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Trial Is Expected to Reveal Polygamous Towns' Inner Workings
Source: Associated Press
Trial Is Expected to Reveal Polygamous Towns' Inner Workings
By JACQUES BILLEAUD AND BRADY MCCOMBS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Jan 7, 2016, 10:45 AM ET
A trial that begins this month in Phoenix is expected to reveal the inner workings of two secluded towns on the Arizona-Utah line that authorities say were acting as agents of a corrupt polygamist regime.
The federal government brought a civil rights lawsuit against Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, that contends local leaders engaged in a pattern of discrimination against residents who are not members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from Mormonism when the mainstream faith disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.
The government alleges officials in the towns seized property from nonmembers and prevented them from building homes.
Police officers are accused of assisting sect leader Warren Jeffs while he was a fugitive on charges of arranging marriages between girls and older men.
The government also says police failed to investigate crimes against nonbelievers. For example, officers refused to act on nonbelievers' trespassing complaints against sect members, the lawsuit says.
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By JACQUES BILLEAUD AND BRADY MCCOMBS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX — Jan 7, 2016, 10:45 AM ET
A trial that begins this month in Phoenix is expected to reveal the inner workings of two secluded towns on the Arizona-Utah line that authorities say were acting as agents of a corrupt polygamist regime.
The federal government brought a civil rights lawsuit against Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, that contends local leaders engaged in a pattern of discrimination against residents who are not members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which broke away from Mormonism when the mainstream faith disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.
The government alleges officials in the towns seized property from nonmembers and prevented them from building homes.
Police officers are accused of assisting sect leader Warren Jeffs while he was a fugitive on charges of arranging marriages between girls and older men.
The government also says police failed to investigate crimes against nonbelievers. For example, officers refused to act on nonbelievers' trespassing complaints against sect members, the lawsuit says.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/trial-expected-reveal-polygamous-towns-workings-36141885
