Custer County, USA - Another Colorado colony of the polygamy-practicing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has taken root, this one at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, 50 miles west of Pueblo.
Custer County Assessor J.D. Henrich confirmed that a senior member of the sect, Lee Steed, bought a $350,000 house there in November 2006 and two more parcels in rural, largely vacant subdivisions last December.
The adjoining parcels, each just more than 40 acres, cost a total of $428,000, according to county tax rolls.
The land is near the tiny twin towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff, which have a combined population of 800 to 1,000 people.
"We keep hearing about a fourth parcel, but no deed has been recorded yet," Henrich said.
The FLDS became known nationwide after Texas authorities raided a 1,700-acre Eldorado, Texas, compound in early April and removed 462 children whom the state deemed at risk of abuse.
The polygamist communities, which first gained ground in the 1930s in Colorado City, Ariz., and nearby Hildale, Utah, have since spread to Texas, Idaho, Colorado and British Columbia.
In Colorado, sect members are known to own land near Crawford in Delta County, Mancos in Montezuma County and Cotopaxi in Fremont County.
"The last time we were there," Henrich said of the Custer County properties, "there were people living there. They had added on to the house they bought."