Polygamous Towns Investigated
 County attorney’s office to join in investigation of criminal activity
 
By Brian Wedemeyer
Today's News-Herald - Havasu City
 
The Mohave County Attorney’s Office is involved in a joint investigation of alleged criminal activity in polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah, County Attorney Bill Ekstrom said Wednesday.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office recently confirmed that an investigation with Utah authorities has been ongoing for the past two years.

"We are making some progress," Ekstrom said. "Multiple relationships between consenting adults is not prosecutable. However, when those relationships spill over and affect children, we are concerned about it. And we are interested in developing cases if they are there."

Ekstrom said there are several instances of potential violations that could lead to arrests.

"Our major focus involves illicit relationships between adults and minors that violate state law," he said.

Patti Urias, spokeswoman for the Arizona Attorney General Office, said the investigation centers in Colorado City and across the border in Hilldale, Utah. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a sect that split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy more than a century ago — dominates the two communities. A message seeking comment from Colorado City Mayor Daniel Barlow was not returned Wednesday.

There are now an estimated 10,000 congregants in the fundamentalist group. The fundamentalist LDS group touts plural marriage as a key to reaching the highest place in heaven.

Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson, State Rep. Linda Binder and other lawmakers met with State Attorney General Janet Napolitano regarding polygamy a few weeks ago. Both Johnson and Binder have been pushing state authorities for more aggressive action in the Colorado City area in recent years.

"We were trying to get an update on what was going on, and they basically told us they haven’t been able to put together enough facts to prosecute," Johnson said.

"Obviously I think things should be happening quicker, but I’m not involved in the investigation. I do know I’ve been contacted by several people in Colorado City looking for help and making accusations."

In media reports Wednesday, Binder said trying to get state agencies to investigate polygamist activity in Colorado City has been a "maddening experience."

"The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office and County Attorney’s Office want nothing to do with it and their attitude is ‘it’s there, what are we going to do?’ It’s really too big for them anyway," Binder said. "Then, I met with the attorney general two weeks ago and she literally told me there’s not much they can do."

Responded Ekstrom, "We’re not obligated to report on what we’re doing to the legislature or Linda."

Sheriff Tom Sheahan told Today’s News-Herald he has been assisting in recent months by issuing subpoenas for witnesses in the Colorado City area.

"In these types of investigations, we don’t divulge information to anybody until it’s over, including a member of the legislature," Sheahan said.

The Attorney General’s Office generally doesn’t comment on investigations that are still ongoing. But the agency confirmed the investigation after a report began circulating among some news organizations late last week, Urias said.

She said the report, which purports to be from the special investigations unit of the Attorney General’s Office, is a fake. "Someone went to an awful lot of trouble to forge this report," Urias said.

The report uses language like a "Waco-level problem in Colorado City" and includes an analysis of obstacles to pursuing an investigation there. But Urias said a legitimate report from the Attorney General’s Office would not include that type of information.

A typical report from the Attorney General’s Office would read more like a dry police report, she said.
 
HavasuNews.com
Originally published October 3, 2002
 
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