Jeffs edict could stall UEP reforms
 Judge says she's 'days away' from approving trust changes
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
Captured polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has reportedly issued a new edict to his followers: "Do not sign your name to any document for property that has already been consecrated to God."

The Fundamentalist LDS Church leader's latest proclamation could further complicate plans to reform the $110 million United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

The edict was revealed during a hearing Tuesday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.

"Some documents related to that (the edict) were in the Escalade and people that are in the community have told me that's generally well known," said Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary of the UEP Trust.

Jeffs was arrested Aug. 28 in a red Cadillac Escalade that was stopped by police just outside Las Vegas. Inside, FBI agents seized a number of papers, cash, cell phones, computers and other items believed to have helped keep the FLDS leader on the run from authorities.

Jeffs is currently in Hurricane's Purgatory Jail facing two charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a teenage girl into a polygamous marriage with an older man.

Meanwhile, plans to reform the UEP Trust that Jeffs once controlled move on without him.

On Tuesday, a judge made some minor corrections to a proposed reform plan and indicated she was just "days away" from approving historic changes to the trust. In 2005, the judge took control of the UEP Trust amid allegations that Jeffs and other top FLDS leaders had been fleecing it from the followers.

"I'm prepared to sign it as soon as I can," Judge Denise Lindberg said.

Wisan came to court with plats of subdivided property in Hildale and Colorado City. Those plans are scheduled to be presented to the Hildale City Council on Oct. 17. Colorado City leaders refuse to discuss the matter, Wisan said.

The proposed reformation of the UEP Trust would create individual property owners. Many non-FLDS members would likely be the first to receive property. FLDS members who won't sign paperwork may have to live under a sort-of "homeowner's association" with the UEP, Wisan said.

FLDS members have been instructed by Jeffs in the past to "say nothing, do nothing, sign nothing" with respect to the fiduciary and the UEP.

Despite those edicts, some apparently want change. Wisan indicated in court that an active FLDS member has signed an occupancy agreement on a home and has enrolled his children in public school.

Wisan's lawyer, Jeffrey L. Shields, told the judge there is some pressure to get a reformed trust in place coming from people in the border towns.

"I think we're definitely seeing progress," Lindberg said. "We're moving forward."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Tuesday, October 10, 2006
 
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