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POLYGAMY UNDER ATTACK – FROM TOM GREEN TO  BRIAN DAVID MITCHELL 

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Chapter  Excerpts

Chapter Two
A Profile of Each Group and the Independents. Click to read excerpts Polygamy Groups Today

Chapter Three Excerpts

Tapestry Against Polygamy

Tapestry Against Polygamy made its debut in Salt Lake City in 1998. A non-profit organization, it advocates against the human right violations inherent in polygamy and provides assistance to individuals leaving polygamous cults.

It was begun by former plural wives who had escaped from their polygamist shackles. The women came from every polygamist group in Utah and Arizona and one activist, Carmen Thompson, came from a Christian (non-Mormon) polygamist group. Over the years, some of the activists have dropped out of Tapestry or moved away, but still remain viable opponents of polygamy.

Co-founders Vicky Prunty and Rowenna Erickson remain the most visible. . .

Help The Child Brides

Help The Child Brides is a non-profit, political movement dedicated to combating alleged child abuses occurring in the FLDS religious group that dominates the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. In October, 2002, Bob Curran, who organized the movement, opened an office on Tabernacle Street in downtown St. George, Utah. . .

Women’s Religious Liberties Union, WRLU

Friday, July 31, 1998, Utahn Mary Potter held a news conference and announced that she was heading a new women’s group that advocated polygamy as a political right. Their goal was to overturn laws that prohibited polygamy. The movement was obviously inspired to oppose Tapestry Against Polygamy. . .

Mormon Focus

Since the withdrawal of Mary Potter and the WRLU, the pro-polygamy crowd was hurting for someone to take up the banner. The adverse publicity sparked by the prosecution of Tom Green had driven most polygamists further underground. The media was hard-pressed for someone other than Tom Green who was willing to speak out and come to the defense of plural marriage.

After the publication of my first fact-based novel Murder of a Prophet, which focused on the dark side of Mormon Fundamentalism, two plural wives and a former plural wife took it upon themselves to become the pro-polygamy vanguard. According to informants close to the three talented ladies, the non-fiction book Voices In Harmony was created and published to offset the damage they felt I had done to the sacred principle of plural marriage.

The three intrepid ladies earned media recognition consistent with their advocacy and, as a result, two of the ladies became the unofficial spokeswomen for the advancement and preservation of plural marriage. . .

Chapter Four Excerpts

Who is Virginia Hill? She’s a buxom redhead born Marsha Jones in Southern Utah, but raised in Las Vegas. At age eighteen, looking like she was twenty-one, Marsha was dancing in a chorus line in one of the most popular casinos on Las Vegas’ famous strip.

Marsha was right at home in the bright lights and excitement of the gaming industry. Confident and capable, like many other beautiful young girls who were caught up in the glamour of Las Vegas, she changed her name to Virginia Hill in honor of her mentor, the paramour of New York gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel. Bugsy is the man who built the famous Flamingo Casio and brought the "mob" to Las Vegas. It was the mob’s investment that put Las Vegas on the map. . .

There was a spiritual side to Virginia. While Harry was doing business in Miami, she might be found tanning on a beach and reading the Bible. It was this spiritual side that contributed to her decision to make a major change in her life. Although traumatized and under a doctor’s care, she resolved to divorce Harry and move to St. George, Utah, to be near her mother, Connie Jones.

Connie had a sister, Lola, who was married to Danny Jackson, one of those rare individuals of exceptional honesty. Danny was also an extraordinarily devoted man who believed in Mormon Fundamentalism and had closely explored but not joined the AUB. Danny and Lola lived in the quaint, village-like town of Santa Clara, ten miles southwest of St. George.

Danny’s best friend and spiritual leader was a charismatic former Mormon, now fundamentalist, by the name of John Shugart. Both Danny and John Shugart had been raised in Las Vegas. Consequently, they did not view gambling as a sin but an industry. Shugart had inherited one fifth of the Showboat Casino, which he promptly sold for a million dollars and eventually squandered. On September 17, 1989, knowing it was coming, Uncle Danny Jackson received a UPS package wrapped with brown paper. It was postmarked, Virginia Hill, Detroit, Michigan. Inside the package were neatly packed bundles of greenbacks in $50 and $100 denominations. Each bundle contained $10,000. The combined bundles totaled $200,000. Virginia was trying to protect her assets and apparently felt her money would be best protected in cash.

In the next four weeks, Uncle Danny received two more packages containing currency. The cash received in the three packages totaled 1.2 million dollars, all legal tender, all sent UPS, and all from his niece Virginia Hill. . .

Chapter Five Excerpts

While we waited for the Utah Supreme Court to rule on the Virginia Hill case, other polygamists throughout Utah were making news. In early March 1998 I received a telephone call from Don Redd, the attorney for Virginia Hill, asking if I would be interested in becoming the investigator in a lawsuit against another polygamist group, The True & Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (TLC), headquartered in Manti, Utah.

The plaintiff’s were Kaziah May Hancock and Cindy Stewart, two dissident members of the TLC. When Kaziah and Cindy read about the Virginia Hill lawsuit they went to see Don Redd, who took their case more out of compassion for the two women than anything else.

The TLC is the alter ego of its founder James D. Harmston, a stocky chunk of a man in his early sixties. Urged on by his bitterness against the LDS Church, Harmston began giving a series of classes called "the models," which attracted Mormon Fundamentalists from other groups. On November 25, 1990, he claimed to have been visited by four angels - Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses - who ceremoniously took the priesthood keys from the LDS Church and gave them to him. From that enigmatic beginning, the unincorporated TLC grew to a population of three to five hundred.

Kaziah May Hancock, age forty, drove to my Salt Lake County home from Manti for the initial interview. She was wearing a brown cowboy hat with a rooster feather, and an ankle length western, leather coat. She was rustic and rural in dress, manners and speech, a truly extraordinary lady.

When Kaziah began her story she started to sob uncontrollably. It was forty-five minutes before she could regain control long enough for me to piece together her story. The venting was therapeutic. It was the first time since dissenting from the TLC that she could release pent-up emotions.

Kaziah was born and raised in the FLDS on a small isolated farm on the Arizona Strip south of Colorado City. When Kaziah was age fifteen, Guy Musser, a priesthood leader in the FLDS, gave her as a plural wife to a man old enough to be her grandpa. As a plural wife she was nothing more than maid servant and sex object.

The plural family moved to West Jordan, Utah, where they operated Reclaim Barrel, a company that restored and resold metal barrels. As Kaziah matured she was unable to bear children, so she devoted herself to building up the family business. Kaziah worked alongside the men, lifting and welding, and built the business into profitable enterprise. . .

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Chapter Six Excerpts

When Tom Green was appearing on all the TV shows, he lived in Snake Valley near the Granite Ranch, and called his place Greenhaven. Like Pleasant Valley, it was a cluster of about sixteen old house trailers that Tom and Bill Aldrich had dragged 100 miles across the sagebrush desert.

Pleasant Valley, the home of Dennis Matthews, was about sixteen miles due west just inside the Nevada border. All the kids in Snake Valley, including the kids from Pleasant Valley, were bused to the West Deseret School that was about three miles from Greenhaven. At Boy Scout meetings the Matthews’ kids interacted with the Green kids.

Tom and Dennis Matthews were converted to Mormon Fundamentalism about the same time and had attended the same underground, cottage proselyting sessions. Tom said that he and Dennis discussed what polygamous group they should attempt to join. Tom chose the Peterson Group (The Righteous Branch), a small offshoot of the Allred Group (AUB). According to Tom, Matthews chose the Allred Group because that’s where most of the available girls could be found. Tom became an apostle in the Peterson Group, and Matthews married a daughter of Ormand Lavery, one of Owen’s apostles.

Back in 1997, Tom had his family living in an apartment in West Jordan, Utah. Just as Tom had been the paralegal in the Kaziah Hancock vs. Harmston lawsuit, so too was he the paralegal in the Virginia Hill case. On two occasions I met Tom at the apartment either picking up or dropping off documents for Don Redd. The apartment was crawling with young girls and kids.

Tom then moved his family to a larger, nicer apartment in Sandy, Utah, just off Fort Union Blvd. One day I dropped off some tape recordings for Tom and was met at the door by a cute blonde girl who looked no older than sixteen. I assumed she was a younger sister of one of his wives, or possibly Tom’s daughter. It did not occur to me that she was Tom’s youngest wife, Hannah.

Later, when I found out the blonde girl was Tom’s wife with one child, I was shocked. I couldn’t imagine why a pretty young girl would want to marry Tom in his late forties. Nor could I understand how a father or mother would allow their daughter to marry Tom. I was tempted to say something to Tom but didn’t. Tom seemed to be doing an excellent job as a paralegal and I didn’t want to cause a problem that might jeopardize the case. I got to know Tom very well as we worked together on the Hill case.

News of the criminal prosecution of Tom Green spread across the United States and around the world. He was scrutinized by all the major news stations and appeared as a guest on all the major talk shows. Media from France, Germany, Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom came to Utah to interview Tom and his wives. Helicopters transported reporters and camera men back and forth between Greenhaven in the west desert and Salt Lake City. I watched as Tom’s media image became the most important thing in his life.

Everything came to a stop when the media came to call. His paralegal work in the Virginia Hill case and even his own criminal defense took a backseat to media interviews. He was flamboyant, unafraid, and articulate, but because he was an audacious nonconformist, he was held in contempt by his fellow polygamists. Whatever Tom was, he would have been a nobody without his five little wives.

Tom has a number of good qualities. He’s bright, well read, congenial, and has an excellent memory for detail. But by any standard, he is not a handsome man. What then was there about Tom that attracted these young wives, who seem very devoted to Tom? Why would a pretty fourteen-year-old girl like his youngest wife Hannah, want to marry a man in his forties? Why would they choose to live in near squalor conditions that is little more than camping out on the desert?

Each of Tom’s young wives are the products of one hundred years of Fundamentalist indoctrination. Polygamy, public welfare lines, and secretive religion is how they have been raised. Their world is as alien to mainstream Americans as would be Islam life in Iran.

Wife Beth Cook

Tom’s first wife was Lynda Penman, now deceased. They married in l970 and divorced in 1984. Prior to the divorce, Tom married Beth Cook in a spiritual wedding. Tom had met Beth at a cottage meeting.

When Beth was twelve years old, Roy Johnson, the leader at Short Creek, gave Beth as a plural wife to a man old enough to be her grandpa. He also gave Beth’s nine-year-old sister to the same man. Beth freed herself from the oppressive FLDS, but she is still tied to the doctrines of Mormon Fundamentalism and she implanted those doctrines into the psyche of her daughters.

Next Tom spiritually married Beth’s young daughter Linda. Then Beth introduced Tom to her half sister June Johnson and to June’s daughters, the Beagley girls, who were all living in Colorado City. Beth left Tom in 1989, when Tom placed young Linda over her mother Beth as head wife.

As you will discover, Tom liked his new wives young, which is evident by their tender ages: 12, 13, 14 and 15. According to Jeremy Aldrich, the son of Bill Aldrich, Tom advised Jeremy to marry his wives young so he could train them the way he wanted them. . .

Chapter Seven Excerpts

There is a euphemism coined by contemporary polygamists labeling those polygamists who choose to deliberately plunder state and federal welfare. It is called "bleeding the beast." Bleeding the beast is practice in all the polygamist groups at varying frequency.

There is no sin in bleeding the beast because the "beast" deserves it, they claim. But who is the "beast" really? It is you, and the hard earned tax dollars you pay to the government. So who makes it possible for these polygamists to survive, who supports them financially? It is you and me.

The following sermon by James D. Harmston epitomizes the general thinking of those Mormon Fundamentalists who exploit the welfare system. The sermon is a paraphrased but accurate version submitted by Kaziah May Hancock and Cindy Stewart who state they have heard Harmston preach the sermon more than once.

"You people need to swallow your pride and take advantage of every government assistance program there is. That’s what God wants. He doesn’t expect you to wallow in turkey manure. In another lifetime, we were persecuted and thrown out of Jackson County by the government. We’re entitled to everything we can get."

Tom Green is a classic example of bleeding the beast. Tom was a master welfare recipient, a professional bleeder who harvested by the bucket. According to Bill Aldrich, he sat down at the kitchen table and with paper and pencil, figured out how much each wife could bring in; then he instructed his wives to enroll in every state and federal welfare program where by hook or crook they could qualify.

Tom claimed to be a professional magazine salesman but Bill Aldrich said that in the three years he lived with Tom, he only worked as selling magazines for one month, and then his wives did most of the work while he supervised.

In August 2001, Tom was convicted of Bigamy and Criminal Non Support. According to Utah Attorney General Investigators Ron Barton and Diana Hollis, Tom’s income from selling magazines was as follows: $23,400 in 1995; $16,000 in 1996; $3,950 in 1997; and $2,850 in 1998.

Tom claimed that his declining income from magazine sales was due to an eviction from a Sandy trailer park, his move to Greenhaven, and the fire in which his three year-old son died.

It is interesting to note that from 1998 to 1999, even though he was active in granting television interviews and receiving payments for that, Tom bled the beast by the bucketfuls.

Your tax dollars were hard at work. Investigators Barton and Hollis documented a total of $647,263.45 during the years 1998 and 1999. That figure only represents those amounts where documentation was still available. Barton and Hollis estimated that if they had been able to access a complete documentation of all the state and federal programs where the Green family is known to have received assistance, going back to when Tom married his first plural wife, the figure would be well over $1,000,000, possibly as much as $1,500,000. The breakdown for the years 1998 and 1999 are as follows . . .

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Chapter Eight Excerpts

Priesthood inclusion in the marriage relationship doesn’t mean that love can’t exit among polygamist families. And speaking of love, while a member of Apostolic United Brethren, I observed some outstanding polygamist women who were excellent mothers. These mothers loved their children passionately and in many ways sacrificed for their children just as dramatically as monogamous mothers. Polygamist families are generally larger, money is scarce and, because polygamist fathers are often gone for extended periods of time, the mothers, out of necessity, often assume the role of both mother and father.

"When I say there is a lack of love in polygamist marriages," said Rowenna Erickson, "I’m referring to the lack of love at the time the woman is sealed to the man. It is not love that brings the man and woman together. It is the principle of plural marriage. When a Kingston man mentions love, he means sex. There is no such thing as romantic love, the kind of love you see in monogamous marriages. The relationship between the husband and the plural wife is ... well, mechanical, no emotion at all."

It would appear that lack of love is intrinsic in other polygamist groups, at least with the polygamists of Colorado City. Rodney Parker, an attorney for the FLDS, in a letter to Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, has been quoted as saying: "Although their model of marriage by revelation runs counter to traditional notions of romantic love and marriage, the model works for them because they have confidence in it." However, according to the anti-polygamist organization Help The Child Brides, the FLDS method works for them because the coercive power of Warren Jeffs tells them to make it work.

Rulon Jeffs in Purity in the New and Everlasting Covenant of Marriage referred to the "model" mentioned by Parker as, "...the placement system that has been instituted by the holy Priesthood, through President Barlow and President Johnson." Jeffs considered it a sin for young boys and girls to fraternize or seek each other out as husband and wife without priesthood supervision.

"It’s sad," said Erickson, "that a third or fourth wife, even though she may give birth to several children, may spend the rest of her life without experiencing the warm affection, passion, and adoration experienced by monogamous women. She may never know what it’s like to receive a birthday card, a box of candy or a red rose on her anniversary. In the Kingston Group," she said, "the young people are taught that such things are frivolous and unbecoming. There are no green grass or flowers in the yards of some of the Kingston leaders. If there’s a tree, it’s a weed tree that made it on its own. In the Kingston Clan, it’s a black and white existence for the women, no color in their lives. For the men, it’s making money, saving money, and sex." She had tears in her eyes when she said, "There are actually teenage children in the Kingston Clan who don’t know who their father is."

"In fact," said Rowenna, "as a plural wife you work at not loving your husband." More tears started welling in her eyes and her voice cracked with emotion. She choked back the tears and said, "You learn not to love your husband because when he goes to bed with another wife, it hurts too much...."

There are three kinds of power -- the power of presence, the power of communication, and the power of position. The ideal relationship is a balance of these three powers with love. But what happens when we apply this to plural relationships in Colorado City or the Kingston Clans? . . .

Chapter Nine Excerpts

When President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Law on July 8, 1862, his thoughts were primarily occupied with the rebellion in the South. Lincoln still supported the Republican platform of 1856, which declared that slavery and polygamy were the "twin relics of barbarism," but in 1862 he was not inclined to fight a political war on two fronts. Congress had given Lincoln a weapon with which to combat polygamy, but he chose not to use it. In reflecting back upon the stress Lincoln must have been under, attempting to find a political solution that would avoid a civil war, it is hard to find fault with his solution on polygamy, which was no solution.

And ever since the 1953 raid on the polygamist community of Short Creek by Arizona Governor Pyle, state and county officials in Utah and Arizona have let the polygamy issue alone.

Four Attitudes

The attitudes of the people in Utah and Arizona towards polygamists vary from sympathy, envy, and embarrassment to outrage. A legislator or elected official, faced with the dilemma to act or not act, must take public attitude into consideration. His decision may be predicated upon how he perceives public attitude or it can be based upon his own inner convictions. A public official’s career is dependent upon votes and the ability to get his message before the voting public. All of these things must be taken into consideration, including how his actions will be viewed by persons and institutions of political influence. True or false, most people in Utah and Arizona believe that leaders in the LDS Church wield immense political influence, and politicians do not want to embarrass the Church or its members.

One example: In order for Utah to achieve statehood, a provision was put into the State Constitution "forever" banning the practice of plural marriage. But in 1999, Utah State Legislator David Zolman, R-Taylorsville, proposed that the constitutional ban on polygamy be removed. He also thought that the legislature should apologize to the people of Colorado City for the 1953 raid on polygamist families authorized by the governor of Arizona, which made national headlines and tore apart families. The Legislature was not impressed. Nevertheless, Zolman received a lot of publicity from The Salt Lake Tribune over his egalitarian concerns for polygamists. But a year later, Zolman failed in his bid for reelection. His outspoken sympathies for Mormon Fundamentalists, no matter how justified, cost him his political career.

Sympathy

Even though polygamy is no longer practiced by members of the LDS Church, plural marriage or celestial marriage, is still a valid LDS religious belief. This contradiction can’t help but create a quandary in the minds of faithful Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith, the revered prophet and founder of Mormonism, was himself a polygamist. For three decades plural marriage (1852 - 1890) was the axis around which Mormonism revolved. All the leading men of the LDS Church - Brigham Young, John Taylor, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff - just to name a few, had taken plural wives. Although only a small fraction of the Church membership practiced polygamy, it is a safe bet that at least a third, if not half, of Utah natives (and many in Arizona) are the second, third or fourth generation progeny of polygamist ancestors. Some pundits think the percentage could be as high as two-thirds.

Regardless, a few of Utah’s more notable citizens can trace their heritage to respected and valiant Mormons who had plural wives; for example, former Utah Governor Mike Leavitt, who was recently confirmed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

A family tree with polygamist ancestors is no big deal in Utah. "The big deal," says retired Captain David Bishop, Salt Lake County Sheriff’s Office, "is that polygamists have been driven underground. Under the cover of isolation and secrecy polygamist leaders tend to become oppressive, abusive, and misuse their religious authority."

Bishop, an accomplished student of Mormonism, is the great grandson of Mahonri Moreancumer Bishop, and can trace his polygamist ancestors in four different directions: Bishop, Whipple, Harris, and Brunson. Bishop is not ashamed of his heritage. He believes that if polygamy were decriminalized, it would tend to neutralize the abuse that is found in the FLDS and Kingston Clan. A comparison between the FLDS and Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) tends to support Bishop’s hypothesis. The FLDS is a closed, isolated, and impudent society. By comparison, AUB is open and accommodating with very little abuse and no "child bride" forced marriages.

Many in Utah and Arizona share Bishop’s opinion but are circumspect in where and how they convey their opinions due to the fear of political or ecclesiastical repercussions, which is unfortunate. Over the years, many brilliant and productive men and women have emanated from the loins of polygamists as exemplified by the historical works of author Juanita Brooks.

Senator Hatch also said, "I happen to feel that a legitimate argument can be made that the 1879 Reynolds vs. United States was wrongly decided, and its progeny since." (Reynolds vs. United States was a supreme court decision that, in essence, removed plural marriage from the realm of religious freedom.)

In responding to The Salt Lake Tribune inquiry reported October 27, 2003, Senator Hatch said that a Supreme Court decision that tossed a Texas law banning consensual sodomy by homosexuals may also invalidate Utah's constitutional ban on polygamy and other state laws prohibiting incest and bigamy.

"The legal argument is there," the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman says of the precedent the high court set in a June ruling that the anti-sodomy statute unconstitutionally infringed on individual rights. "The current Supreme Court ruled that whether a majority of the public opposes a particular practice as immoral, it's not sufficient reason for upholding a law prohibiting that practice." (This 2003 decision seems to be a reversal of the 1879 decision.) . . .

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Chapter Ten Excerpts

In looking for solutions to the polygamy abuse problem, it must be acknowledged that there is a valid Mormon Fundamentalist subculture with at least 30,000 members. This subculture is well established and here to stay. It doesn’t matter whether one agrees with plural marriage, the practice is so widespread that government can’t even begin to enforce the bigamy statute, even if it wanted to.

It is not against the law to believe that plural marriage is essential to a celestial exaltation, but the practice of plural marriage is presently against the law.

The fundamentalist subculture is divided into three main groups with several smaller groups and a large population of independent polygamists who are not organized. Most of the civil rights violations, forced marriages, and welfare abuses seem to be concentrated in two groups, the FLDS and Kingston group.

The Utah legislature has passed laws in an attempt to combat abuse among the polygamists. It raised the age from fourteen to sixteen that a minor girl can marry with parental consent. The legislature has defined marriage and made it unlawful to perform an "unlawful marriage." If a polygamist prophet should perform a plural marriage with a minor, it is a felony. A man commits a felony if he has sex with a minor and he is ten years older than the minor.

In Arizona the age of legal consent is eighteen. If sixteen or seventeen, the consent of at least one parent is required. If fifteen years of age or younger, the law requires an order signed by the Juvenile Court Judge of the Superior Court.

Civil lawsuits are used as partial solutions by exposing the inner workings of the polygamist groups. This tactic worked when Virginia Hill sued Owen A. Allred , and when Kaziah May Hancock sued James D. Harmston.

The Arizona Republic reported on October 15, 2003, "Wives suing to bring end to abuse under polygamy" by Judy Nichols:

"Arizona Sen. Linda Binder (R-Lake Havasu City) who represents the area including Colorado City, said civil suits worked in attacking the Aryan Nation and seeking justice from the Catholic Church. ‘You have to cut the head off the snake,’ Binder said. ‘And that’s the money. There are estimates that the (fundamentalist church) has $400 million. I’d love to see the victims get that money to educate and relocate the women and children, give them a fresh start in life.’. . . ‘The men up there are fat and happy, smiling,’ she said. ‘They’ve got all the women they want, all the sex, and the government pays for their children.’"

The article further reported the attorneys general in both states are coming together to crack down on polygamy-related crimes. Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard "confirmed that he has a lawyer and an investigator looking full time into the polygamist community of Colorado City. . . . Officials in both states are looking into welfare fraud allegations. . ."

In August 2003, Mary Ann Kingston filed a suit against Paul Eldon Kingston, the leader of the Kingston Clan, and 241 other defendants. She is asking for $100,000 in punitive damages and $10,000 in general and special damages.

Mary Ann, now age twenty-two, is the sixteen-year-old girl who testified that she was coerced into a plural marriage with her uncle David Ortell Kingston, and was belt-whipped by her father John Daniel Kingston. David was convicted of incest and sent to prison, while John Daniel served twenty-eight weeks in jail for the whipping.

In the complaint, Mary Anne makes numerous allegations, some more interesting than others. Under the heading "The Order," which presumably means the belief system of the Kingston "religious order," the complaint states . . .

Chapter Eleven Excerpts

The controversy over religious tolerance and religious freedom becomes deeper and more complicated each day and may eventually be solved by courts outside of the state of Utah and Arizona.

In York Township, State of Pennsylvania, Stanley Shepp is appealing to the State Supreme Court, a decision by a York County Common Pleas Court and Pennsylvania Superior Court that ruled that Shepp was not permitted to teach his daughter about plural marriage.

Karen Muller of the York Daily Record, York, Pennsylvania, in an article dated November 19, 2003, did an excellent job in covering a controversy that may have a dramatic impact upon our polygamists, although the Supreme Court decision may be a long time in coming.

Stanley Shepp is a convert to Mormon Fundamentalism and was once the adopted son of Tom Green. I interviewed Stan by telephone in the year 2000, in conjunction with this book. At that time Stan was an estranged "adopted son" and probable witness in Tom Green’s prosecution. During our conversation he gave me the impression that he was withdrawing from the fundamentalist subculture because he was very upset with the deception by Tom Green. Tom had apparently lied to Shepp about Linda’s age when he married Linda, and in what state Linda had conceived her first child. Now it appears that in far off Pennsylvania Stan Shepp has taken up the Mormon Fundamentalist cause of promoting plural marriage and exercising his constitutional right to teach his ten-year-old daughter Kaylynne that God wants her to become a plural wife.

The mother of Kaylynne, Tracy Roberts, was given custody in 2001. Shepp was given visitation rights and during those visits he taught the child she must be a Fundamentalist.

The 1879 Reynolds decision, acting on the presumption that polygamy was not only illegal but immoral, in essence stated that a person could believe in polygamy but could not practice it. But the ruling did not say anything about teaching polygamy to children.

The Salt Lake Tribune "Dad fights polygamy gag order in court" article by Pamela Manson on Dec. 24, 2003, quotes University of Utah law professor:

"University of Utah law professor Edwin Firmage, a great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, describes himself as a staunch defender of polygamy and says prosecution of polygamists should be limited to cases of abuse, incest or underage marriage. And, he said, the First Amendment right to free speech extends into the home. But even so, Firmage thinks the girl's mother has reason to worry about her daughter being indoctrinated about polygamy because of the influence a parent has on a child. Although he says it's a close call, the professor agrees with the Pennsylvania judge's gag order based on the circumstances of the case. And, he said, Shepp's daughter can learn about plural marriage when she is older. "

In Utah the criminal courts prohibit using "religion" as a defense. The court reasoning was stated by Judge G. Rand Beacham in the sentencing of Rodney Holm, the police officer from Colorado City:

"Over the course of this litigation, the court has repeatedly ruled that religion is irrelevant to plaintiff’s prosecution of defendant. In America, religious belief is neither a criminal act nor a defense to criminal charges. American law distinguishes between religious beliefs and religiously-based criminal conduct, regardless of whether litigants, the news media or the general public understand that distinction. For this reason, this court has stated that those who want a defendant punished for his religious beliefs or for the beliefs of his neighbors are not just in the wrong courtroom, they are in the wrong country."

But in a civil proceeding there is no such prohibition. In the Kaziah May Hancock civil suit a jury apparently believed that James D. Harmston used the religious Doctrine of Consecration to cheat Hancock out of $250,000. In a transcript of a tape recording in the Hill vs. Allred civil action it was shown that Allred was asked to use his influence as a prophet to ask God what should be done with Virginia Hill’s stolen money.

In the case of Stanley Shepp, he has been accused of teaching his ten-year-old daughter that she must be a plural wife in order to please God, and that if she is not obedient to God, she will be damned. That doctrine is clearly Mormon Fundamentalism.

Richard Konkel, the attorney for Tracy Roberts, told the York Daily Record that the "question before the court is to what degree a court can direct the spiritual training of a child." The ramifications that will follow will be interesting.

What Shepp is teaching his daughter is being taught by other polygamists to thousands of little girls and boys. These children are being taught that they must grow up and break the laws of the land in order to please God, a must for reaching the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. In essence, what the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will have to decide is if the First Amendment protects a parent’s right to teach his child to grow up and break the law. . .

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Chapter Twelve Excerpts

Religious freedom is and should be a big issue in America. Our country has many different religions and lifestyles. But when we push a peculiar religion or lifestyle underground, we remove it from public scrutiny.

We have serious issues of abuse among some polygamist families as described in this book and in other books. There is a strong argument that if polygamy were decriminalized, the people choosing a polygamist lifestyle would be more apt to come out into the open, and criminal behavior would diminish.

Some people believe that decriminalization may also be a positive way of compelling men who exploit the welfare system to become accountable and take responsibility for the support of multiple wives and their children. Plural wives forced to masquerade as single mothers should be compelled by government to reveal the identity of the fathers. Those fathers should then be held accountable for the government assistance.

Tom Green was convicted of Criminal Non Support. Every polygamist, like Tom, who intentionally exploits the welfare system to support his spiritual wives and children, should be prosecuted for criminal non support. Government should not be in the business of subsidizing Mormon fundamentalism or any other religion.

Decriminalization will not automatically open up the world for women and children in the more oppressed polygamist societies like Colorado City, because polygamist leaders will view decriminalization as a threat to their power structure. However, decriminalization would have a positive effect on the next generation. The more open minded government becomes, the more curiosity the children will have about the outside world. The children in Colorado City are already cognizant of the tyrannical propensities of their leaders. Decriminalization will be like opening welcome doors to mainstream society.

But decriminalization will not work unless measures are taken to compel polygamist men to become accountable for the financial support of their wives and children. Otherwise, a disproportionate segment of the polygamist culture, like Tom Green, will continue to irresponsibly father one child after another with no thought other than welfare as to how he will feed, clothe, and educate the children. Decriminalization cannot be perceived as a free lunch to propagate at government (taxpayer) expense. Decriminalization must be equal to accountability and responsibility. . .

Epilogue Excerpts

I have not interviewed Elizabeth Smart or Brian Mitchell. But I have read the newspapers and watched television news. Nevertheless, during twenty-three years as a peace officer I interviewed dozens and dozens of victims and sex offenders. But more importantly, I have over thirty years of experience in the exploration of Mormon Fundamentalism. Putting that together, I believe I have formed an accurate assessment of the Elizabeth Smart kidnaping.

To begin with, Elizabeth was a bonafide kidnap victim. Her behavior and the behavior of her little sister was consistent with other victims.

Why didn’t Elizabeth later escape when she obviously had the opportunity, especially when she was approached by a policeman? The claim is made that she wanted to protect her family from what Mitchell had threatened to do to them. And her father stated on the Oprah Winfrey special that to survive, Elizabeth had to go "inside herself." It is amazing in today’s enlightened and educated society that anyone should question why she didn’t just "run away."

Psychologically and emotionally she was in Mitchell’s power. Mitchell had used all the familiar cult brain washing techniques, a combination of intimidation and Mormon fundamentalist doctrine, along with hunger, exhaustion, and loss of dignity to control her and mold her into a submissive plural wife.

Mitchell, who is obviously an intuitively perceptive individual, didn’t have to study cult methods to learn brainwashing techniques; it was already present in the fundamentalist doctrines he studied.

The doctrines used to brainwash victims is standard among all the organized groups. The litany goes as follows: Joseph Smith was a prophet therefore plural marriage must be a true principle. Accept it or be damned. Brigham Young was a prophet and he said plural marriage would never be removed from the earth. Therefore, the LDS Church was wrong when it suspended plural marriage. Because the LDS Church is wrong, the keys of authority were taken away and given to Emanuel. As God’s chosen prophet, Emanuel can do no wrong and is endowed with unlimited power.

Elizabeth was an active member of the LDS Church. In a sense, church teachings had already laid a foundation for Mitchell’s indoctrination. Mitchell took over where the Church left off. What Elizabeth was forced to endure is the same polygamist inculcation that thousands of other kids trapped in polygamist cults are compelled to endure.

There is one other aspect of this bizarre story that may, and I emphasize may, have contributed to Elizabeth’s brainwashing and apparent resignation that she was now a plural wife and belonged to Mitchell. The last thing I want to do is cause Elizabeth and her parents further distress, but it’s important that law enforcement, future victims, and future converts to Mormon Fundamentalism understand the full dynamics behind the brainwashing and mind control process.

Mitchell has been charged with sexual assault indicating that something happened and it probably happened the night of her abduction. . .

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The Potential For Violence Excerpts

The Illusion of Invulnerability is a phenomenon where by virtue of a person’s power, position or status, he believes he is above accountability.

Watergate and President Richard Nixon is an example of the illusion of invulnerability. In many ways Nixon was a good president but because he was the President of the United States, he thought he was above the law.

The prophet or leader of each polygamist group is a monarch or autocrat who believes he is accountable only to God, and that it is he who interprets the will of God. In essence the man is a surrogate God to his people because they believe he controls the celestial destiny of the human race and each individual.

In the case of the FLDS, their prophet is characterized by apostates as a despot and a tyrant. Fanatics and zealots tend to gravitate towards polygamist cults. The more isolated they feel from mainstream society, the more violence they mention in their sermons. The more threatened the cult leader feels, the more potential for violence exists. The violence may be aggressive, defensive or self-destructive.

Ervil LeBaron, the Lafferty brothers, Brian David Mitchell, and the bombing of an LDS chapel by the Swapp brothers are examples of aggressive violence. The killing of John Singer by lawmen for resisting arrest and the standoff of the Swapp brothers are examples of defensive violence. The potential for another Waco, Texas, or Ruby Ridge should not be taken lightly. . .

Conclusion Excerpts

Everyone loves a happy ending to a story. But there is not a happy ending yet to the abuses in the closed Fundamentalist groups (and some Independents) against thousands of young girls and women, and men too.

The goal for this book was to reach law enforcement officers, government officials, legislators, and you, the everyday citizen, to explain polygamy abuses in such a way that you could gain a clear understanding of what so many girls and women are up against, right here in America.

It is one thing to read about it and to see it on Oprah. But imagine yourself or your child born into a closed society, told what to believe, and then forced to act on those beliefs, knowing that the priesthood police are outside your door making sure you comply. Knowing that if you don’t, you can become homeless. They can throw you off your land and give your home, the one built with your hard labor and carefully budgeted money, to someone who does comply, and you are left with nothing.

Imagine your own young daughter suddenly being taken to a meeting where she is told that the old man towering over her will be her husband, that the marriage will take place the next day, and the union will be consummated right away. Watch the light in her eyes fade as she, like Elizabeth, must go inside herself to live, somewhere safer than the world she is about to enter. . .

If you don’t like what is going on, then remove what allows them to continue -- the fraudulent welfare money that comes from your pocket, your hard-earned tax dollars. If FLDS is now home schooling their children, we need to take back all the taxpayer money . . .

Read more in the book.

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