Judge is poised to sign reform of FLDS trust
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
A judge is poised to sign a plan that will overhaul the Fundamentalist LDS Church's United Effort Plan Trust, which controls nearly everything in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Concern remains that captured FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs will continue to exercise authority over the FLDS people from his cell inside the Purgatory Jail, including his edict when it comes to dealing with the courts — "answer them nothing."

"Warren was able to rule the community very specifically — almost minutely — in their daily lives and he was able to do that even when he was on the run," court-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan told the Deseret Morning News. "I imagine he'll be able to figure out a way to do it from behind bars."

The proposed reform plan is part of a large stack of documents filed in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court late last week regarding the UEP Trust. Wisan also filed a report updating the judge on the status of changes in the $110 million trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in the border towns.

In 2005, a judge took control of the UEP amid allegations that Jeffs and other top FLDS leaders had been siphoning money from the "united order," hurting the people in Hildale and Colorado City.

"The Fiduciary is very pleased to report that ALL of the Trust's delinquent property tax obligations have now been paid in full!" he wrote.

While reporting that good news, Wisan also noted the communities continue to refuse to involve themselves in the reformation efforts.

Wisan singled out police officers in the town marshal's office for refusing to cooperate in the investigation of property that vanished from UEP land.

"The testimony of the police officers confirms the Fiduciary's fears that the police department does not take the Court's preliminary injunction seriously, and that the Fiduciary can expect no real assistance from the police department in preventing further theft of property from the Trust," he wrote.

Officers in the town marshal's office have been repeatedly grilled about their loyalties to Jeffs over their duties as police officers.

"Do you want to know the fastest way to end a conversation in Hildale and Colorado City?" Town Marshal Fred Barlow said in a deposition attached to the report.

"Sure," lawyer Greg Hoole said.

"Ask about Warren Jeffs, especially if you're law enforcement," Barlow replied.

"Right."

"It just ain't gonna happen."

Wisan said he is in settlement talks to resolve a series of lawsuits filed against the UEP Trust by former FLDS members.

The multimillion-dollar lawsuits allege Jeffs sexually abused children, kicked teens out of the communities and forced a girl into a polygamous marriage.

A lawsuit Wisan filed against Jeffs and other ex-UEP trustees could finally go forward with the FLDS leader's arrest. Court papers could be served on Jeffs inside the Purgatory Jail.

"All of the other individual defendants appear to be in hiding and/or avoiding service of process," Wisan wrote.

Fences continue to go up in the communities in attempts to keep prying eyes out, the report said. Engineers have been mapping Hildale and Colorado City to subdivide them. The survey project could be finished by the end of this month.

If the judge signs the UEP reforms, it could pave the way for private ownership in the communities. Both the Utah and Arizona attorneys general said they have no objections to the plan.

"It's a new day for that trust and those people," Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for the fiduciary, said Tuesday. "The trust is going to be administrated not by religious doctrine or who thinks who's worthy. It's based on just wants and needs of the people."

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Wednesday, September 6, 2006
 
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