UNITED STATES
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Pamela Manson
The Salt Lake Tribune
After a 1953 raid to crack down on plural marriage turned into a public relations disaster, a polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border went largely unnoticed for the next half-century.
Not anymore. In the past two years, authorities in both states have become ever more aggressive in investigating and prosecuting alleged crimes in the closed society of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
By design, it's a cooperative effort. In the past several months, eight Colorado City men have been charged with marrying underage girls. A Utah judge has taken away the power of trustees of an FLDS trust fund for allegedly failing to protect the assets. And Arizona is investigating the Colorado City Unified School District's finances.
Most prominently, FLDS President Warren Jeffs - already the subject of lawsuits by disaffected former followers - was charged in June with child sexual abuse for sanctifying a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a married 28-year-old man. A federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution came a few weeks later.