Secret charges filed against polygamist policeman
 
The Associated Press
 
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- State prosecutors have secretly filed criminal charges against a polygamist police officer in southern Utah, and a newspaper has sued to get access to the court documents.

The charging documents were sealed, at the request of the Utah Attorney General's Office, by 5th District Judge James L. Shumate, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday.

The paper filed suit in St. George on Friday, asking that the documents be made public.

The nature of the charges was unclear, though the accused, Rodney Holm, has been under investigation for bigamy and unlawful sex with a 16-year-old girl. A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office would not comment on the sealed charges.

Holm is a police officer in the border towns of Hildale, Ariz. and Colorado City, Utah. In a child-custody hearing earlier this year involving a former wife, Holm acknowledged marrying three women and fathering at least 21 children.

Holm is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy. The church says it has around 10,000 members.

Ruth Stubbs, reportedly Holm's third wife, said she was advised by Rulon Jeffs, regarded as a prophet by followers of the FLDS faith, to marry Holm when she was 16 years old. Holm was 32 at the time of their spiritual wedding ceremony.

State law outlaws sexual relations between 16- and 17-years-olds and partners who are 10 or more years their senior, unless the couple is lawfully married.

The Utah Attorney General's Office has been paying more attention to polygamist enclaves in the state.

"Our office has been actively investigating cases of child abuse, domestic violence and welfare fraud in closed communities," said Paul Murphy, spokesman for Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

In another polygamy prosecution, Tom Green is serving a prison sentence of five years to life for bigamy and child rape. He married one of his wives, Linda Kunz, when she was 13. He reportedly has five wives and around 30 children.

Prosecutors began building a case against him in 1999, after Green and his family appeared on a number of national television shows to discuss their lifestyle. Green purports to be following traditional Mormon doctrine by practicing plural marriage.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which claims more than 10 million members around the world, disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates those who practice plural marriage.

There are an estimated 30,000 polygamists living in the West today.
 
The Associated Press
Originally published October 6, 2002
 
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