Polygamous cops feeling more pressure
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning New
 
The heat continues to be turned up on the police officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.

The court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust has been talking about the town marshals to the Peace Officer Standards and Training authorities in Utah and Arizona.

"I was invited to provide information," Bruce Wisan said in court Monday.

The Utah POST Council has placed the entire Hildale/Colorado City Town Marshal's Office under investigation over their loyalties to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. Arizona POST officials are conducting a similar investigation.

The court-appointed fiduciary has had trouble getting any cooperation from police to investigate the disappearance of buildings and equipment in the towns. Crimes that occur go unresolved, Wisan complained.

Meanwhile, a series of civil lawsuits filed against the UEP may be closer to settlement. Wisan and his lawyers met on Monday with lawyers suing the trust. Some new terms may include deeds to UEP property being given to the "Lost Boys," a group of teenage boys who were kicked out of the FLDS Church.

Settlement talks are also underway in another suit brought by Warren Jeffs' nephew, Brent, who claims he was sexually abused as a child by the FLDS leader.

"We think we are on the right track," lawyer Roger Hoole said of the settlement talks.

A lawsuit filed by a woman known as "M.J." will not likely be settled anytime soon. Lawyers argued in court Monday about the culpability of the UEP Trust.

"M.J." is also known as "Jane Doe IV," the woman testifying against Warren Jeffs in the criminal case against him. She claims that at 14, she was forced into a marriage with her 19-year-old cousin. She is suing Jeffs, the FLDS Church and the UEP Trust.

"We're very nervous about the precedence," fiduciary lawyer Jeffrey L. Shields said Monday. "The truth is, if we got hit, the underage brides will be the only beneficiaries of the trust."

"M.J's" attorneys recently asked a judge in Cedar City to grant them a default judgement, saying Jeffs has not responded to the lawsuit even after his incarceration.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, January 23, 2007
 
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