Phoenix, USA - Arizona on Wednesday revoked the law enforcement certifications of two more officers from Colorado City, taking the total of de-certifications of officers from the polygamist-dominated community to six.
The Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board voted unanimously to revoke certifications of Fred J. Barlow and Preston L. Barlow, said Executive Director Tom Hammarstrom.
The men were found to have engaged in misconduct stemming from refusals to cooperate with one or more legal inquiries, Hammarstrom said.
Those inquiries included depositions regarding disappearance of property belonging to a church trust and a criminal investigation into the whereabouts of sect leader Warren Jeffs.
At the time of the investigation, Jeffs was a fugitive. He now is on trial in St. George, Utah, on charges of two counts of rape as an accomplice.
Located in an isolated area north of the Grand Canyon, Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, have been dominated by the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that broke away from the Mormon Church.
An attorney for the two decertified officers did not immediately return a call for comment on the board's actions Wednesday.
The de-certifications were the latest in a series of actions by Arizona and Utah authorities against members of the Colorado City marshal's office.
Two officers decertified by Arizona in 2005 were based on findings that the men violated the Arizona Constitution's ban on polygamy and also that they engaged in bigamy, a felony in Utah.
However, the Arizona board had no information that either Fred Barlow or Preston Barlow had violated the polygamy prohibition, Hammarstrom said.
The action still leaves the Colorado City marshal's office with five or six certified officers, according to Hammarstrom.