Jeffs waiting for trial, county waiting for property taxes
Warren Jeffs, sect leader of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is awaiting trial set for April 23-May 4, and is incarcerated at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, less than 25 miles northwest of Hildale, UT. He is being charged with 2 counts of first-degree rape as an accomplice.
In the meantime, houses, some of them once occupied by Jeffs relatives, in the Hildale UT and Colorado, AZ area are starting to be abandoned, with taxes unpaid. These houses and the land they sit on are kept in trust, protected from litigations against FLDS leaders and members.
Fifth District Judge James L. Shumate determined that there was enough evidence that a 14-year old female had been forced to marry and to engage in sexual relations, despite her objections, and that Jeffs used his authority over her to persuade her to continue in the marriage.
“To say her agreement was reluctant this court finds is very clear,” Shumate said.
[The girl] again made her opposition known after the ceremony, Shumate said, by
expressing “disdain, reluctance and opposition and total dislike of sexual relations”
with her husband. Salt Lake Tribune, 12/15/06
Approx. $300,000 in property taxes, due in Nov 2006, are still owed to Mohave county. Residents are not believed to be in other residences in the two towns; however, they might have moved to other FLDS residence sites in South Dakota, Colorado, Nevada, Texas or British Columbia
The Utah court appointed fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan, in May 2005, to oversee the sect’s communal property trust. He’s not getting much help from the church’s members to deal with the trust problems. A former member is not confident that anyone else would want to buy a massive home, built to accommodate many wives and dozens of children, and settle in the community of church members.
housing problems articles
The Salt Lake Tribune, 12/12/06
The Salt Lake Tribune, 01/01/07
IMHO
Posted by Tere on January 6, 2007.
Filed under: News
A