This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
About 3 a.m. on Feb. 21, 2013, the police force shared by Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was called about a possible burglary of a business and a home invasion.
Deputy Marshal Hyrum Roundy responded to the home invasion. There are conflicting accounts of what transpired before and after his arrival. That's not unusual in the two towns, collectively known as Short Creek and home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But something else has added to that morning's ambiguity.
The Short Creek marshals altered the police reports of what happened, and did so after receiving an order to preserve and provide them to the U.S. Department of Justice, according to court filings. Recordings of calls made to the towns' dispatch center that morning were destroyed.
A federal judge in Phoenix has been receiving briefings on efforts to retrieve the original reports on the burglary and home invasion, as well as an unknown number of other cases, but the latest briefing is pessimistic.
The police reports are discussed in some of the latest filings in the Justice Department lawsuit against the two towns for alleged religious discrimination. No hearings are scheduled, but both sides have submitted motions for what is called "summary judgment." Each side believes it has made compelling arguments and is asking Judge H. Russel Holland to rule in its favor without a trial. .
Hildale and Colorado City argue in their summary judgment motion that while former members of the FLDS have complained about discriminatory treatment, they have not been able to point to any damage they have suffered. In one example, a man excommunicated from the FLDS said he had a difficult time getting his utilities connected, but was able to get the connections.
"They have had an opportunity to recover, and have a utility connection," Hildale attorney Blake Hamilton said in an interview.
The Justice Department filed its lawsuit in 2012, alleging the towns' governments discriminated against people who do not follow FLDS President Warren Jeffs. The allegations include harassment from the Short Creek marshals, refusing to investigate crimes committed against people who do not follow Jeffs, and refusal to provide utilities, permits and other municipal services.
The lawsuit relies on some of the same evidence presented by residents Ron and Jinjer Cooke, who last year won a $5.2 million jury verdict against Hildale and Colorado City. The Cookes, the towns and their insurance companies later settled the lawsuit for $3 million.
The judge in the Cooke lawsuit also imposed an order on the towns not to discriminate, and violations could send the towns back before the judge. So in the summary judgment motion in the Justice Department lawsuit, lawyers for Hildale and Colorado City have argued that another such order would be redundant.
Weeks after the Cooke verdict, Marshal Helaman Barlow went to state and federal authorities and admitted he lied at the trial and in a related deposition. In a new deposition, he told of obstructing law enforcement and how he and the town manager of Colorado City, David Darger, altered police reports that the Justice Department wanted.
The Justice Department has singled out the Feb. 21, 2013, home invasion report as a key document in the lawsuit. The Justice Department, in court filings, contends the marshals office was working that morning in conjunction with FLDS security to retrieve church paperwork from a man who was excommunicated hours earlier.
Sheriff's deputies from Mohave County, Ariz., intervened, inventoried property at the scene and gave it to the excommunicated man and a man helping him. But Roundy, according to a Justice Department filing that cites the Mohave County deputies' reports, wanted to charge the excommunicated man and his companion with crimes, even though they appeared to be the victims in the home invasion.
The Justice Department wanted about five years of police reports. It is not known how Roundy's report and other reports from the marshals were altered or how many were altered.
In court motions, lawyers for Short Creek have said their clients were not trying to obstruct the Justice Department but were trying to finalize reports they hadn't finished yet and correct some embarrassing grammar and spelling mistakes. Hamilton said it was Barlow, who was then chief marshal, who ordered his deputy marshals to finish their reports after the Justice Department asked for the records.
The reports were filed in a software package that is sold to police departments by a company called In-Synch Systems. Judge Holland ordered Hildale and Colorado City to work with the Justice Department and In-Synch Systems to try to retrieve a list of altered reports from the software.
Attorney Hamilton said the marshals found a hard drive with most of the original reports. The towns also turned to In-Synch for help. But, according to court filings, In-Synch found what it thinks is a bug in its software that is preventing the recovery of three or four months of reports. The bug was a problem from the software developer, not something anyone in the marshals office did.
In-Synch is supposed to provide Holland with an update in the coming weeks with options for pursuing the original reports. However, the issue could be moot if the judge rules for Hildale and Colorado City and dismisses the lawsuit.
Twitter: @natecarlisle