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	U.S. Attorney for Utah Predicts Polygamy-related Prosecutions By Ben Winslow Deseret News July 22, 2008 http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700245153,00.html The U.S. Attorney for Utah predicts prosecutions against members of polygamous sects as part of a multi-state cooperative investigation into crimes associated with polygamy. "I absolutely think that there will be charges," Brett Tolman said Tuesday. "They may range in nature and scope, but there will be charges." It comes as a coalition of law enforcement from several states are beginning to share information about crimes within polygamy. Federal, state and local authorities from Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Texas met in Las Vegas last month to discuss crimes within polygamy — particularly the Fundamentalist LDS Church. Authorities confirmed a database has been created to share information between the law enforcement entities. "It can accessed by those that are investigating those particular crimes so that information can be shared," Tolman said. Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith, whose office helped build the criminal case against FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, said the information sharing could help in future investigations among the states. "Whether it results in charges, I don't know," he said Tuesday. "Texas still has a lot of information they're going through." Smith was also unsure how much the other states would ultimately see after lawyers for the church finished with constitutional challenges about the hundreds of boxes of evidence seized in the YFZ Ranch raid. FLDS lawyers have already challenged some of it, citing priest-penitent privilege. Tolman, who will testify in Washington D.C. on Thursday about federal intervention in polygamy-related crimes, has said he doesn't believe a federal task force is necessary. It is a belief that Smith shares. "We in local law enforcement have been working really well with other state, local and federal officers," Smith said. "We don't need Sen. (Harry) Reid telling us how to manage this issue. We've been dealing with it for a long, long time and we have gotten convictions." Reid, the Senate Majority leader, has been critical of states' efforts to combat crimes within polygamous communities, particularly in Utah and Arizona, and called for Thursday's Congressional meeting. E-MAIL: bwinslow@desnews.com
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