Government offices in polygamous towns in Utah, Arizona hit with warrants for records

Warrants served on polygamous towns in Utah, Ariz.

SALT LAKE CITY — Government agencies in twin polygamous communities along the Utah-Arizona border were served Tuesday with search warrants seeking evidence on suspected misuse of public funds, authorities said.

The Mohave County Sheriff’s Office said warrants were served at fire stations and private residences in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

“There’s an investigation being conducted by the county attorney’s office at this time for a possible misuse of public funds and fraudulent schemes at the fire department and possibly the city government,” Sheriff Tom Sheahan told The Associated Press.

Sheahan said the allegations were specific to City Manager David Darger and Fire Chief Jake Barlow, both in Colorado City. Telephones messages left for the two officials were not immediately returned.

No one was arrested, and Sheahan said officers were expected to wrap up the searches later in the day.

Investigators were looking for documents and computers files, including financial records at both the offices and homes of Barlow and Darger, Sheahan said.

The twin communities are home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, an embattled religious sect that follows Warren Jeffs, a church leader serving prison time after being convicted of rape as an accomplice in the marriage of a 14-year-old follower to her 19-year-old cousin.

Management of the twin towns and the FLDS have been under increasing scrutiny since 2005, following allegations of an increase in underage marriages and misuse of a church property trust.

Five warrants were served in Colorado City — three at fire stations and one each at the homes of Darger and Barlow. The lone Utah warrant was served on the Hildale fire station.

Sheahan said officers had to forcibly enter one home after residents refused requests from police to open the doors.

Salt Lake City attorney Rod Parker, who represents the FLDS, said he had not yet seen the warrants and was unclear about the scope of information being sought.

The FLDS founded the twin towns in the mid-20th century, and its members make up the majority of residents, operate most businesses and work in all levels of city government and services.

The FLDS practice polygamy in arranged marriages, a tradition tied to the early theology of the mainstream Mormon church. Mormons denounced the practice in the 1890s.

The faith is engaged in a protracted legal battle with the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona for control of the $110 million church trust.

Jeffs, 53, resigned as president of the FLDS church in 2007 but is believed to remains the faith’s ecclesiastical leader.

He is currently in Mohave County Jail awaiting two criminal trials related to the underage marriage of sect girls. He is already serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life on the Utah conviction of rape as an accomplice.

In 2008, Texas authorities raided an FLDS ranch in Eldorado. More than 430 children were temporarily in state custody after the raid, which also resulted in the filing of criminal charges adjacent a dozen sect men, including Jeffs.