Polygamy - The Salt Lake Tribune

Former FLDS spokesman sues Warren Jeffs

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:15:34 MDT

Former FLDS spokesman sues Warren Jeffs

By lindsay whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Feb 10, 2012 07:15AM MDT

The former spokesman for the polygamous sect led by Warren Jeffs says in a new lawsuit that sect leaders arranged a nighttime burglary that gutted his business after he was excommunicated for refusing to falsify sect records on Jeffs’ marriages to underage girls. Willie Jessop, a onetime Jeffs bodyguard and sect spokesman, is seeking more than $100 million in damages for business losses, repayment of money he loaned for sect legal expenses and compensation for abuse his family has suffered sinc...

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Evictions avoided after polygamous sect leaders make tax payments

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:19:03 MDT

Evictions avoided after polygamous sect leaders make tax payments

By Lindsay Whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Feb 5, 2012 04:19PM MDT

Polygamous sect leaders have paid nearly half of past-due property taxes owed on its state-controlled property trust, avoiding possible evictions and tax sales. “I am encouraged by the partial payment of the property taxes, and hopeful the remaining outstanding balance will be paid as well,” said court-appointed trust administrator Bruce Wisan. With the past-due property tax bill totalling more than $2 million and tax sales slated to begin next year, Wisan got a judge’s OK late last year to be...

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Judge won’t dismiss ‘Sister Wives’ lawsuit

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:18:49 MDT

Judge won’t dismiss ‘Sister Wives’ lawsuit

By lindsay whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Feb 3, 2012 08:18PM MDT

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by polygamous family made famous by a reality TV show who says Utah’s bigamy law is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups did remove the state’s governor and attorney general from the case in a 21-page ruling issued Friday, but allowed the suit to go forward against Utah County prosecutors. Waddoups decided Kody Brown and his four wives — Meri, Christine, Janelle and Robyn — face a “credible threat” of prosecution in Utah C...

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nonprofit holds fundraiser to help people leaving polygamous groups

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:00:15 MDT

Nonprofit holds fundraiser to help people leaving polygamous groups

By lindsay whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Jan 28, 2012 10:00AM MDT

Joseph Broadbent was 17 when he decided to leave his home in Hildale after years of beatings at home. “I was so sick of my dad, I just couldn’t take it anymore,” he said. He worked welding jobs, but when the work dried up, he found he needed something else — a high school diploma. Broadbent, now 23, had gone to the group’s private priesthood schools until about age 14, when he said he left to work for his father. For help with GED classes and paying for gas, he turned to Holding out Help, a Salt...

Jeffs’ followers barred from schoolhouse

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:14:15 MDT

Jeffs’ followers barred from schoolhouse

By lindsay whitehurst The Salt Lake Tribune

Published Jan 24, 2012 07:14AM MDT

A judge has granted a permanent restraining order barring polygamous sect leaders loyal to Warren Jeffs from a large school building used as a church by followers of a rival prophet. In a hearing Monday, 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg ordered the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints not to “interfere” or “harass” people using the Holm School Building. FLDS attorneys did not appear at the hearing. The ruling comes after a high-tension December standoff over growing divis...