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Polygamist Church Members Leaving Homes In Droves

The Short Creek area of Utah, which is home to the towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.
Associated Press

The Short Creek area of Utah, which is home to the towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.

About two and half hours northeast of Las Vegas, in the sister cities of Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., is the home of a polygamist offshoot of the Mormon Church known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

The church's prophet, Warren Jeffs, sits in a Texas prison. Warren Jeffs' brother Lyle Jeffs is on the run from law enforcement. Many of the church's leaders and members are caught up in legal investigations ranging from food stamp fraud to running child bride pipelines.

Now it seems like many are being kicked out of their homes.

Nate Carlisle is a polygamy reporter with the Salt Lake Tribune and has covered the development, he told KNPR's State of Nevada that the problem isn't money. Most of the land in the Short Creek area is owned by a trust created years ago by the FLDS church when families consecrated their homes to the United Effort Plan Trust. 

However, in 2005, the state of Utah took over the trust because of concerns that it was being mismanaged. Now, 12 years later, the trust is run by a judge in Salt Lake City, but that judge created a board of trustees to oversee the trust and all those board members are from the area. Now, after years of not knowing who lived in which property and taxes not being paid on the property, the board of trustees has started demanding that the members of the church sign occupation agreements and pay any back taxes.

“The FLDS have refused to comply with these terms for the most part," Carlisle explained, "They believe when the state of Utah took over this trust it was theft and religious persecution and the people working with the trust are apostates.”

The trust is trying to dissolve itself by selling off properties. So, when people have been evicted the homes are then sold, mostly to people who have left the church. FLDS members could buy their homes from the trust; however, few FLDS members are buying back their properties. 

“There’s no indication that the FLDS are buying the available property from the trust," Carlisle said. He said the members believe buying back the property is like "buying back your stolen car."

 

Nate Carlisle, polygamy reporter, Salt Lake Tribune

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Prior to taking on the role of Broadcast Operations Manager in January 2021, Rachel was the senior producer of KNPR's State of Nevada program for 6 years. She helped compile newscasts and provided coverage for and about the people of Southern Nevada, as well as major events such as the October 1 shooting on the Las Vegas strip, protests of racial injustice, elections and more. Rachel graduated with a bachelor's degree of journalism and mass communications from New Mexico State University.