Investigator stopped by Colorado City marshal
 
By JIM SECKLER
Mohave Daily News
 
KINGMAN — Tensions between the polygamist community in Colorado City and Mohave County continue to fester.

Colorado City Town Marshal Jonathan Rowdy on Tuesday reportedly stopped Mohave County Attorney Investigator Gary Engels, who was removing county equipment from a modular building that is on Mohave Community College land formerly leased by the county. The equipment was video cameras and recording devices used to interview underage victims of alleged sexual abuse in the polygamist community. MCC officials called Rowdy telling him that Engels was not allowed on MCC property, according to Sue Donahue, assistant to District 3 Sup. Buster Johnson.

"I’m upset with MCC for calling the cops on me," Engels said.

Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church and MCC recognized his government vehicle. He has been investigating alleged abuses by church members in Colorado City for more than five years, Engels said.

"Amazing, they won’t call law enforcement when the children are being molested," Johnson said. "I am not surprised by the audacity of MCC employees in sending the marshal on our employee who was retrieving Mohave County property from a Mohave County building."

Johnson said he also was concerned by the amount of taxpayer money spent on the MCC campus in Colorado City.

MCC President Mike Kearns said a campus employee saw several cars at the building and was concerned with vandalism and called police. Once the police officer realized that Engels worked there, they left satisfied there was not a problem. Kearns said the incident was a non-issue.

Tensions have heated up when Mohave County law enforcement officers raided fire stations April 6 in Colorado City and in Hildale, Utah, as well as the homes of Colorado City Fire Chief Jake Barlow and Colorado City Manager David Darger. The investigation looked into the alleged misuse of the fire department’s credit cards for personal use in connection with the fire departments and the city government.

The county was forced to abandon the modular building on MCC property in Colorado City after the community college ended a five-year lease in early 2009. The sheriff’s office, a county attorney’s office investigator and the state Department of Economic Security used part of the building. Johnson questioned MCC’s refusal to extend the lease and said the "coziness" between the FLDS and MCC was evident.

Engels said he currently does not have an office but hopes the relocated modular building will be available by August.

The county recently bought a five-acre lot at the corner of Cane Beds Road and Highway 389 near Colorado City and is in the process of moving the modular building to the lot. The building would house the sheriff’s office, the county attorney’s office and other county offices. The county also approved putting a new Moccasin Justice Court in the Colorado City area.

In recent years, the county attorney’s office has investigated charges of child abuse and sexual misconduct by several church members including the church’s self-proclaimed prophet, Warren Jeffs, who is in custody in Kingman on four counts of sexual conduct with a minor in two 2007 Arizona cases. Jeffs, who was convicted in Utah for rape and is serving a 10-year prison term, also faces charges in Texas. Eight other members of the FLDS were also charged in Mohave County in recent years of similar charges.
 
MohaveDailyNews.com
Originally published Friday, May 14, 2010
 
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