Feds investigate civil rights complaints in polygamist community
 
Reported by: Brent Hunsaker
ABC 4 News
 
HILDALE, Utah (ABC 4 News) - Allegations of police brutality and corruption have brought federal investigators to the twin polygamist towns of Hildale and Colorado City. Reliable sources tell ABC 4 News the investigators are from both the FBI and the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department.

They are reportedly looking for evidence of "crooked cops."

One incident happened in July of 2010. Genevive and Matt Hainline of Colorado City were arrested by town marshals. Their offense? They were emptying out a work shed on property they'd been given by a court-appointed official who administers the land in the twin town. Essentially it was their property, still the signed occupancy agreement meant nothing to the marshals. Genevive said, "It's like they can take me, do whatever they want with me, do whatever they want with my property."

Although Genevive Hainline has roots in the polygamist community, she is not FLDS.

In another incident that has apparently drawn the attention of investigators, marshals took a backhoe and dug up the front yard of Ron and Jinjer Cooke. They were looking for an "illegal" irrigation water hookup. In a videotape of the incident, the marshals admit they have no warrant but claim they are acting on a "complaint" from South Side Irrigation Company. A check of incorporation records of both Utah and Arizona by the Arizona attorney general found that "there is no such corporation registered in either state." The AG's report continued, "the evidence now indicates that officer ((Helaman) Barlow may have commanded that Trust property be dug up to pursue criminal charges being sought by a non-existent company."

Afterwards, Jinjer Cooke told ABC 4 News, "They had no right to be on this property. They had no right to be here."

The Cooke family is not FLDS.

And then there's the hundreds of thousands of dollars in vandalism claimed by the Stubbs family. They've had cattle run off their land, gain dumped out of silos and a field newly planted with winter wheat plowed under while a town marshal stood by and refused to do anything. In a videotape of that incident, Officer Jeremiah Darger shakes his head when Shane Stubbs asks, "So you're not going to stop them?"

Shane Stubbs was born and raised in the polygamist community, but is no longer FLDS.

-- That is the common thread: all the people in these incidents involving Colorado City marshals are "apostates" in the eyes of the FLDS. In the polygamist religion, they are worse than unbelievers.

And in each case, the non-FLDS residents charge the cops acted without regard for the laws they are sworn to uphold. Instead, they believe marshals are in fact the "enforcers" of FLDS leadership, beholding only to the dictates of Warren Jeffs.

Speaking of why he is taking action against the town marshals, Shane Stubbs explained, "Over the years, they've gotten away with it because nobody has been able to stand up for what's right. I have a responsibility to stand up for what's right, what's true."

Genevive Hainline added, "I feel like I live in America here and that I should have some rights ... and I have no rights."

The Arizona Attorney General has already filed civil rights complaints based on some of these incidents. Where the federal investigation will lead is anyone's guess, but it appears the feds have a renewed interest in allegations of abuse of power within the polygamist towns on the Utah/Arizona border.
 
ABC4.com
Originally broadcast August 16, 2011
 
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