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He has multiple wives. To describe those unions, he has started referring to himself as having "multiple committed relationships." That's his way of trying to lessen the potential evidence against him.

The Salt Lake County man, who didn't want his name used, for fear of being prosecuted for bigamy, worries that Utah's new bigamy statute will encourage prosecutors to start filing charges against polygamists.

"We've been coming out of a fearful mindset in the last 10 years, and this is a step back," the man said Thursday, "or at least causing people to take a pause and consider if we should stay as open as we have been."

But despite the law signed March 28 by Gov. Gary Herbert, there appear to be no plans by prosecutors to pursue polygamists — the consenting-adult kind or otherwise.

Parker Douglas, the Utah federal solicitor and assistant counsel to Attorney General Sean Reyes, said Thursday that neither the attorney general nor any prosecutor he is aware of has plans to divert resources toward prosecuting crimes committed by polygamists. And he said it's not practical to prosecute consenting adults for bigamy alone.

"Even if there was some zealous prosecutor out there," Douglas said, "there's not enough jail space."

There is no agency charged specifically with investigating polygamy-related cases. What cases have been brought through the years came from complaints received by law enforcement, said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill.

"I don't foresee a big flood of cases coming down our path unless those complaints go up," Gill said.

Even Kristyn Decker, a former plural wife who leads an organization opposed to polygamy and who supported HB99, isn't clamoring for more prosecutions. Rather than spending money to create task forces, Decker said, her priority is to send more government resources toward aid and therapy for women trying to leave polygamous relationships.

"All of us would like to see more help offered for the victims and the people trying to leave," Decker said.

The new law adds criteria for being prosecuted for bigamy: The offender must live with the extra spouse and "purport" to be married. Previous state law required only one or the other.

Under that law, bigamy remains a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, but those penalties could increase to 15 years if bigamy is prosecuted in conjunction with crimes such as abuse, fraud or human smuggling. Anyone leaving a polygamous marriage and reporting abuse or protecting a child would receive amnesty.

Douglas, who testified in favor of the bill to the House Judiciary Committee, said the attorney general's office, while not looking around for more cases, already has leads for some investigations of polygamists. He declined to elaborate on those cases, except to say they might be prosecuted for what he referred to as "aggravated bigamy."

That would be bigamy in conjunction with those offenses that enhance the penalties. Douglas said a prosecutor would have to present the same elements to a jury that would have to be shown if filing both a bigamy and a second charge, but that filing one charge instead of two would be less confusing to a jury.

"You're talking about abuse, sex trafficking and human trafficking and fraud taking place in a very specific circumstance," Douglas said.

The Salt Lake County man with multiple wives said he especially worries that mothers will be charged with the bigamy statute for any problem arising with children. He gave the scenario of a toddler escaping from a house and wandering a neighborhood; and of a mother failing to buckle a child in a car and instead of getting a citation, she would face both bigamy and child abuse charges and the possibility of up to 15 years in prison.

While he may refer to his marriages a new way, the man doesn't see marriage itself changing in his community. He believes his marriages are spiritual.

"I don't believe that the state created marriage," he said, "so I don't think they can change my definition of it."

Twitter: @natecarlisle