Attorneys question Hildale police
 Equipment owned by court-controlled trust is disappearing
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
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.

Lawyers for Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary appointed to oversee the UEP Trust, contend that removing any property violates an order put in place when the courts took control of the trust. The UEP Trust has estimated assets of $110 million. It controls homes, buildings and property in the polygamous border towns.

The state took control of the UEP Trust last year, shortly after FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs was charged in Mohave County, Ariz., with sexual misconduct related to performing child bride marriages.

Here in Washington County, prosecutors recently charged Jeffs with first-degree felony rape as an accomplice, accusing him of ordering a teenage girl into a "spiritual" marriage with a much older man. She was threatened with religious damnation if she left the marriage.

Jeffs remains on the run. He is on the FBI's Most Wanted List. A $60,000 reward is being offered by Utah and Arizona authorities for information leading to his arrest and conviction.

In 3rd District Court in February, Wisan testified the Colorado City Town Marshal's Office stymied his efforts to stop the grain elevator system from disappearing. Police stalled their response and claimed the property could be removed. The judge ultimately signed an injunction halting the removal of property.

"I do believe that since the court issued her restraining order, that kind of stuff has stopped," Shields said.

But the cops aren't being cooperative, said lawyer Zachary Shields, who spent an exhaustive afternoon grilling officers Helaman Barlow and Preston Barlow.

"They're refusing to answer some questions," he said during a break in the depositions. Shields told the Deseret Morning News that Helaman Barlow refused to talk about his religion or Warren Jeffs.

The lawyers plan to ask a judge to compel the police officers to answer the questions. If they still refuse, they could be held in contempt. Gary Engels, an investigator for the Mohave County Attorney's Office said he doubts the Hildale-Colorado City police officers will comply.

"You can't answer to two masters," he said outside the depositions Wednesday. "You can only answer to one master and it's not the state. The master here is Warren Jeffs."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Thursday, April 20, 2006
 
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