Fiduciary sells cows from farm pledged in settlement deal

The heifers are gone -- and that has put a snag in a key element of a proposal aimed at settling disputes involving a property trust once controlled by a polygamous sect.

The Utah Attorney General's Office and attorneys for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints learned Monday via a footnote in a court filing that the fiduciary managing the trust had sold young cows at Harker Farm.

The footnote, in a document filed by attorney Jeff Shields on behalf of Bruce R. Wisan, noted that the trust's cash crunch had been eased "slightly" by the sale, which an FLDS attorney said he was told generated $360,000.

According to the footnote, the sale was structured "in such as way as to not materially prejudice any settlement negotiations" and proceeds have been used to pay existing debts of the trust and the farm. The sales contract also includes a provision that would allow the farm to repurchase the cattle for the original sales price.

Neither Wisan nor his attorneys disclosed the sale, which apparently took place on June 2, to the Attorney General's Office -- even as state attorneys continued to work out a deal to settle trust disputes.

Attempts to reach Wisan or Shields for comment were unsuccessful Tuesday.

The livestock consisted of young heifers critical to the dairy farm's operation, said Rod Parker, an attorney who represents the FLDS.

"It is bad faith," Parker said. "Wisan knows that the

Harker Farm is central to the settlement. If Wisan takes $360,000 of cows out of the farm without receiving appropriate value and without putting the cash back into the farm, then he impairs the viability of the farm."

In a settlement it filed Monday in 3rd District Court, the AG's office calls for the farm and its assets -- real property, personal property, cattle and accounts receivable -- to be conveyed to the FLDS upon payment of $250,000 and issuance of a promissory note to pay the balance of the trust's financial obligations.

"Implicit in that arrangement was the expectation that the farm and dairy will be returned as an intact going concern, not decimated," Parker said.

The trust is at least $3 million in debt, funds owed mostly to Wisan and his attorneys.

Wisan sold the cattle to Jonathan and Hyrum Harker, whose grandfather started the farm. They never were members of the FLDS. Wisan had proposed selling the farm to the two Harker brothers but the deal was among those put on hold last November when Judge Denise Lindberg ordered a stand-down in litigation and trust activities.