The police department in a polygamous community along the Utah-Arizona border is facing new claims of discrimination in a lawsuit filed by two men arrested on allegations of trespassing at a former city zoo.
The Spectrum of St. George, Utah, reports the pair say they had court permission to take possession of the property, but marshals in Colorado City, Arizona, sided with a man already living there.
Andrew Chatwin and Patrick Pipkin say they were arrested because they aren't Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints members. The charges were later dismissed.
The department's lawyer says legal ownership of the property was unclear and the men were arrested because they refused to leave, not over religion.
The suit comes as federal prosecutors in Arizona argue the marshals should be disbanded over discrimination against nonbelievers.