Fiduciary Requests FBI To Investigate Cops In Colorado City And Hildale
 
Reported by: Brian Mullahy
KUTV 2News
 
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - A spokesman for the "special fiduciary" overseeing property in Hildale-Colorado City said police in the polygamous communities have gone "rogue."

Val Oveson said the fiduciary's firm "would love to have federal law enforcement be more vigilant in the communities, to make sure all the laws are enforced." Specifically, Oveson said the fiduciary wants to the FBI to keep an eye on the activities of local police, known as marshals.

Oveson is a former Utah lieutenant governor, and now partner in an accounting firm run by Bruce Wisan. Years ago, Wisan was tapped by a state judge to run the United Effort Plan Trust, an entity that controlled much of the property where FLDS members live and work.

The appointment followed suspicions of misuse of trust assets. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, now spending time for being an accomplice to rape in an "arranged" marriage of a teenage girl, once seemed to hold sway over the property, reportedly assigning people to houses, and evicting others from homes.

Marshals in Hildale-Colorado City, no strangers to controversy, have faced questions about whether their prime allegiance is to the law, or the FLDS leadership.

"They are discriminating and not enforcing the law in a fair and even manner," said Oveson, citing as an example a recent dispute over wheat stored at granaries.

Local farmers leased the granaries from Wisan, but said tons of wheat were removed from the location by FLDS members. FLDS lawyer Rod Parker petitioned a court to issue a temporary restraining order against the farmers, who hold the lease, and a judge agreed.

Judge James Shumate, the same judge who sentenced Warren Jeffs to prison, said "verbal and physical altercations" could ensue if the farmers continued to exercise the lease. He noted the granaries were "historically used by the Bishop" of the FLDS Church, and that defendants with the lease may "infringe the free exercise of religion guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America in a manner inconsistent with the public interest."

Another hearing on the matter is scheduled for later this month. Oveson said the judge's ruling was based on FLDS misinformation, and that police allowed the removal of the wheat.

In a court filing, the FLDS attorney said the granaries, under the bishop's control, ensured "the safe and continuous food supply the community depends upon," a claim disputed by Oveson.

FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop has consistently derided the fiduciary's oversight, accusing Wisan of racking up huge bills, and trying to sell UEP property to pay them.
 
connect2utah.com
Originally broadcast July 25, 2010
 
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