. Steve Yarbrough, R-Chandler, said SB1365 is necessary to ensure that the First Amendment rights of religious freedom are protected at all levels. He said that has to include the ability of those whose professions are regulated by the state to be guided by their beliefs without fearing they will have their licenses revoked. And Yarbrough said if there is any doubt that freedom of religion is under attack, all they need to do is look at the headlines. "Who would have anticipated that the very power of the federal government to attack the free exercise of religion, the very right of the people to answer to their conscience, would dominate the front pages and be a huge issue?" he asked. But Sen. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, said the wording of the measure is too broad. He argued that would leave authorities powerless to revoke the state certification of police officers in the polygamous community of Colorado City even if they ignore reports of child abuse. Yarbrough, however, said nothing in the legislation precludes someone from being disciplined for sexual misconduct or criminal activity. The discussion about the state legislation and the party-line vote in favor of SB1365 in the Republican-controlled state Senate mirrors the national debate about the role of government and how that intersects with religious beliefs. Read more | |
| Legislature sets aside bill to disband Hildale police | |
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Kevin Jenkins The Spectrum Originally published March 7, 2012 | |
| ST. GEORGE - The Utah Legislature will not pass legislation this year that could have led to the dissolution of Hildale's polygamous police force amid concerns that officers there don't properly enforce the law, according to the bill's sponsor. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, presented the measure Friday and it received its first reading Monday in the Senate Rules Committee, but with the Legislature's final day scheduled Thursday and fewer than 300 of the nearly 900 pieces of legislation passed as of Tuesday night, the bill found itself being set aside for consideration at a later date. "We just didn't feel like there was enough information to take that on this year," said Kimmy Bramble, Sen. Bramble's daughter and an intern on his staff. "It's being sent to interim committee for study," she said. "There's been no confirmation from us that we'll be pressing forward with this, but if anything happens it will be next year." Sen. Bramble presented the bill at the behest of Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. Chief Deputy Utah Attorney General Kirk Torgensen said the AG's Office has not given up on the legislation in spite of the delay. "As we started getting into drafting the bill ... we got concerned about not moving so quick (in) putting together a statute that would have unintended consequences," Torgensen said. "This thing wouldn't just apply to Hildale. Once you put it in force, it's going to affect everyone in the state. So, of course the sheriffs and the police departments are going to be concerned." Read more | |
| Read the State of Utah 2012 General Session's S.B.291 regarding the Hildale Police Officers, introduced on March 2, 2012 | |
| Polygamous town target of Arizona lawmakers | |
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by Mike Watkiss 3TV Phoenix Originally published March 14, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- The police force from the polygamous town of Colorado City, Ariz. was the focus of a group of Arizona lawmakers Tuesday. The House Government Committee heard testimony about Senate Bill 1433, a measure backed by Attorney General Tom Horn that would basically do away with the office of the Colorado City's Town Marshal. Since taking office, Horn said he has made the alleged crimes associated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) community "a top priority." "I assembled a task force," Horn said, and their first recommendation was "decertify the police." Critics have long charged that the cops in Colorado City, all of whom are faithful followers of polygamous prophet Warren Jeff's, uphold Jeffs' directives at the expense of the law. SB 1433 has strong opposition from a large police union and from Colorado City cops. Sgt. Heleman Barlow spoke against the bill Tuesday, saying Jeffs does not control the department. A vote on SB 1433 is expected Thursday. | |
| Horne hopes to dissolve Colorado City police force | |
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by Taylor Summers KTAR - News/Talk 92.3 - Phoenix, Arizona Originally broadcast March 14, 2012 | |
| Attorney General Tom Horne is pushing a bill at the legislature that would dissolve the Colorado City police force. Horne says the Colorado City Police Department has only one purpose, and that is enforcing the law of polygamist church leader and convicted criminal Warren Jeffs. "Women who try to run away are captured by the local police who they call Marshall's that are under the thumb of the church, and are dragged back," Horne said. He says local police in the town will only prosecute crimes done by a non-church member against a church member. The bill would put power in the hands of the sheriff's office. "We need the sheriff's office there to apply the law objectively without regard to anyone's religion," Horne said. The bill is set for a Senate vote on Thursday. | |
| Hildale police | |
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Opinion The Spectrum Originally published March 16, 2012 | |
| A bill that would have dissolved the police department in the border town of Hildale failed to pass during the recently completed legislative session, meaning residents there still may not have access to the justice they deserve. Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, sponsored the bill at the behest of Attorney General Mark Shurtleff. After years of accusations about a lack of enforcement of laws because of ties to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the legislation would have removed the police force and turned over public safety duties to the Washington County Sheriff's Office. The bill was needed because of similar legislation in Arizona to disband police in Colorado City, Ariz. Without bills being passed on both sides of the state line, there is too great of risk of illegal activity moving from one state to the other by simply driving or walking a short distance. There also is a very real concern that officers who are members of the FLDS church won't enforce laws equitably for people who aren't members of their faith. In response, the two states' legislatures have been considering bills that would have disbanded a police agency if more than 50 percent of its officers have been disciplined by the Peace Officers Standards and Training Board within a set time frame - four years under Utah's bill and eight under Arizona's bill. It's not clear how effective Arizona's legislation would be if Utah can't pass a similar bill. Read more | |
| Arizona House rejects bill on Colorado City police | |
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PAUL DAVENPORT Associated Press The Spectrum Originally published April 25, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX — A sharply divided Arizona House has rejected a bill to allow Mohave County officials to abolish the police department in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. The House vote Wednesday was 28-25 against the bill, which was previously approved by the Senate. State Attorney General Tom Horne urged lawmakers to pass the bill, saying Colorado City officers who are followers of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs flout the law. The bill would have set up a process for a local police agency to be replaced by the county sheriff's department if at least half of its officers have lost their law enforcement certifications in an eight-year period. Opponents argued that the bill is unfair because it is based on unproven allegations and that it unconstitutionally targeted a single community. | |
| Bill on Colorado City police dies in House | |
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by Mary Jo Pitzl The Arizona Republic Originally published April 25, 2012 | |
| The House of Representatives on Wednesday killed a bill that would have replaced Colorado City's local police force with Mohave County sheriff's deputies. The prolonged debate cut across partisan, ideological and religious divides and resulted in a 25-28 defeat for Senate Bill 1433. Attorney General Tom Horne lobbied for the bill, which he said was necessary to ensure local police follow the law and not the dictates of Warren Jeffs, former president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jeffs is now in a Texas prison, serving a life sentence for sexual assault on underage girls. But the two lawmakers who represent the area, representatives Doris Goodale, R-Kingman, and Nancy McLain, R-Bullhead City, successfully led opposition to the bill, which was sponsored by their Senate seatmate, Sen. Ron Gould, R-Lake Havasu City. McLain said the bill seeks to punish current law-enforcement officers for offenses committed by previous officers. The bill says if a town has had at least half of its police officers' certifications revoked by the Arizona Peace Officers Standards and Training Board in the past eight years, the town no longer can authorize its police force. That's been the case for Colorado City. But McLain argued that the town has a new set of officers, who are called marshals in the isolated community along the Arizona-Utah border. Read more | |
| Bill Allowing Law-Enforcement Takeover Defeated | |
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By Andrea Kelly Arizona Public Media - Tucson, Arizona Originally broadcast April 25, 2012 | |
| The Arizona House of Representatives rejected a bill Wednesday that would have allowed a county to take over law enforcement in a city. The bill was written for Mojave County, where officials wanted to get rid of the police department in the polygamist community of Colorado City. It would have given the state attorney general the ability to turn over city law enforcement to a county if more than 50 percent of the officers in a city or town police force have their state certification revoked. Supporters say the bill is necessary to solve problems in the city known for polygamy, while opponents say it's unnecessary and unfairly targets a specific city. The bill passed the Senate, but failed in the House Wednesday on a vote of 28-25. A similar bill was introduced this year in Utah to apply the state border community of Hildale, but the Utah proposal failed to get a hearing. | |
| Listen to the broadcast | |
| Bill aimed at disbanding police force in polygamist town fails | |
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By: Nick Blumberg KJZZ 91.5 FM - Phoenix, Arizona Originally broadcast April 25, 2012 | |
| The Arizona House of Representatives narrowly rejected a move aimed at disbanding the police department in a polygamist town. A bill before the House would have created a process to replace local police agencies with the county sheriff's department if at least half of its officers lost their law enforcement certifications during an eight-year span. The proposal was aimed at cops in the northern Arizona town of Colorado City. State Attorney General Tom Horne, a supporter of the bill, said Colorado City police officers who follow jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs are disregarding the law. But some argued the proposal unfairly targeted a single community. The bill already passed the state Senate, but failed in the House on Wednesday in a 28-to-25 vote. Listen to the broadcast | |
| Arizona House rejects bill on Colorado City police | |
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PAUL DAVENPORT Associated Press San Antonio Express-News - San Antonio, Texas Originally published April 25, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX (AP) — A sharply divided Arizona House on Wednesday rejected a bill to allow Mohave County officials to abolish the police department in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. The House voted 28-25 against the bill as a lawmaker who represents the remote area on the Arizona-Utah line called Colorado City "a different type of community" while acknowledging that some residents practice a form of polygamy. "These are not multiple married individuals. They are married to one individual and the others are celestial, spiritual wives," said Rep. Doris Goodale, R-Kingman. State Attorney General Tom Horne had championed the bill, saying Colorado City officers who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day flout the law and are simply replaced by other followers of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs if removed individually. Jeffs is serving a prison sentence of life and 20 years in Texas, where he was convicted of sexually assaulting two underage sect girls he took as plural wives at a remote ranch built by followers. The FLDS practices polygamy, a legacy of early Mormon church teachings that held plural marriage brought exaltation in heaven. Read more | |
| Police Forces Remain Intact Despite Claims Of FLDS Favoritism | |
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KUTV 2News Originally published Thursday, April 26 2012 | |
| (KUTV) Efforts to dissolve the police department in the polygamous towns of Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City in Arizona have officially died on both sides of the Utah-Arizona border. On Wednesday, the Arizona legislature failed to pass a law that would dismantle the police department. Utah's effort failed earlier this year. Both Utah and Arizona have had concerns about the police in the polygamous towns. Both Attorneys General have said that the police officers aren't doing their job so they want to scrap the police departments. That has been easier said than done. Video from 2010 of a scuffle between a non FLDS person and police who patrol both border towns of Hilldale and Colorado City show some of the tension. Police leaders in both states have said officers in the polygamous community should lose their badges. "In my opinion, if they're violating the laws of the state of Utah, then they're in violation of the code of ethics," said Val Shupe, South Ogden Police Chief. Utah Senator Curtis Bramble says the Utah Attorney General has received credible stories from people in the polygamous twin towns, that officers there don't respond to child abuse, domestic violence and property rights violations -- because of their jailed religious leader Warren Jeffs. Read more | |
| Lawmakers wrong on Colorado City bill | |
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by Linda Valdez, columnist Opinions The Arizona Republic Originally published April 30, 2012 | |
| Attorney General Tom Horne gets credit for continuing the quest to bring law and order to Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect in Colorado City. Jeffs is doing life in a Texas prison for sexual assault of underage girls, but his beliefs still hold sway in Arizona. Horne pushed a bill to replace Colorado City's police department, which has long been an arm of the Jeffs' sect. The House rejected the bill. | |
| State Reps ignore common sense bill for votes | |
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Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona Originally published Monday, April 30, 2012 | |
| Maybe it's something in the water. There has to be some rational explanation why some of the elected leaders from Mohave County make... unusual decisions. The latest example comes from the two state representatives from the county – Doris Gooddale of Kingman and Nancy McLain from Bullhead City. The two Republicans not only voted against abolition of the Colorado City Police Department, in favor of the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, they led the opposition. According to Associated Press reports, Gooddale explained her no vote by talking about the polygamous lifestyle practiced by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Which has nothing to do with the bill. McLain, however, said she sees progress being made in the community and said she believes dissolution of the police department would be a step "backward." It's important to note a few key things. First, the bill, sponsored by Sen. Ron Gould of Lake Havasu City, said only that if a police force had more than half its officers decertified by the Arizona Police Officers Standards and Training Board, then a city or town may no longer authorize a department. Which has happened in Colorado City There was nothing about polygamy or the FLDS in the bill and Gooddale's comments sought to introduce religion into an issue where it didn't belong. Read more | |
| Jeffs may still be in control of Colorado City | |
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By JIM SECKLER Mohave Daily News Originally published Thursday, May 3, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN — A bill that would have allowed the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to take control of the Colorado City law enforcement duties was rejected last week. The Arizona House voted against SB-1433 by a 28-25 margin. It would have allowed Mohave County officials to abolish the Colorado City Police Department. Colorado City is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church, a polygamist sect of the Mormon Church. The bill would have allowed a county's board of supervisors to remove a police department if 50 percent or more of its officers were decertified in the last eight years. Arizona Rep. Nancy McLain, R-Bullhead City, admits that there have been problems in Colorado City but with Warren Jeffs now in prison, things are changing in the northern Mohave County community. Of the six town officers currently serving, four have been investigated by the Arizona Police Officer Standards and Training Board and have been cleared. The other two are new and no complaints have been filed against them. Gary Engels, the investigator for the county attorney's office, said Jeffs is still in charge of the FLDS, leading the church sermons held in the community from his jail cell in Texas. His phone privileges have been reinstated after prison officials took them away. Several complaints from a Utah district court judge have been lodged against the current officers for not enforcing laws. Everyone in the Colorado City police or fire department is in good standing with the FLDS, he added. Read more | |
| Ariz. lawmakers revive Colorado City police bill | |
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The Associated Press Standard-Examiner - Ogden, Utah Originally published Thursday, May 3, 2012 | |
| Arizona lawmakers are reviving a proposal to allow Mohave County officials to abolish the police department in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. The House recently defeated the bill championed by Attorney General Tom Horne, but it's alive again. That's after the Senate on Thursday inserted it into another law enforcement bill already approved by the House. The maneuver is being attempted as legislators try to end their annual session. Horne says Colorado City officers who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day flout the law and are simply replaced by other followers of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs if removed individually. Critics say the bill unfairly targets Colorado City and that current officers haven't done anything wrong. | |
| Richardson: Thanks to those working to make Arizona safer | |
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Guest Commentary by Bill Richardson East Valley Tribune - Tempe, Arizona Originally published Thursday, May 3, 2012 | |
| I want to thank David Gonzales, the U. S. Marshal for Arizona, for once again leading the effort to identify, locate and arrest wanted felons who have fled from justice. During the week of April 16, Gonzales and his deputies — with the cooperation of local police, the sheriff, state police and probation officers — led efforts to arrest more than 200 wanted felons. The number of wanted felons in Maricopa County has dropped from more than 40,000 to approximately 30,000 over the last few years due in large part to the Gonzales' leadership and energy. Getting law enforcement agencies in Arizona to work together, even on common issues that impact the safety of everyone, has been described as being easier than herding cats. Gonzales, who was appointed U. S. Marshal by President George W. Bush in 2002, was reappointed in 2008 by President Barack Obama. That in itself exemplifies his unique ability to get get things done across party lines and to bring everyone to the table and to get them to work together and towards solving common problems. Gonzales has demonstrated over and over during his 35-plus year career in Arizona law enforcement that things can get done when people work together. Hats off to Gonzales, the U.S. Marshals Service and the local, county and state police who took 200 wanted felons off of our streets last month. Another thank you is for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who threw his full support behind Gonzales' efforts. Read more | |
| Lawmakers reject proposal to abolish Colorado City Police Department | |
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Mohave Daily News Originally published Friday, May 4, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona lawmakers have rejected a revived proposal to allow Mohave County officials to abolish the police department in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. The House had defeated the proposal recently but the Senate created a new version Thursday. However, the House upheld Speaker Andy Tobin's ruling that the new version violates a rule against combining unrelated legislation. Attorney General Tom Horne had championed the bill. He said Colorado City officers who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints flout the law and are simply replaced by other followers of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs if removed individually. Critics say the bill unfairly targets Colorado City and that current officers haven't done anything wrong. | |
| Colorado City police bill fails in Arizona House | |
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by Mike Watkiss 3TV - Phoenix AZFamily.com Originally published May 4, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- Arizona lawmakers have shot down a bill that would have abolished the police department in Colorado City. On Thursday, the House of Representatives upheld Speaker Andy Tobin's ruling that Senate Bill 1433 violated a rule against combining unrelated legislation. The bill would have removed Colorado City's police force and placed the Mohave County Sheriff's Office in charge. The House of Representatives had previously rejected the bill, but the Senate created a new version on Thursday. Attorney General Tom Horne was a supporter of Senate Bill 1433. . He explained that members of the Colorado City police force who are also members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints defy the law. Horne added that officers who are removed from the force individually are replaced by other supporters of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan also supported Senate Bill 1433. "It's a bill that is long overdue, and will help us do our job and bring competent law enforcement to the city of Colorado City," Sheahan stated. Rep. Nancy McLain of Mohave County voted against the bill, claiming it targets one specific group. "It's a blatantly unconstitutional bill. It is strictly special legislation," McLain remarked. | |
| House refuses approval of Arizona version of 'Caylee's Law' | |
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HOWARD FISCHER Capitol Media Services Arizona Daily Sun - Flagstaff, Arizona Originally published Friday, May 4, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX -- Arizona is not going to get its own version of what's been dubbed "Caylee's Law," at least not this year, because of a fight over who gets to run the police force in the polygamous community of Colorado City. The House on Thursday refused to give final approval to legislation which would make it a crime if a parent or guardian does not tell police about a child who has been missing for at least 24 hours. Violators could have ended end up in state prison for 18 months. There actually was broad support for the concept in the House. In fact, lawmakers there had approved a similar version earlier this session. But the issue became complicated after the state Senate agreed to a plea by Attorney General Tom Horne to tack on a last-minute amendment. It would allow county supervisors to have the sheriff's department take over law enforcement in any city where at least half of the local police officers over an eight-year period have had their peace officer certification revoked. That measure is aimed at the polygamous community of Colorado City on the Arizona-Utah border. Many of its officers are followers of Warren Jeffs who is considered the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. More than half have lost their certification, some for misconduct with minors and others after declaring their loyalty to Jeffs is more important than state law. Read more | |
| Tom Horne's Effort to Get Rid of FLDS-Lovin' Cops in Colorado City Killed in Legislature | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Fri., May 4 2012 | |
| Attorney General Tom Horne's efforts to replace the police force in Colorado City with deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office was killed in the state House yesterday, which turned out to be the last day of the legislative session. Colorado City, for those joining late, is the city on the Utah/Arizona border that child rapist Warren Jeffs used to call home, and remains the home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Horne pushed the bill to legislators, contending that the cops there -- often referred to as the "Marshalls" -- were way too sympathetic to polygamists and friends of Jeffs. "Numerous cases have been documented where the 'Marshalls' refuse to investigate serious crimes against the property and persons of 'apostates' or other non followers of Warren Jeffs, when the perpetrators were followers of Mr. Jeffs," the AG's office said in February. "The 'Marshalls' have also prevented enforcement of court orders with respect who can occupy land. When a court appointed official came to Colorado City to enforce court orders, the Chief of Police pulled him over and threatened to arrest him for criminal trespass if he attempted to enforce court orders, as opposed to the desires of the FLDS Church." The House had previously killed the bill to replace the cops in Colorado City, but it was tacked on to another bill as an amendment in a last-ditch effort to get it passed. House members didn't accept that either, saying the language wasn't germane to the actual bill. Read more | |
| Tonight on AC360: FLDS police corruption | |
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Ismael Estrada Anderson Cooper 360 CNN Originally published May 9, 2012 | |
| As you drive into Colorado City, Arizona you can't help but feel blown away by the picturesque scenery. The mountain range is so beautiful; it's a shame that very few people have seen the area that is only a few hours from Las Vegas. It's no secret that visitors aren't welcome here. Gary Tuchman and I have been coming to the FLDS town for several years to report on their leader and convicted child rapist Warren Jeffs. We've done stories on the way he runs the polygamous sect in the area also known as Short Creek. Journalists who have worked out there know there are challenges to covering stories in the area. The minute anyone from the media arrives, text messages are sent around the community alerting everyone not to talk with them. The Marshal's office polices the town and is comprised entirely of officers who are members of the FLDS. They are loyal to Warren Jeffs and put his demands above the laws of Arizona. Nearly every time we have come, we are followed by officers and asked to leave or risk being cited. I'm not sure what they would cite us for, but they always threaten to do so and insist that we leave the area. We are well versed in what we can legally do in public areas so we stand our ground and continue shooting our stories, although the officers do their best to make it difficult. Read more | |
| FLDS cops still run Warren Jeffs' old town | |
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Gary Tuchman Anderson Cooper 360 CNN Originally broadcast May 9th, 2012 | |
| Critics say police in Colorado City, Arizona, ignore laws and remain loyal to jailed polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs. The Arizona Senate passed legislation that would abolish the police department there and end corruption, but it failed to pass in the House. CNN's Gary Tuchman reports. Read the transcript of this program | |
| Kingman Column: A different solution for Colorado City | |
| Did news coverage help McLain, Goodale see the light? | |
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Erin Taylor Kingman Daily Miner Originally published May 13, 2012 | |
| The good old boys don't get much worse than they do in Colorado City. The home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist sect headed by Warren Jeffs and his father before him, Colorado City straddles state lines, spilling into Hildale, Utah. It's population is estimated at around 5,000, with most of the residents either current or former members of the church. Those who end up leaving the community tell tales of purported corruption by city officials who are connected to the church. Right now the former fire chief and city manager are facing charges of using thousands of dollars in tax money earmarked for the Colorado City Fire Department as their personal slush fund. Phoenix KTVK reporter Michael Watkiss, who has studied the area for years, told CNN's Anderson Cooper last week that the town is one of the most abnormal places he's ever visited and called the Colorado City Marshals Office "the most corrupt police agency in America." State Attorney General Tom Horne said he's heard the horror stories as well. Horne said that numerous cases have been documented where the "marshals" (his use of quotes) refuse to investigate serious crimes committed by members of the church, particularly when the victims are ex-members Read more | |
| Doris Goodale defends decision to vote no on 'bad bill' | |
| Bill impacting Colorado City Marshal's Office is 'unconstitutional,' Goodale says | |
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Suzanne Adams Kingman Daily Miner Originally published May 23, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN - Rep. Doris Goodale had to defend her and Rep. Nancy McLain's votes on a senate bill that would have impacted the Colorado City Marshal's Office at Monday's Republican Men's Club meeting. Goodale was one of three candidates for the Arizona House of Representatives who spoke before a crowd of about 50 people at the luncheon. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne proposed SB 1433. It was sponsored by Sen. Linda Gray and co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Gould. If it had passed, SB 1433 would have suspended a town's or city's authority to create a police department if 50 percent or more of its law enforcement officers had their Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training certification revoked in the last eight years. The Arizona Attorney General's Office would have to confirm the AZPOST board's finding and then notify the County Board of Supervisors and the town that their authority to have a police department had been revoked. The county sheriff would then assume control of all law enforcement functions in the community, and the town would have to reimburse the office for the expense. The sheriff's office would also have to prepare a report of the reasons why the town's police officers had their certifications revoked and the cost to the sheriff's office to patrol the area. After five years, the city or town could request to have their police department reinstated. Read more | |
| Arizona to pay for sheriff to patrol Colorado City | |
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Associated Press The Spectrum Originally published June 7, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX — The Arizona Attorney General's Office plans to provide funding to the Mohave County sheriff to provide law enforcement patrols in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. Attorney General Tom Horne says his office will use $420,000 of asset forfeiture money to provide overtime pay for deputies to patrol Colorado City, located on the Arizona-Utah line. Horne's announcement Thursday comes a month after the Arizona Legislature narrowly rejected Horne-backed legislation to have sheriff's deputies patrol Colorado City instead of the town marshal's office. Horne contends that marshal's officers are followers of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and put following Jeffs over obeying the law. Horne's office says the new arrangement will take effect in July upon approval by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors. Jeffs is imprisoned in Texas. | |
| Mohave Sheriff to use federal grant to patrol polygamist town | |
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By Steven Leslie CBS 5 KPHO - Phoenix, Arizona Originally published June 7, 2012 | |
| PHOENIX (CBS5) - The Attorney General's Office will pay $420,000 to the Mohave County Sheriff to increase patrols of Colorado City, Attorney General Tom Horn said. The money will be used for overtime pay, enabling the sheriff's office to patrol the city 24 hours a day, Horn said. The money will come from asset forfeiture funds acquired through criminal drug prosecutions. The federal government has approved the grant, which will take effect when it is accepted by the Mohave County Board of Supervisors on July 2. "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Horn said. "A vote to replace local police with the sheriff's office narrowly failed this year, and this grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation will pass." Jeffs is the leader of the FLDS Church, a polygamous sect, and is in a Texas prison. Earlier this year, the House Committee on Government heard testimony that seven members of the Colorado City law enforcement were loyal to Jeffs rather than the law. "This funding will allow us to increase our patrol presence in Colorado City and provide unbiased law enforcement services that the citizens do not have with the Town Marshall's Office," Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said. See photo | |
| MCSO receives grant to patrol Colorado City | |
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Mohave County News The Arizona Independent Originally published June 7, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN – Chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors Buster Johnson thanked Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne Thursday, June 7, for his commitment to "legitimate law enforcement in the Colorado City area." Horne made it official Thursday that his office will pay $420,000 to cover Mohave County Sheriff's Office overtime pay in the patrolling of Colorado City. "I truly thank Tom Horne for not giving up on us up here," Johnson said. "His support for our efforts to supply real justice to the residents of the Colorado City area shows an insight that, apparently, our Legislature didn't have this last session." In a news release today, Horne said the action was necessary, "because of evidence that local (Colorado City) police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion. A vote to replace local police with the (Mohave County) Sheriff's Office narrowly failed in the Legislature this year, and this grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation will pass." Read more | |
| Arizona to beef up patrols of polygamist Jeffs' town | |
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By Jennifer Dobner 1450 WHTC - Holland, Michigan Originally published Thursday, June 07, 2012 | |
| (Reuters) - Arizona will funnel more than $400,000 to a sheriff's office on the Utah-Arizona border to beef up police patrols of a town that is home to followers of imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, the state's Attorney General said on Thursday. The money will aid Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan in providing police services in Colorado City, one of two communities dominated by members of Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The Colorado City Town Marshal's Office currently provides police services for its own community, as well as just across the border in Hildale, Utah. The towns have a combined population of roughly 7,000 residents. "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said in a statement. The Attorney General's office alleged that local police have apprehended young women trying to run away from the community and dragged them back, effectively making the women prisoners. The $420,000 for Mohave County comes in the form of a grant funded by assets forfeited during criminal drug prosecutions in joint state and federal cases. Read more | |
| Arizona to pay for sheriff to patrol Colorado City | |
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The Associated Press Deseret News Originally published Thursday, June 7 2012 | |
| PHOENIX — The Arizona Attorney General's Office plans to provide funding to the Mohave County sheriff to provide law enforcement patrols in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. Attorney General Tom Horne announced Thursday his office will provide $420,000 for deputies to patrol Colorado City, located in a remote area between the Grand Canyon and Utah. The money comes from assets seized in criminal drug prosecutions. Horne announced the plan just over a month after the Arizona Legislature rejected Horne-backed legislation to abolish the Colorado City's Marshal's Office and to have sheriff's deputies patrol Colorado City instead. "This grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation will pass," Horne said. Horne contends that marshal's officers are followers of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and put following Jeffs over obeying the law. Jeffs is serving a prison sentence of life and 20 years in Texas where he was convicted of sexually assaulting two underage sect girls whom he took as plural wives. Jeff Matura, a lawyer for Colorado City, said town officials dispute Horne's characterizations of marshal's officers but welcome the increased presence by sheriff's deputies. Read more | |
| Attorney General's Office to Assist Mohave County Sheriff Colorado City Patrol Costs | |
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Yuma News Now - Yuma, Arizona Originally published Thursday, 07 June 2012 | |
| Phoenix, Arizona - Attorney General Tom Horne announced that the Attorney General's Office will pay $420,000 to the Mohave County Sheriff for overtime pay to patrol Colorado City 16 hours per day. The hours will be staggered, so that wrongdoers can feel the presence of the Sheriff's Office 24 hours a day. "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Horne said. "A vote to replace local Police with the Sheriff's Office narrowly failed in the Legislature this year, and this grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation with pass." This year, the House Committee on Government heard detailed testimony that the seven members of local law enforcement: (1) All were loyal to Warren Jeffs rather than the law; (2) If one were not totally loyal to Warren Jeffs, he would lose his job, his wives and his children; (3) That when girls try to escape from their harems, local police catch them and drag them back, so that they are prisoners; (4) That local police have participated in expelling about 1,000 young men to other cities or highways (to hitchhike) so that the old men can dominate the young girls without competition; and (5) that it is useless to go after the police officers one at a time because they are replaced by other FLDS officers loyal to Jeffs. Read more | |
| AG pays MCSO $420K to enforce law in Colorado City | |
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STAFF REPORTS Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona Originally published Thursday, June 7, 2012 | |
| The Mohave County Sheriff's Office announced Thursday that Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is set to pay the agency $420,000 to fund overtime expenses in order for deputies to provide law enforcement services to Colorado City, in Northern Mohave County. The measure stems from Colorado City police officers putting their loyalty to The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs above their duty to uphold the law, according to a statement issued Thursday from the AG. "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Horne stated. "A vote to replace local police with the sheriff's office narrowly failed in the (Arizona) Legislature this year, and this grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation will pass." Earlier this year, the Arizona House Committee on Government heard testimony detailing that seven Colorado City police officers were more loyal to Jeffs than the law; if an officer were not loyal to Jeffs, the officer's job and family were at stake; when girls attempt to escape the harems police would return them as prisoners; police had expelled about 1,000 young men to other cities or highways leaving them to hitchhike or fend for themselves to enable the sect's older men to dominate the young girls without competition; and police officers in question would simply be replaced by other FLDS believers to be employed as police officers who would show ultimate loyalty to Jeffs, the AG stated. Read more | |
| Tom Horne Sending Cash to Mohave County Sheriff's Office to Patrol Colorado City | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Thu., Jun. 7 2012 | |
| The Arizona Legislature didn't really feel the need to replace the police force in Colorado City with deputies from the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, so Attorney General Tom Horne's pulling out Plan B. The AG's office announced today that it's sending $420,000 to the Sheriff's Office for overtime pay to patrol the city, on top of the Warren Jeffs kiss-asses that are supposed to be policing the town. Colorado City, the spot on the Utah/Arizona border that the child-rapist Jeffs used to call home -- and remains the home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- currently is patrolled by marshals whom Horne believes are loyal to Jeffs instead of the law. The funding provides for the deputies to patrol the city 16 hours a day, but as the AG's office puts it, "The hours will be staggered, so that wrongdoers can feel the presence of the Sheriff's Office 24 hours a day." "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Horne says in a statement. "A vote to replace local Police with the Sheriff's Office narrowly failed in the Legislature this year, and this grant will serve as a bridge until next year, when hopefully the legislation with pass." Considering all the crap that's pushed through the Legislature these days, it doesn't seem like it would've been an outrageous to replace a police force that carries out the wishes of a convicted child rapist. Read more | |
| Mohave County Gets $400 Thousand to Patrol Town Controlled by FLDS | |
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By Mark Brodie KNAU Arizona Public Radio - Northern Arizona University - Flagstaff, Arizona Originally published June 7, 2012 | |
| Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is giving more than 400-thousand dollars to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office, to pay for patrols in Colorado City. He says that's needed because the town's police department is effectively controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. From Phoenix, Mark Brodie reports. The money will come from assets taken during criminal prosecutions, and Horne got federal permission to use it. He says the outside patrols will protect residents who aren't, or no longer want to be, members of the F-L-D-S...including reports of women who try to leave the community being apprehended by local police. "Up till now, it's been a lawless place, where the only police are favoring one particular religion over other people, and are doing terrible things, like dragging women back who are trying to escape," Horne said. "Now there's gonna be objective law enforcement there, so that if somebody wants to escape, they can get his protection, rather than going to the local marshals, who would just drag her back. And, when laws need to be enforced, there's a sheriff there to enforce it objectively." Read more | |
| Ariz. to pay for MCSO to police Colorado City | |
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Erin Taylor Kingman Daily Miner Originally published June 8, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN - Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said he wouldn't be deterred after the bill he drafted to address problems with the Colorado City Marshal's Office was voted down in the state House last month. On Thursday, he announced a $420,000 grant to be awarded to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to cover overtime costs for deputies to patrol Colorado City. The Sheriff's Office said the deputies would work 16-hour shifts, with a new deputy coming on shift as soon as the one before him ends, giving MCSO a 24-hour presence in the town that serves as the home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Horne said that leader Warren Jeffs continues to wield heavy influence in Colorado City from his jail cell in Texas where he is serving a life sentence for sexual conduct with underage girls. "This action is necessary because of evidence that local police have placed their allegiance to Warren Jeffs over their duty to enforce the law objectively, regardless of people's religion," Horne said. Horne introduced a bill earlier this spring that would have stripped certification from any police department if more than half of its officers have had their licenses taken away. Colorado City has six marshals. In the last eight years, more than a half-dozen have had their licenses stripped for everything from sexual conduct with a minor and bigamy to seeking advice from Jeffs while he was a fugitive from justice on child rape charges. Read more | |
| FLDS: Arizona sheriff to add patrol | |
| Marshals seen as loyal to Jeffs, sect | |
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By Dave Hawkins Special to the Standard-Times San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published June 8, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN, Ariz. — Law enforcement officials in Arizona have maneuvered around the state Legislature in an effort to put more Mohave County sheriff's deputies on the streets of Colorado City because, they contend, town marshals in the predominately polygamous community favor the edicts of church prophet Warren Jeffs over their legal obligations. Attorney General Tom Horne announced Thursday that he's allocating $420,000 in grant money to fund a manpower boost enabling more sheriff's deputies to patrol the community, inhabited mainly by followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints along the northern Arizona-southern Utah border. Horne and Sheriff Tom Sheahan said they've been working together to develop an alternative plan since Arizona lawmakers earlier this year rejected legislation that would have provided for a possible Sheriff's Office takeover of law enforcement responsibility from the Town Marshal's Office. Horne said lawmakers defeated the measure despite evidence of corrupt officers ignoring the law in favor of marching orders from Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS, who is serving prison time in Texas for sex offenses with underage girls. "The testimony showed that they (the marshals) are all loyal to Warren Jeffs rather than the law; that if one were not totally loyal to Jeffs he would lose his job, his wives and his children; that when girls try to escape from their harems, local police catch them and drag them back so that they are prisoners; that local police have participated in expelling about 1,000 young men to other cities or just to highways where they hitchhike, so that the old men can dominate the young girls without competition from the younger men," Horne said. Read more | |
| Colorado City Sued by Justice Department; Child Rapist Warren Jeffs Still Running the Joint | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Thu., Jun. 21 2012 | |
| Colorado City -- the town on the Utah/Arizona border that child rapist Warren Jeffs used to call home -- is being sued by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for religious and housing discrimination. The feds say the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Jeffs are still running Colorado City and the neighboring Utah town of Hildale to their fanatical religious liking -- a fact several of Arizona's legislators continue to deny. Much of the lawsuit brings allegations against the "Marshal's Office" for policing on the basis of FLDS law, instead of enforcing actual laws. The unconstitutional policing allegations include the Marshals confronting people about disobeying FLDS rules, slaughtering non-FLDS members' animals, helping return underage brides to their creepy husbands, and much more. "The Cities' governments, including the Marshal's Office, have been deployed to carry out the will and dictates of FLDS leaders, particularly Warren Jeffs and the official to whom he delegates authority," the lawsuit says. This has only been going on for, oh, "at least 20 years," according to the feds' complaint, and the problem has been highlighted recently as Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne has tried to replace Colorado City's police force. Read more | |
| Justice Department sues polygamous towns, claims religious discrimination | |
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By BRIAN SKOLOFF, PAUL FOY AND Dave Hawkins STAFF and WIRE REPORTS Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published June 21, 2012 | |
| Trying to return brides to homes from which they fled. Rounding up all dogs and shooting them in a "slaughter pit." Denying police protection and access to public services. All at the hands of local law enforcement officers in the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. And all at the direction of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, is serving a life sentence in Texas after convictions on child sex and bigamy charges. These and other allegations are contained in a lawsuit filed Thursday against the towns and their consolidated Marshal's Office by the U.S. Department of Justice. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Arizona, city leaders and law enforcement in the two towns have for decades served at Jeffs' pleasure while ignoring the constitutional rights of residents who aren't FLDS followers. "The cities' governments, including the Marshal's Office, have been deployed to carry out the will and dictates of FLDS leaders, particularly Warren Jeffs and the officials to whom he delegates authority," the lawsuit said. "The Marshal's Office has inappropriately used its state-granted law enforcement authority to enforce the edicts of the FLDS, to the detriment of non-FLDS members." In one case of law enforcement misconduct, according to the lawsuit, officers rounded up all dogs and shot them in a "slaughter pit" outside town on specific orders from Jeffs. The lawsuit also said officers regularly allow sect members to victimize nonmembers by destroying their crops, vandalizing property and trespassing. Read more | |
| FLDS: Officials accused of honoring Jeffs over law | |
| Complaint states there is discrimination | |
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By Dave Hawkins Special to the Standard-Times San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published June 21, 2012 | |
| SAN ANGELO, Texas — Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said he's elated the U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint alleging a host of civil rights violations in the Northern Arizona community of Colorado City and the neighboring border town of Hildale, Utah. Sheahan said his department has been working with federal investigators for more than three years involving allegations of corruption within the predominately polygamous communities whose leaders are accused of taking their marching orders from Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jeffs is serving prison time in Texas for sex offense convictions involving underage girls. "This I might say is long overdue, but certainly it's always better late than never," Sheahan said of the complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. "It fortifies 100 percent what we've been saying about the corruption that has been going on especially with the Marshal's Office." Calls to the DOJ and its public information officers were not immediately returned. The complaint names as defendants the town of Colorado City, Ariz.; town of Hildale, Utah; Twin City Power and Twin City Water Authority. "Defendants have engaged in a pattern or practice of illegal discrimination against individuals who are not members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The cities' public officials, the Colorado City/Hildale Marshal's Office and utility entities have acted in concert with FLDS leadership to deny non-FLDS individuals housing, police protection and access to public space and services," the complaint stated. Read more | |
| Polygamous towns, home to Warren Jeffs cult, sued for destroying homes and properties of non-believers | |
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By Daily Mail Reporter Daily Mail - London, England Originally published 22 June 2012 | |
| Authorities in two polygamous Utah-Arizona border towns have come under fire in a lawsuit that accuses them of supporting a campaign of intimidation against the unfaithful. The U.S. Justice Department accuses officials of denying non-believers housing and municipal services and allowing members of the dominant religious sect to destroy their crops and property. The federal civil rights case was filed on Thursday against the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, where most residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, run by the group's jailed leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas after convictions on child sex and bigamy charges, but is said to still maintain control of the communities from behind bars. According to the lawsuit filed in federal court in Arizona, city leaders and law enforcement in the two towns have for decades served at Jeffs' pleasure while ignoring the constitutional rights of residents who aren't FLDS followers. 'The cities' governments, including the Marshal's Office, have been deployed to carry out the will and dictates of FLDS leaders, particularly Warren Jeffs and the officials to whom he delegates authority,' the lawsuit states. 'The Marshal's Office has inappropriately used its state-granted law enforcement authority to enforce the edicts of the FLDS, to the detriment of non-FLDS members.' Read more | |
| Feds file complaint against Colorado City | |
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By JIM SECKLER Mohave Daily News Originally published Friday, June 22, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN — The federal government filed a civil complaint Thursday against Colorado City and its sister city in Utah. The U.S. Department of Justice filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Arizona against Colorado City, Hildale, Utah, Twin City Power and Twin City Water Authority Inc. The complaint argues defendants have allegedly engaged in illegal discrimination against residents who are not members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamist community based in the two communities. The complaint states that the church and the twin cities have denied non-FLDS members access to housing in Colorado City and Hildale, police protection and access to public services such as parks and a zoo. Non-FLDS members are a small minority in the two cities. Non-members have been allegedly been denied water and electric services. The town marshals have failed to protect non-FLDS members from being victimized by church members and have failed to arrest church members who committed crimes against non-members; crimes include trespassing, vandalism and crop damage. Marshals also cited non-members for traffic violations without citing church members, the complaint stated. The marshal's office has provided surveillance and investigation of non-FLDS members because of their religion, the complaint states. They have also returned underage brides who have fled the community. Read more | |
| Polygamous towns sued by US government | |
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World New Zealand Herald - Auckland, New Zealand Originally published Friday Jun 22, 2012 | |
| The US Justice Department sued two polygamous towns along the Utah-Arizona border today, claiming religious discrimination against non-sect members. The federal civil rights lawsuit was filed against the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, where most residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, run by the group's jailed leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas after convictions on child sex and bigamy charges, but he is said to still maintain control of the communities. The lawsuit comes after state legislatures in Utah and Arizona failed this year to pass bills aimed at abolishing the local police department that monitors the communities. The Arizona bill was being pushed by state Attorney General Tom Horne, who said Colorado City police officers who are FLDS members flout the law and instead pay allegiance first to Jeffs. A similar bill failed in the Utah Legislature. Colorado City officers also police neighbouring Hildale. Read more | |
| Mohave County deputies beefing up staff in polygamous border town | |
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By Dave Hawkins SPECIAL TO THE LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published Jul. 2, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN, Ariz. - Sheriff Tom Sheahan is going to occupy Colorado City after Mohave County supervisors approved a grant Monday that will allow him to put more deputies on patrol in the northern Arizona community that he and others believe is served by a corrupt town marshal's office. Sheahan said he'll increase his department's presence this week in the northern Arizona border community where it is alleged the police force bears greater allegiance to the predominant Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its dictates than it does the law. A frustrated Attorney General Tom Horne allocated the $420,000 grant to the county after the Arizona Legislature defeated legislation that contained provisions for a Mohave County Sheriff's Office takeover of law enforcement in the community that is heavily influenced by the church and its polygamous culture. Sheahan said deputies have patrolled Colorado City over the years, but that the grant will allow him to beef up its presence. Read more | |
| County approves RUFFF zoning; $500K for Colorado City patrols; discounted venue for BHC | |
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By JAYNE HANSON Today's News-Herald - Lake Havasu City, Arizona Originally published Tuesday, July 3, 2012 | |
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KINGMAN — Mohave County Supervisors unanimously approved a zoning use permit Monday for Rescue Unwanted Furry Friends Foundation, or RUFFF, which is a 300-animal animal sanctuary in Golden Valley. RUFFF had been vying for a proper permit since 2008 for reasons of delinquent county paperwork requirements and habitat shortcomings. The measure grants RUFFF a two-year zoning use permit. The next step for the organization is to meet kennel requirements set by the county in order to also obtain permits from the county health department.
BHC REGATTA/DAVIS CAMP County supervisors voted 2-to-1, Supervisor Buster Johnson, R-Dist. 3, opposed, to reduce costs proposed to Bullhead City for its approaching regatta, which is Aug. 10-11. Many regatta participants launch from Davis Camp, which is a county park situated on the Arizona side of the bridge spanning between Bullhead and Laughlin, Nev., and float the Colorado River until they reach the final destination of Rotary Park in Bullhead. Read more | |
| County joins Colorado City task force | |
| State to help foot the bill to beef up law enforcement | |
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By JIM SECKLER Mohave Daily News Originally published Wednesday, July 4, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN — Increased county law enforcement presence in Colorado City was approved Monday by the board of supervisors. The board approved the sheriff's office request to join a task force with the Arizona Attorney General's Office to beef up law enforcement in the Colorado City area and accept up to $500,000 to cover the costs. The U.S. Department of Justice also recently filed a lawsuit against Colorado City's town marshals. Sheriff Tom Sheahan told the board that he believes the Colorado City town marshals are corrupt and do not follow the state or U.S. Constitution. The community in northern Mohave County is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamist community. Sheahan said that followers of Warren Jeffs even sent a letter to the White House asking to release Jeffs, who is serving life in prison in Texas for rape. Four out of five of the town marshals signed that letter. County Attorney Matt Smith also spoke to the board about how since his office began prosecuting marriages of underage girls to older, already married church leaders, the marshals refuse to cooperate with his office. Church leaders would even move victims of child abuse from house to house to avoid his office's investigation, he said. Read more | |
| Outside law team targets FLDS city | |
| Sheriff says Arizona city's police biased | |
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By Dave Hawkins Special to the Standard-Times San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published July 5, 2012 | |
| KINGMAN, Ariz. — Mohave County sheriff's deputies soon will increase their presence in the Northern Arizona border town of Colorado City, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Approval of a grant by the Board of Supervisors this week in Kingman sets the stage for Sheriff Tom Sheahan to increase deputy patrols this week in a community that he and others believe is poorly served by a corrupt Town Marshal's Office. Sheahan thanked Attorney General Tom Horne for a $420,000 grant that will allow him to pay deputies overtime to work where the local police force allegedly bears greater allegiance to the predominant church and its dictates than it does the law. Horne provided the grant after the Arizona Legislature rejected a bill he supported that contained provisions for a Mohave County Sheriff's Office takeover of law enforcement in the community that is heavily influenced by the FLDS church, its polygamous culture and its prophet Warren Jeffs, who is serving a prison sentence in Texas. The deputy deployment follows a federal lawsuit filed last month that alleges the towns of Colorado City and neighboring Hildale in Utah and their officials violate the civil rights of residents by providing disparate services and treatment to citizens, depending on their member or nonmember status with the FLDS. Sheahan said the lawsuit, including allegations of misconduct by the Town Marshal's Office, supports the need for a law enforcement option for the residents of the border towns. Read more | |
| Mohave County Sheriff's Office to start patrolling Colorado City | |
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by Mike Watkiss KTVK 3TV Phoenix Originally broadcast July 5, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- There's a new sheriff in town, literally. Starting Friday morning at 9 am deputies with the Mohave County Sheriff's Office will begin patrolling and providing a full-time law enforcement presence in the remote, polygamous community of Colorado City. "It's an effort to provide unbiased and professional law enforcement to people who haven't always had that in the past", said Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan. The move comes after years of controversy surrounding the conduct and behavior of Colorado City's existing law enforcement agency known as the Town Marshal's Office, a six man department made up entirely of faithful followers of FLDS prophet and now convicted pedophile Warren Jeffs. "They enforce the edicts of Warren Jeffs and not the law", said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne who, since taking office two years ago, has made addressing the abuses of women and children in the polygamous, FLDS community his top law enforcement priority. Earlier this year, Horne pushed for legislation at the State Capitol that would have decertified the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office. The measure was narrowly shot down by the Arizona House of Representatives. Horne said he will have the bill reintroduced next legislative session but in the interim he said he has come up with $420,000 from a special fund to pay for the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to step in and begin patrols Friday morning. "This is my number one priority", Horne said. | |
| Read Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan's Press Release regarding patrolling Colorado City, dated July 6, 2012 | |
| AG Horne sends in deputies to replace Colo. City marshals | |
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By Jim Cross 92.3 KTAR-FM Originally published July 6, 2012 | |
| As of Friday morning there's a new sheriff in the polygamist community of Colorado City in northwestern Arizona. The Mohave County Sheriff's Office has stationed deputies in the community. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said the Colorado City marshals operate under the thumb of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and moving sheriff's officers into the community will help many young men and women. Horne tapped more than $400,000 from a special fund to place Mohave County deputies in Colorado City. Warren Jeffs is serving a life prison sentence in Texas for child sexual assault stemming from his marriages to two young female followers. Jeffs won't be eligible for parole until he is at least 100, but Horne said the Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints leader is calling the shots for the Colorado City marshals from his cell. "If they [marshals] are not enforcing the law and favoring people that belong to the FLDS religion there's going to be a Sheriff's deputy there to make sure the laws are enforced objectively and not according to religion." See photo | |
| Sheriff patrols in polygamous town | |
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Associated Press The Spectrum Originally published July 6, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, ARIZ. — Sheriff's deputies have begun daily patrols in a northern Arizona community with a polygamist enclave. State Attorney General Tom Horne's office had provided funding for law enforcement in Colorado City in a remote area between the Grand Canyon and Utah. The money comes from assets seized in criminal drug prosecutions. The grant followed an unsuccessful legislative attempt to abolish Colorado City's Marshal's Office replace it with sheriff's deputies. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said Friday that his office is focused on rooting out corruption in Colorado City and helping community members in need. A lawsuit recently filed in federal court accuses Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, of civil rights violations. Attorneys for the towns have said the allegations are unsupported. | |
| There's a new sheriff in Colorado City | |
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by Catherine Holland Video report by Mike Watkiss KTVK 3TV Phoenix Originally published July 6, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- The Mohave County Sheriff's Office has officially launched patrols and law-enforcement duties in the polygamous community of Colorado City. "It's an effort to provide unbiased and professional law enforcement to people who haven't always had that in the past", Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan told 3TV's Mike Watkiss on the eve of the change. Up until now, Colorado City had its own small police department -- the Town Marshal's Office. Made up of six men, all of them faithful followers of convicted pedophile Warren Jeffs, the iron-fisted leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office has long been a source of controversy, even garnering allegations of corruption. "They enforce the edicts of Warren Jeffs and not the law," Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said. Horne has made Colorado City one of his top priorities. He's proved he's serious about it, sending more than $400,000 to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to cover the overtime generated by its new duties in Colorado City. The money for the federally approved grant came from asset-forfeiture funds from drug prosecutions. Watkiss was on hand in Colorado City Friday morning for the changing of the guard, which he called "a new chapter in Colorado City history." As for Jeffs, he remains in a Texas prison. | |
| Colorado City Now Has Cops That Enforce Arizona Laws Instead of a Child Rapist's Laws | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Fri., Jul. 6 2012 | |
| Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan and his deputies are now patrolling Colorado City, since the Warren Jeffs kiss-asses who were supposed to be policing the town just couldn't seem to enforce state laws. Colorado City, the spot on the Utah/Arizona border that the child-rapist Jeffs used to call home -- and remains the home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- was previously patrolled only by the "Marshal's Office," which is believed to be loyal to Jeffs instead of the law. That belief has been a focus of Attorney General Tom Horne for quite some time, and recently became the focus of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which alleges -- in part -- that the "Marshal's Office" does its policing on the basis of FLDS law, instead of enforcing actual laws. The unconstitutional policing allegations include the Marshals confronting people about disobeying FLDS rules, slaughtering non-FLDS members' animals (including a massive slaughter of dogs ordered by Jeffs), helping return underage brides to their creepy husbands, and much more. This has been going on for "at least 20 years," according to the feds' complaint. Read more | |
| New police patrols in FLDS towns | |
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by Ben Winslow Fox 13 News Originally published July 6, 2012 | |
| COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — New police patrols have been ordered in this polygamous border town under increased scrutiny by law enforcement over its ties to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Mohave County Sheriff's deputies began patrols on Friday under a $500,000 grant from the Arizona Attorney General's Office for overtime and expenses. In a statement, the sheriff's office said it was "to provide fair and unbiased law enforcement services to this community on the Arizona-Utah border." "This is a monumental occasion and we are focusing our efforts on helping those in this community who are in need and working with our County Attorney Matt Smith and Attorney General (Tom) Horne to root out corruption in this city government," Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan said in a statement. The communities of Hildale and Colorado City, home to the Fundamentalist LDS Church, have recently been sued by the U.S. Justice Department. Government officials, including the town marshals, have been accused of being loyal to FLDS leaders and denying services to people excommunicated from the faith. Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for child sex assault, related to underage marriages. Read more | |
| Outside Police to Patrol Polygamist Community | |
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By Alyssa Newcomb ABC News Originally published Jul 7, 2012 | |
| Police in Arizona are beginning daily patrols in Colorado City, a polygamist community that was once home to Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) leader Warren Jeffs. The patrols come after a complaint was filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the Colorado City government and local marshal's office alleging civil rights violations. The complaint, which was announced on June 21, alleges the Colorado City Marshal's Office "routinely uses its enforcement authority to enforce the edicts and will of the FLDS; fails to protect non-FLDS individuals from victimization by FLDS individuals; refuses to cooperate with other law enforcement agencies' investigations of FLDS individuals; selectively enforces laws against non-FLDS; and uses its authority to facilitate unlawful evictions of non-FLDS, among other unlawful conduct." In April, the Arizona House of Representatives killed a bill that would have replaced local police in the town with Mohave County sheriff's deputies. Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne, who provided funding for the new patrols, had supported the bill. Horne said he believed it was essential and would prevent officers in the town, where many are related, from following orders from Warren Jeffs and other FLDS leaders. Read more | |
| MCSO on patrol in Colorado City | |
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Suzanne Adams Kingman Daily Miner Originally published July 9, 2012 | |
| Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan has wasted no time in getting additional patrols into the Colorado City area after the Board of Supervisors approved a $500,000 grant for his office from the Arizona Attorney General's Office last week. Deputies were in the area Friday morning, Sheahan said in a phone call from Colorado City in northern Mohave County. The grant provides funds cover overtime pay for deputies patrolling Colorado City. The town is well-known for its large population of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. The members practice polygamy and there have been many reports over the years of older men marrying underage girls. The church's prophet, Warren Jeffs, is currently serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexual conduct with underage girls. A number of church members are also Colorado City marshals. The marshals are the only local law enforcement in the area. According to Sheahan, the office has a history of corruption. At least six marshals have lost their licenses in the last three years after being accused of sexual conduct with a minor, bigamy and seeking advice from Warren Jeffs while he was a fugitive from the law. They also have a record of favoring members of the church in disputes between church members and non-members, Sheahan said. Read more | |
| Colorado City now patrolled by county sheriff's office | |
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By: KJZZ News 91.5 KJZZ Originally broadcast July 12, 2012 | |
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The sheriff of Mohave County in northwest Arizona has begun patrolling the town of Colorado City on a regular basis. That action comes after a federal lawsuit last month alleging civil rights violations by police in Colorado City. Dave Becker from KNPR reports.
DAVE BECKER: The majority of residents in Colorado City are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Justice Department's lawsuit accuses local police of systematically denying service to non-FLDS members. The suit says those decisions were made by the church's imprisoned leader, Warren Jeffs. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan describes some of the allegations. TOM SHEAHAN: They might receive a citation for a traffic violation where someone in the church does not receive one. Other issues regarding people being evicted from their homes, families broken off, and the marshalls more or less stand by and let the church elders do whatever they want to, and they are no more than an arm of the church. BECKER: Sheahan says his department's presence in Colorado City will be a long-range effort, and that significant changes in the town's culture are not likely right away - though he also said his deputies would help any residents who want to leave Colorado City, but have been unable to do so to this point. | |
| 3TV News reporter Mike Watkiss talks with KAET, Arizona PBS television about recent developments in Colorado City, video released July 26, 2012 | |
| New Sheriff In Polygamous Community | |
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KUTV 2News Originally broadcast Tuesday, August 14 2012 | |
| (KUTV) The Attorney General of Arizona set aside half a million dollars to pay for new sheriff's deputies that now patrol the polygamous town of Colorado City, which is adjacent to the Utah town of Hilldale. The twin towns act as one community and follow the rules of FLDS church leader Warren Jeffs, who remains jailed in Texas after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls. There have long been complaints that the police in the twin towns, the Marshalls, do little or nothing to protect residents and answer only to the wishes of Warren Jeffs. Last June, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the town Marshalls claiming they fail to protect, and even abuse people who are non-FLDS or ousted FLDS. Now, the deputies from Mojave County, Arizona patrol the streets in the polygamous community trying to restore order and gain the trust of the town's people. The latter will prove difficult as most are still very loyal to Warren Jeffs. See photo | |
| Tonight on AC360: Policing Polygamy | |
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Gary Tuchman Anderson Cooper 360 Originally published August 14, 2012 | |
| There's a new sheriff in town in the largest polygamous community in America. For years, the local police in Colorado City, Arizona have been accused of not giving protection to anyone who wasn't a follower of polygamous leader Warren Jeffs and his Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints Church. Now the Arizona attorney general has stepped in and given half-a-million dollars to pay for county sheriff patrols in town. That's after the state legislature tried to disband the police force and didn't succeed. There are several people in town who say the police force has failed them and they welcome the new patrols. People like Issac Wyler, who left the church eight years ago and says he's the victim of gruesome vandals. "They kill cats and throw them in the back of my truck, or I will find them in my porch a lot of times," Wyler told CNN's Gary Tuchman. But another sickening discovery was made on Wyler's property, according to another former FLDS member. You'll see the shocking video tonight in Tuchman's report. It shows a live kitten stuck in wet concrete inside a pipe. So what did local police do about it? The former FLDS members say nothing. Tuchman has been reporting on the FLDS community for years and went back to the area to see how the new patrols are going. Don't miss his report tonight at 8 and 10 p.m. ET. Update: Watch Gary Tuchman's report. | |
| Colorado City Neighbor Hildale Says Justice Department's Claims Are "Disguised" as Facts | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Tue., Aug. 28 2012 | |
| Colorado City and its neighboring town of Hildale -- the former stomping grounds of child-rapist Warren Jeffs -- both responded to the Justice Department's civil-rights lawsuit, and both towns want the suit tossed. The feds say the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Jeffs are still running Colorado City and the neighboring Utah town of Hildale to their fanatical religious liking, and attorneys for Hildale say the government isn't even producing facts. "In support of [discriminatory-policing claims], the United States sets forth conclusions or conclusory allegations disguised as statements of fact, both of which are insufficient to state a plausible claim for relief," Hildale's response says. Later in the response, Hildale's attorneys say several of the allegations "are so ambiguous and unintelligible that [Hildale] cannot reasonably prepare a full and complete response." The Justice Department set out about 20 allegations of unconstitutional policing in its lawsuit, claiming non-FLDS individuals were targeted by the Marshal's Office, while FLDS members were protected. That's the reason Attorney General Tom Horne had to get together the money to send the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to patrol the place. Read more | |
| County Officers Begin Patrolling Polygamist Town | |
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By Ladd Egan KUTV 2News Originally broadcast Friday, October 5 2012 | |
| (KUTV) Amid allegations of biased and unlawful police work, county sheriff deputies have begun patrolling the polygamist community of Colorado City, Arizona. Colorado City and its twin city Hildale, Utah connect on the Utah/Arizona border and are home to approximately 8,000 people, with many belonging to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. "We are there to provide fair and impartial law enforcement services to all the citizens whether they are FLDS or non-FLDS," said Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan of his department's permanent presence in Colorado City. The Arizona Attorney General's Office provided a $500,000 grant to pay for the overtime and other expenses related to the deputies' duties in the polygamist stronghold. The sheriff said two deputies typically patrol the area for about 16 hours a day. "The marshal's office is nothing more than a security service for the FLDS church," Sheriff Sheahan said of the Colorado City Marshal's Office. The marshal's office employs six officers who are dual-certified to patrol both the Utah and Arizona sides of the community, said Jeff Matura, Colorado City's attorney. "The Colorado City Marshal's Office welcomes the presence of Mohave County," Matura said. "At the end of the day it provides additional protection and law enforcement for the community." Read more | |
| Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne pushes bill to reduce FLDS power | |
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By Dennis Wagner The Arizona Republic Originally published Wed Jan 23, 2013 | |
| A young mother with six children who fled the polygamist community of Colorado City has told state authorities she was forced into a marriage at age 14 and held against her will for 12 years before escaping in December. Ruby Jessop Barlow appeared with her children at an emotional Phoenix news conference Tuesday, as Attorney General Tom Horne and others described her ordeal and denounced the practices of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan and Barlow's sister, Flora Jessop, who escaped from Colorado City in 1986, appeared with Horne and said Barlow's ordeal illustrates the cultish control exercised by self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who continues to lead the church from behind bars. They also announced plans for new legislation to strip the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office of its law-enforcement powers, which they believe would reduce the church's clout. The bill, which is similar to legislation introduced last session, would also provide money for Sheahan's deputies to patrol Colorado City. "As long as that Marshal's Office is in place, the FLDS and Warren Jeffs have the power to control and manipulate ... and keep children trapped inside the cult," Jessop said. Horne denounced Colorado City's culture as "the biggest injustice that I know of in the state of Arizona." The FLDS church advocates plural marriages, often with underage girls, as a key to salvation. Numerous sect leaders, including Jeffs, have been prosecuted in Arizona, Utah and Texas for crimes against minors. Jeffs is serving a life sentence for his Texas conviction on a charge of sexual assault of a child. Read more | |
| Arizona: Polygamous Police Holding Women Captive | |
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By Ladd Egan KUTV 2News Originally broadcast Wednesday, January 23 2013 | |
| (KUTV) After failed separate attempts last year by Utah and Arizona lawmakers, officials in Arizona are again calling for the police force in the polygamous towns along the Utah/Arizona border to be disbanded. A shared Marshal's Office provided law enforcement Colorado City, Arizona and its twin city Hildale, Utah. The area is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints which is run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs, 56, is serving a life sentence in Texas on convictions of sexually assaulting two underage girls. "They are corrupt," said Mohave County Arizona Sheriff Tom Sheahan of the police officers. "They work only for Warren Jeffs and the FLDS and we need legislation badly to put them out of business." Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne is leading the charge against the Colorado City/Hildale Marshal's Office saying it should be stripped of its powers. He also made new allegations that the police force is acting in concert with the FLDS Church to keep women and children captive. "It's the biggest injustice that I know of in the State of Arizona," Horne said. "Women who've wanted to escape have been forcibly held by the marshals against their will." Horne and Sheriff Sheahan called on the Arizona Legislature to pass legislation to shut down the towns' Marshal's Office. The announcement came during a press conference Tuesday announcing that a mother of six had successfully escaped from the towns. Read more | |
| Tom Horne: Woman Free After Being Held by FLDS in Colorado City for More Than 10 Years | |
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By Matthew Hendley Valley Fever Phoenix New Times Originally published Wed., Jan. 23 2013 | |
| A woman who was married at the age of 14 thanks to convicted child-rapist Warren Jeffs is now free -- at the age of 26. Attorney General Tom Horne set up the press conference yesterday with the woman, Ruby Jessop, as Horne's chalking up her escape to his office's payment to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office to patrol Colorado City. The woman lived in Colorado City, the city on the Utah/Arizona border that Jeffs used to call home, and remains the home to members of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The town was previously patrolled only by the "Marshal's Office," which state and federal authorities believe is to be loyal to Jeffs instead of the law. That belief has been a focus of Attorney General Tom Horne for quite some time, and last year became the focus of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, which alleged -- in part -- in a federal lawsuit that the "Marshal's Office" does its policing on the basis of FLDS law, instead of enforcing actual laws. As for Horne, he tried to replace the "Marshal's Office" -- which has absolutely nothing to do with the U.S. Marshals Service -- but the legislation he supported was shot down in the House last year. Horne used yesterday's event to announce that he's supporting a similar bill this year -- especially since the $420,000 the Attorney General's office is paying the Mohave County Sheriff's Office runs out in about six months, according to Horne's office. Read more | |
| Into the mind of ... Tom Horne | |
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Opinions The Arizona Republic Originally published Fri Jan 25, 2013 | |
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The state's top prosecutor talks about his crackdown on the polygamist enclave of Colorado City.
Arizona and Utah attorneys general have been trying for years to stop the abuse in Colorado City. Why do the problems persist? Prior attorneys general have not given this issue sufficient high priority. Immediately upon taking office in January 2011, I organized a task force of federal, state and local law-enforcement officials to seriously deal with this problem. They reported that the first priority was to get objective law enforcement into Colorado City, because the local police, called marshals, were under the thumb of the dominant church, and terrorize the people that object to the oppression that occurs. We prepared a bill that was general in nature but would have the effect of replacing the local police with the Mohave County sheriff. The bill passed the Senate 30-0, but narrowly failed in the House. I then transferred $420,000 to the Mohave County sheriff so he could station a deputy sheriff as a source of objective law enforcement in Colorado City. The reports we are getting are that that has made a huge difference. You want legislation to strip the town marshal's office of its law-enforcement powers. Why? At the Legislature, there was testimony that the town marshals are an arm of the dominant church. They have supported a system in which over 1,000 young men have been expelled, so the older men will not have competition for the young women to go into their harems. Read more | |
| Mohave County sheriff ready to respond to potential problems in Colorado City | |
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By Bob McClay KTAR - News/Talk 92.3 - Phoenix, Arizona Originally published January 28, 2013 | |
| Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne wants the Arizona Legislature to pass a law that makes the Mohave County Sheriff's Office the only law enforcement in Colorado City. But how would such a law be received in the polygamist town? Would the Marshal's Office that polices the town go along with the order, or would there be a confrontation between two armed law enforcement agencies? Horne said he is conducting a criminal probe of the office. He claims marshals are holding "women who want to escape from the community" against their will. Blake Hamilton is the attorney for the Hilldale, Utah, marshal's office, which is a joint operation with Colorado City. He denied the charges, and is challenging Horne to show any evidence that backed up the claims. The community along the Arizona-Utah border is heavily influenced by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. That church is ruled by Warren Jeffs, who is in a Texas prison after being convicted on child sex and bigamy charges. Hamilton admitted if the Legislature rules in Horne's favor, it would not go over well in Colorado City. He said the marshals obviously doesn't want to be decertified and disbanded. "It's these gentlemen's job to uphold the law and protect people there," said Hamilton. "They have done that, and they have been carrying out their duties." Not so, said Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheehan. Read more | |
| Sheriff: Escape opens door for others | |
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By Anderson Cooper Anderson Cooper 360 CNN Originally broadcast January 28th, 2013 | |
| The Sheriff of Mohave County, Arizona vows to help members who want to leave Warren Jeffs' polygamist sect known as the FLDS. Sheriff Tom Sheahan says their department is "helping those that want to get out of that community." The Sheriff tells Anderson the 'city police department' is nothing but an 'extension of a security service for the church.' He explains, "when people want to leave that church and get away from that type of living, they try to stop them, they hide them out, and they conspire with the elders in that church to keep this from happening." Sheriff Sheahan says people who are looking for help can contact the Mojave county sheriff's office at anytime, adding "we will make sure they are protected...we are there to provide them fair and unbiased law enforcement services." | |
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| Read Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan's Press Release regarding the tortured kitten encased in concrete, dated July 13, 2012 | |
| Read the U.S. Department of Justice's Motion to Transfer Related Case regarding Ron and Jinjer Cooke's discrimination lawsuit against the Town of Colorado City, filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona July 12, 2011 | |
| Read Mohave County Sheriff Tom Sheahan's Press Release regarding patrolling Colorado City, dated July 6, 2012 | |
| Read the U.S. Department of Justice's Complaint against the Town of Colorado City, Arizona; City of Hildale, Utah; Twin City Power; and Twin City Water Authority, Inc., filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona June 21, 2012 | |
| Read Arizona Senators Gray's and Gould's Arizona SB 1433 regarding the Colorado City Police, dated March 15, 2012 | |
| Read the State of Utah 2012 General Session's S.B.291 regarding the Hildale Police Officers, introduced on March 2, 2012 | |
| Read Arizona Senators Gray's and Gould's Arizona SB 1433 regarding the Colorado City Police, dated February 8, 2012 | |
| Read Washington County Attorney Brock Belnaps's letter to Marshal Jonathan Roundy regarding enforcing the Occupancy Agreements issued by UEP fiduciary Bruce Wisan, dated December 20, 2011 | |
| Read The HOPE Organizations's Request for Public Record to receive the evidence collected by the Colorado City Police Department regarding the arson and theft of thousand of donated library books, mailed to the Town of Colorado City April 28, 2011 | |
| Read Arizona POST Director Lyle Mann's letter to Governor Jan Brewer regarding Senate Bill 1288, dated April 8, 2011 | |
| Read the Colorado City Police Officer Curtis Leslie Cooke's Deposition regarding the UEP Trust, recorded at the Arizona Attorney General's Office in Phoenix October 5, 2010 | |
| Read the Arizona Attorney General's Emergency Report and Recommendation for Expedited Status Conference regarding the UEP Trust, filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 8, 2010 | |
| Read the Arizona Attorney General's Exhibits for the Emergency Report and Recommendation for Expedited Status Conference regarding the UEP Trust, filed in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 8, 2010 | |
| 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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