Judge Approves State Request To Hamstring Polygamous Trust
 
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A judge on Friday installed an outside auditor to take control of a polygamous church's assets, which state officials argued was necessary to keep its reclusive president from selling assets below market value to insiders.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's office had sought the order against trustees for a fund operated by the southern Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its president, Warren Jeffs.

Virtually all property in the twin border communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. _ where a majority of the area's 10,000 residents are members of the FLDS church _ was at one time transferred to the United Effort Plan trust to be shared by church members. Jeffs has been accused of leveraging that control to oust members that might threaten his authority.

Shurtleff alleges Jeffs is liquidating church assets under intensified pressure.

Assistant Attorney General Tim Bodily argued Friday the trust has transferred from $3 million to $5 million in land holdings to shadow companies set up by Jeffs' close associates, leaving only the land under which the lower-level church members live in its real estate portfolio.

Some ousted church members have sued the trust, and won the right to either remain living in their homes or be compensated fair market value from the UEP if they decide to leave.

Bodily said if the sell-off continued, there wouldn't be any funds left for church members who sought compensation.

The approval from 3rd District Judge Robert Adkins was a stopgap measure to keep further transfers from happening while the state waits for a June 22 hearing over whether all trustees, including Jeffs, should be removed and replaced by an independent third party.

"The court finds that the trust will be irreparably harmed by the continued liquidation and transfer of its property," Adkins wrote in the decision.

Jeffs and other church members were not notified of Friday's hearing for fear that would trigger the transfer or sale of more property. They were not represented in court.

It's unclear exactly how many assets the trust has or how many people are entitled to benefit from it, but Shurtleff has estimated it holds some $100 million.

Six people are listed as trustees, but investigators believe Jeffs exercises almost sole authority, as he allegedly does in determining which church members are assigned wives and children in the isolated border towns the church dominates.

Jeffs has stopped defending himself and the trust in lawsuits alleging leaders were responsible for child sexual abuse and wrongful banishment from the polygamous enclave, proving that church members aren't being protected, Bodily argued in court Friday.

"The trust is left defenseless" in court, he said.

Shurtleff's office has brought the church under increasing scrutiny amid allegations of sexual abuse, forced marriages and welfare fraud, although no criminal charges have been filed. He insists he's not interested in prosecuting members for illegal multiple marriages _ FLDS teaches that men must have at least three wives to reach heaven - but instead for other allegations of abuse.

Bodily repeated that promise Friday, saying, "There is no message to Warren Jeffs other than as a trustee of this trust."

The FLDS church traces its roots to Joseph Smith, founder of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1890, the mainstream Mormon church officially abolished plural marriage and members who advocate it are excommunicated.

Still, it's believed that tens of thousands of Mormon fundamentalists and others across the West continue the practice. Though it's illegal, prosecutors have said it would overburden the legal and child welfare system to try to prosecute polygamists.

Jeffs has not been seen in either community straddling the Utah-Arizona border for more than a year, and is thought to be on a 2,000-acre ranch near Eldorado, Texas, where he reportedly plans to move select members of the church.

Some ousted church members believe Jeffs is draining the church's trust in order to fund construction of the Texas compound and fear he will evict those who remain behind from their homes.

The attorney general made an effort to replace UEP trustees in February in a different case, but the courts said he lacked jurisdiction.
 
KUTV.com
Originally published May 27, 2005
 
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