Phoenix, USA - The former marshal of a pair of towns dominated by a church that supports polygamy never notified child welfare authorities of sexual abuse cases he was investigating and has acknowledged living with his wife and two "companions," with whom he has 21 children.
Samuel N. Roundy, 50, Colorado City's town marshal for 10 years before he resigned this year, made those admissions during an interview in October with an investigator for the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, according to documents released Friday.
The board certifies police officers in Arizona, and Diana Stabler, an assistant attorney general, said Roundy and another Colorado City police officer, Vance Barlow, likely will be stripped of their certification next month.
The men served as law enforcement in Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah. The towns are dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that broke away from the Mormon church. The fundamentalist church embraces polygamy, a teaching the Mormon church rejects.
Roundy told Dan Altenes, an investigator for AZPOST, that he did not report the child-molestation indictment last year of David Leroy Steed, 22, or any of the other 20 to 25 child sexual abuse cases he had investigated over the years to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, as required by law. Steed is accused of molesting an 8-year-old girl.
"I didn't know I was supposed to, to be just frankly honest," Roundy said in his interview.
Roundy also acknowledged that he has 15 children with his legal wife, and three children each with his companions.
Barlow, 45, acknowledged to Altenes in his interview that he has 18 children with three women.
Utah revoked the police certifications of Roundy and Barlow in March. Roundy said he was never a sworn officer in Utah.
The FLDS church's leader, Warren Jeffs, is a fugitive who was indicted in June on sexual-misconduct counts by a Mohave County grand jury. Eight other members of the church have been indicted in Arizona on sexual-misconduct charges with underage girls.