Salt Lake City, USA - A trust controlled by a polygamous sect will remain under independent supervision until a ruling is made on a request to permanently replace the current trustees, a judge ruled Thursday.
Third District Judge Deno Himonas issued the order after an assistant Utah attorney general detailed several transactions that removed property from the United Effort Plan (UEP) shortly after lawsuits naming the trust as a defendant were filed last summer. The preliminary injunction will remain in effect until at least Wednesday, when another judge will hear arguments on the state's motion to install new trustees.
The injunction replaces a temporary restraining order that expired Thursday and that had been requested last month by the Attorney General's Office, which accused the trustees of failing to protect UEP assets. At that time, the judge appointed a special fiduciary to protect the trust assets.
The UEP controls nearly all the homes and property in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., which are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and up to 10,000 residents, many of whom support plural marriage.
Assistant attorney general Timothy Bodily told Himonas that other questionable transactions include the transfer of 1,300 acres in May to a Nevada company and the recent dismantling and moving of at least two buildings.
He said the actions appear to be an attempt to liquidate assets and take them out of the UEP in case the trust loses the lawsuits.
That could leave the homes of UEP beneficiaries as the only trust assets, Bodily said, and those could be lost if plaintiffs win awards. He pointed out that the trust and FLDS leaders, including Warren Jeffs, church president and a trustee, are no longer responding to the legal actions and could lose by default.
"The trustees obviously made a conscious effort not to defend the trust," Bodily said.
The Utah Attorney General was joined in the request by the Arizona Attorney General's Office; lawyers for a group of young men whose lawsuit claims FLDS officials banished them from Hildale and Colorado City; and an attorney for three former church members whose children are UEP beneficiaries.
UEP trustee Winston Blackmore, an FLDS bishop in Canada, backs the move. He hopes to be reappointed to his position along with a slate of new candidates.
"I definitely agree something has to be done to protect the beneficiaries of the trust," Blackmore said after Thursday's hearing.
Jeffs and the FLDS are targeted in three civil suits. Two were filed in 3rd District Court, one by the group allegedly cast out of their homes and the other by a nephew claiming he was sexually abused by Jeffs and two of Jeffs' brothers. In a U.S. District Court lawsuit, a former church member claims he was wrongfully fired from his job at a Hildale company because he no longer adhered to the faith.
Jeffs was indicted June 10 by a Mohave County, Ariz., grand jury on two felony charges for allegedly arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a 28-year-old man who already was married. An arrest warrant has been issued, although Jeffs' whereabouts are unknown.
The man also was charged in the indictment.
Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith said Wednesday that the victim in the Jeffs case had to be subpoenaed before she would testify. He believes there are similar cases involving this type of crime and said his office would continue to prosecute the offenders.
"I'm not prosecuting polygamy," Smith said. "I'm prosecuting someone who has sex with a minor."