Third District Judge Robert Adkins extended a temporary restraining order putting Bruce Wisan, a special fiduciary, in charge of protecting the assets of the United Effort Plan, an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

A different judge will decide on June 16 whether to leave the order in place, retain Wisan as fiduciary and continue the suspensions of the UEP trustees, who allegedly are failing to stop the possibly fraudulent transfer of some of the fund's assets.

The extension was requested by the Utah Attorney General's Office, which says the trustees, including FLDS President Warren Jeffs, have not administered the fund appropriately. The office is asking that the trustees be permanently replaced; a previously scheduled probate hearing on the matter will take place on June 22 before 3rd District Judge Glenn Iwasaki.

No one from the FLDS Church or the UEP came to Monday's hearing to oppose the temporary restraining order or its extension.

The UEP controls nearly all the homes and property in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., which are home to the FLDS and up to 10,000 residents, many of whom support the practice of polygamy. With two lawsuits pending in 3rd District Court against the UEP and Jeffs, who are not defending themselves and could lose by default, some residents fear they could be forced to give up their homes to pay off any awards.

At the hearing, assistant attorney general Timothy Bodily said sheriffs in Utah, Arizona and west Texas - where the FLDS is building a complex and temple in Eldorado - have tried unsuccessfully to serve the trustees in person with the order. Notifications of the legal proceedings have been mailed to the trustees' last known addresses and also will be published in local newspapers where the FLDS has property, he said.

Adkins issued the temporary restraining order on May 27 shortly after Bodily said during a hearing that there had been recent transfers of property, worth a total of $3 million to $5 million, to an insider company in Nevada in what appeared to be an attempt to liquidate UEP assets.

Wisan, a certified public accountant, almost immediately filed a complaint in 3rd District Court asking for return of the title of the transferred property, approximately 1,300 acres in Hildale, to the UEP.

Gary Engels, a special investigator for Mohave County, Ariz., said earlier that two buildings on trust property in the Hildale-Colorado City community were dismantled and moved within the past two weeks and that some businesses have been moving their equipment out of town.

Sam Brower, a private investigator for plaintiffs suing Jeffs and the UEP, contends the community is being looted. He said after the hearing that he has evidence that property was being moved out of the FLDS meetinghouse and a high-tech company over the past week.

Joining in the request to replace the trustees and appoint the fiduciary are the Arizona Attorney General's Office and lawyers for a group of young men whose lawsuit claims FLDS officials banished them from Hildale and Colorado City.

In addition, a Sandy lawyer for three former FLDS members whose children are trust beneficiaries attended Monday's hearing in support of the temporary restraining order. Marlene Mohn said outside court that there have been "all kinds of smoke and mirrors" involved in the handling of the UEP.

"We want the trust protected," she said. "When the smoke clears, there's going to be nothing left."

pmanson@sltrib.com