Ariz. gets standing in church fund case
 
By Mark Shaffer
Arizona Republic - Flagstaff Bureau
 
A Utah judge on Monday extended a temporary restraining order by 10 days on a polygamist faction living in the area of Colorado City in an attempt to keep it from liquidating millions of dollars in assets.

"The only other thing that came out of the hearing was giving a member of the Arizona Attorney General's Office legal standing to participate in this case," said Paul Murphy, a spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

Another hearing will be held June 16 to attempt to get another restraining order against the United Effort Plan of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, court officials in Salt Lake City said.

A full hearing is scheduled for June 22 on an action filed by the Utah Attorney General's Office appointing a special fiduciary to take control of the church trust, which has been estimated to be worth as much as $200 million, including cash, real estate and other business ventures.

Despite the court order, leaders of the sect have been accused of removing buildings and taking other church assets from Hildale, Utah, and neighboring Colorado City, Ariz.

Warren Jeffs, leader of the FLDS church, is believed to be living at a church compound near Eldorado, Texas. Jeffs has been named as a defendant in two Utah civil suits. One was filed by a nephew, accusing him of sodomy, and the other, by former members of the church, alleges a cover-up of child-sex abuse.

Last month, Arizona seized financial records at the Colorado City Unified School District as part of an ongoing investigation into the church's possible use of school resources.

The state also has been involved in a public-relations campaign to open up the notoriously closed, close-knit community and has placed an office in Colorado City to try to get victims of polygamy to come forward and report crimes.

The population of Colorado City and Hildale is estimated between 6,000 and 7,000, and the church has no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published June 7, 2005
 
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