Sale of UEP land approved
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
ST. GEORGE - Third District Court Judge Denise Lindberg approved the sale Tuesday of 436 acres of land once owned by the United Effort Plan, which gives the UEP money in its coffers, and returned another 715 acres to the trust, which has been under the control of a court-appointed special fiduciary since May.

Lindberg approved the sale of 436 acres for $2 million to Advantum Inc., a residential building construction company based out of Pleasant Grove. She also returned ownership of 715 acres to the UEP, the financial arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose leader, Warren Jeffs, is wanted on charges of sexual offenses against children. The acreage is located in the Apple Valley area of Washington County.

In September 2004, the land was transferred from the UEP to a company called Aspen Management. In May 2005, the land was transferred into the names of several other companies.

Utah Assistant Attorney General Tim Bodily said the court's approval of the sale, which will put $1.575 million into the UEP fund, allows the trust to legally defend itself.

Bruce Wisan, the special fiduciary appointed to oversee the trust, was not available for comment, however his attorney Mark Callister said the land sale will give the special fiduciary money to work on several issues including two lawsuits.

"We are trying to get a handle on trust properties throughout Utah and Canada and the bottom line now is we have funding to pay for some of the costs of administration," Callister said.

Roger Hoole, an attorney for a group of young men who claim they were driven from the church and now call themselves the Lost Boys, said he opposed approval of the sale.

"I had concerns with the sale," he said. "One, that it wasn't enough money and we thought the special fiduciary would be able to clear title to the property with some additional court work that I did not think would be too expensive or extensive."

Hoole said there were two other offers for the property, including one from Shefco, Ltd. that would have brought another $616,000 for the sale of the 436 acres.

While the sale will clear all of the titles, it allows 160 acres to be retained by two entities - Team Stewart and Boulder Mountain.

"There is a claim money was paid for property by Team Stewart and that was used by William Jessop to pay taxes on UEP land," Hoole said. "That is a claim assumed to be true by the special fiduciary although that was not proven."

The sale also gives Aspen Management $425,000 that Jessop claims will be used to pay attorney fees accrued by the trust to Rod Parker and Scott Barry.

In his memo of response to the court, Hoole contends that the transfers of the land were fraudulent and there is no evidence that money was ever paid to the trust for the land. Hoole also states in his argument that the settlement agreement contains signature blocks for each defendant claiming an interest in the Apple Valley property. He argued that with the exception of Advantum, Inc., all but one of these signature blocks is signed by William (Willie) Jessop or Samuel Allred and at all relevant times, defendants Aspen, Western Precision, Team Stewart, Deb, Inc., D.C. Saddles, Northern Star, Boulder Mountain, Lyle Jeffs, and Twin City were affiliated with, owned by, and/or controlled by the trust, Warren Jeffs, and/or the other trustees of the trust.

The transfers of the property from Aspen Management to various companies came just weeks before the Utah Attorney General's Office was successful in petitioning the courts to freeze all UEP assets and temporarily remove the trustees. The court at that time also appointed Wisan as special fiduciary.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published September 21, 2005
 
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