Ex-member of a church sues leaders
 
The Associated Press
Deseret Morning News
 
ST. GEORGE -- A man who claims a polygamous church persuaded his wife and children to leave him has sued it and its leaders for $10 million.

Jason Miles Williams claims he was forced out of his Colorado City, Ariz., home last December. He contends Rulon Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and Jeffs' son Warren coerced his wife, Suzanne, to leave his family because "she had no chance of salvation if she were to remain married" to Williams.

The Jeffs then told Williams "he had no right to have a family and the only way to get back into the church was to sign over full custody of (his two) minor children to their mother and become re-baptized," he claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in St. George's 5th District Court.

Williams seeks damages for alienation of affection and intentional infliction of emotional distress. His wife has filed for divorce in Mohave County, Ariz., citing irreconcilable differences.

"Jason does not want divorce," Williams attorney Christopher W. Edwards said Tuesday. "He loves her and loves the children very, very much, and would like to keep the family together. So he's obviously contesting it."

Rulon Jeffs does not give interviews. He suffered a recent stroke and is said to be on oxygen 24 hours a day. Warren Jeffs could not be reached for comment. Frequent clan attorney Scott Berry said he was unaware of Williams' lawsuit and so would not comment.

Rulon Jeffs, 89, a tax accountant, and his sons recently sold their polygamous enclaves in Little Cottonwood Canyon. A collection of grain silos at the Salt Lake County estate was dismantled and reassembled in southern Utah, where he and his 20 wives have taken up permanent residence in a newly expanded home.

Until recently, Jeffs divided his time between his canyon retreat and the towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, which face each other across the Utah-Arizona border.

In 1935, when the fundamentalist church first moved to what was then called Short Creek, Williams' family was part of the core membership. But many of the Williams split with Jeffs after longtime leader LeRoy Johnson became sick. Johnson died in 1986.

After Johnson's death, members of a dissident church, including Williams' uncles, filed a lawsuit and eventually lost the right to remain in their houses. The Utah Supreme Court recently ruled the church must reimburse them for any improvements made to the property.

After Warren and Rulon coerced Suzanne to leave Williams, Rulon then instructed her to marry polygamist Lester Johnson, "destroying any chance . . . of reconciliation," the lawsuit alleges.

On March 27, Johnson, who has another spouse, and Suzanne "participated in a plural marriage ceremony," the suit claims. Johnson and the Jeffs are among defendants named in the action.
 
DeseretNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, May 5, 1999
 
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