Ross Chatwin




Ross Chatwin

On Friday, January 23, 2004 a very brave man named Ross Chatwin spoke to the world about his life in the FLDS and its Prophet, Warren Jeffs. First Ross was excommunicated from the Church. Next, the Prophet tried to "reassign" his wife and children. Then he was told to leave his home. That's when Ross decided to speak out against the tyrannical Warren Jeffs. Read the story of Ross' fight against being evicted from his home and the torment his family has endured. These articles are in chronological order.


Colorado City man admits mailing letter
By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, January 23, 2004
COLORADO CITY — Ross Chatwin said he didn't even question the note asking him to copy an anonymous letter and mail it to hundreds of residents in the twin polygamous towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and nearby Hildale, Utah. "I did not write the letter; I didn't even read more than a few sentences in it until afterward," Chatwin explained during an interview at his Colorado City home. "People think I wrote it, though, and I'm taking the brunt of the fallout for it." Chatwin, who was excommunicated from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints two months ago after numerous warnings, said he fears his life is in jeopardy because of his involvement with the controversial letter. The letter challenges the right of Warren Jeffs to lead the FLDS church. Chatwin also refuses to move from his home, which is owned by the FLDS church under its United Effort Plan. Despite those fears, Chatwin, 35, has scheduled a press conference later today with the help of anti-polygamy activists Jay Beswick and Flora Jessop. He is expected to share intimate details of the FLDS church and discuss his own fight to stay in his home. Read more


News Conference Could Change Polygamous Community
KSL TV News Channel 5 KSL.com Originally published January 23, 2004
A news conference slated for later today could change the polygamous town of Colorado City forever. One of the town's residents promises to spill the beans about the polygamous church and blow things wide open. He says he was forced out of the church just before the upheaval two weeks ago when leader Warren Jeffs forced out 21 longtime members. Police are worried the division will spark violence. So far the town is quiet, but some believe today's developments will create a third faction, adding to two others created in the '80s. Meanwhile, a lot of the focus is on the community's leader, Warren Jeffs, who lives in a compound. Rumors are that Jeffs is getting ready to move to Mexico. And many believe the community will move with him if he tells members to.


Colorado City Press Conference
From the Mohave County Supervisor MohaveCountyNews.com Originally published January 23, 2004
The following is the speech given by Ross Chatwin on January 23, 2004 after being excommunicated from the FLDS Church two weeks ago. "I just want to get the ball rolling and to help pave the road for others to add to. Almost all the families in the society are really good and hard working people. They are just taught (brainwashed) from infancy to just trust, believe, follow like sheep and not to ask questions. If we don't understand something than we were told just put it on the shelf of beliefs. Well, I'm tired of being kept ignorant and my shelf was so stacked up it broke. We need your help to stop Warren S. Jeffs from destroying families, kicking us out of our homes, and marrying our children into some kind of political dollar browny point system. This Hitler like dictator has got to be stopped before he ruins us all and this beautiful town. Recently, I joined a growing list of men who have been told to leave their homes. I can't be sure as to why I've been told to leave behind everything that I've worked for. I do know, however, that the owner of the UEP land trust, Warren Jeffs, has claimed to be receiving revelations on whom to evict. Typically he requires that the person in question quietly vacate their home and leave their family under the auspices that if they show complete humility he may restore to them what was lost. As part of the process, he requires the evictee to write a letter listing all of their sins. He says that if the list of sins does not match the list of sins that God gave him through revelation then their eviction becomes permanent. This is essentially the ultimatum that was given to me and it is the same ultimatum that was given to former Mayor Dan Barlow and his brothers along with approximately 20 other men. Read more


Arizona man opposes polygamist sect
Excommunicated man says head of church must be stopped
By Brian Haynes Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published Saturday, January 24, 2004
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. -- The church tried to take Ross Chatwin's family. Now it wants his home. But the Colorado City man is not giving up without a fight. In an unprecedented display of defiance, Chatwin is publicly opposing the leader of his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a sect practicing polygamy that broke away from the Mormon Church. Surrounded by more than two dozen reporters from across the country, the 35-year-old father of six stood on his porch Friday and vowed to fight Warren Jeffs, a man known as the Prophet who controls the church and its holdings in the community on the Arizona-Utah border. "We are being told to leave our home, and we want to make a stand that we are not leaving," Chatwin said with his wife and children behind him. "We will stand up against Warren." Read more


Paula Zahn Now Interview with Ross and Lori Chatwin
Paula Zahn Now Originally broadcast January 28, 2004
ZAHN: For 70 years, a breakaway group of Mormons has lived largely unnoticed in Colorado City, Arizona, quietly living in polygamous families. Well, now the group has burst into the news with accusations that its prophet, or leader, is expelling some of the men from their homes and forcing their wives, even some of their children, to marry others, against their will. Is this a dangerous religious cult or simply a family feud within a small religious sect? Joining me now from Saint George, Utah, are Lori and Ross Chatwin, who are fighting his expulsion from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Thank you both for joining us. ROSS CHATWIN, EXPELLED FROM CHURCH: Thank you. LORI CHATWIN, EXPELLED FROM CHURCH: Thank you. ZAHN: Ross, I want to start off by reading what the leader of your church has to say about why he is throwing you out of his church. He claims you were stalking young girls to become your polygamous wives, against their wishes and the wishes of their father. Is that true? Read more


Polygamist Sect Probed in Utah, Arizona
FOX News Originally published Wednesday, February 4, 2004
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. — In a remote enclave on the Utah-Arizona border, a Mormon sect has openly practiced polygamy for years, but now upheaval from within has authorities stepping up an investigation they've been conducting for some time. A number of men have been kicked out of the church-owned town, and their wives and children are being "reassigned" against their will to other men. For years authorities have investigated the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but with the family "reassignments" sparking concerns of forced marriage of underage girls, their case is growing stronger. "I remember my husband telling me, if you don't submit you're going to be my servant after this life. And you will be waiting on me and my other wives," said Pam Black, a former child bride, who shared a husband with two other women until she left the church. "They taught me that God's laws are more important than the laws of the land," said Black. "That's what I was told in Church over and over again." In a rare show of defiance in the typically secretive community, one man who was ordered to leave is refusing to do so, and is sharing information with authorities about church leader Warren Jeffs. "This is the history of Hitler and what he did," Ross Chatwin, 35, who was kicked out of the church. "This here is going in the same direction and I'm scared." Read more


Critic of leader of polygamist sect is facing eviction
Lawyer: Request preceded news conference
By Dave Hawkins Las Vegas Review-Journal Originally published Thursday, February 5, 2004
KINGMAN, Ariz. -- The man who held a recent news conference to denounce Warren Jeffs, the leader of the predominant church in the northern Arizona community of Colorado City, is facing eviction proceedings initiated by the church-controlled trust. Much of the property in the community is owned by the United Effort Plan Trust, controlled by the polygamy endorsing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The trust, through Salt Lake City attorney Rodney Parker, has filed a forcible entry and detainer complaint in an effort to evict Ross Chatwin, 35, from trust-owned land at 245 N. Willow St. "The plaintiff revoked the permission formerly enjoyed by Ross Chatwin to occupy the subject property as a tenant-at-will by notice dated Jan. 27, 2004," the complaint states. "Defendant has affirmatively refused to surrender and turn over possession of the property to the plaintiff." Superior Court Judge James Chavez will conduct an initial hearing on the case in Kingman this morning. Read more


Dissident polygamist goes on trial in lawsuit
By Caleb Soptelean Kingman Daily Miner Originally published Wednesday, March 3, 2004
The eviction trial of a Colorado City man who has been excommunicated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints began Tuesday. The United Effort Plan (UEP) has requested that Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez evict Charles Ross Chatwin from a home in the polygamous community. Chatwin is being represented in the case by Community Legal Services, which is based in Kingman. During a Jan. 23 news conference in Colorado City, Chatwin denounced the church and likened its prophet Warren Jeffs to Adolph Hitler. On Tuesday, both sides presented witnesses, and Chavez set March 18 for oral arguments on whether three persons who did not show up Tuesday were properly subpoenaed. Chatwin’s attorney Joan Dudley argued that Jeffs, who also is UEP board president, church bishop and UEP trustee Fred Jessop, and UEP representative Nephi Barlow all were properly subpoenaed. UEP attorney Rodney Parker argued that the three were not subpoenaed correctly because they live in Utah, which is not subject to subpoenas from Arizona jurisdictions. Jeffs and Jessop live just across the Utah border in Hildale, Parker said. Barlow previously lived in Colorado City but has since moved to St. George, Utah. Read more


Man fighting eviction says he did nothing to lose church status
The Associated Press Originally published March 4, 2004
Judge James Chavez scheduled a March 18 hearing for attorneys to present closing arguments in the effort targeting Ross Chatwin, 35, a father of six children who has been directed to leave the home he's occupied for more than three years. Plaintiff's attorney Rodney Parker argued that Chatwin is a "tenant at will" subject to eviction at the whim of the United Effort Plan, the trust that owns most of the land in Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah. The trust is controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a splinter offshoot of the mainline Mormon church. From the home he's been asked to vacate, Chatwin held a Jan. 23 press conference denouncing the dictates of the church. Chatwin's wife, Lori, testified Tuesday that UEP President and self-proclaimed church prophet Warren Jeffs directed her to stop sleeping with her husband so that he would be "disciplined." Ross Chatwin testified he had been brought up with the belief that he would be a lifelong tenant of church-held property. He refuted the suggestion that he engaged in any behavior that would cause him to lose status as a church member.


Jeffs won't testify in Chatwin eviction case
Attorney: FLDS prophet not subject to subpoenas from an Arizona court
By Jane Zhang The Spectrum Originally published Friday, March 19, 2004
ST. GEORGE -- An Arizona State Court judge ruled Thursday not to call Warren Jeffs, the reclusive prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, to testify in an eviction case that the polygamist church filed against an excommunicated member. Judge James Chavez of Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman also refused the defense attorney's request to dismiss the case against Ross Chatwin, who appeared in the March 2 hearing. Instead, the judge scheduled the final arguments of the trial for 2 p.m., April 14. The case has been closely watched by many residents of the border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, the largest polygamist enclave in America. With an estimated 10,000 members in the area, the FLDS church owns most of the area's land and property through a trust, United Effort Plan. Like Ross Chatwin, at least 30 men have been expelled, followed by notices to evict them from houses built on UEP land. Read more


Colorado City court case delayed
e-Press The Tri-States News Network Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published Friday, March 19, 2004
KINGMAN, Ariz. - It'll be at least another month before Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez rules in a Colorado City case where the predominant church and trust it controls are trying to evict a man from his home. Judge Chavez on Thursday directed attorneys in the case involving Ross Chatwin to file final briefs supplementing bench trial testimony he heard March 2. Attorneys will present oral arguments in the case April 14 before Judge Chavez decides whether Chatwin must vacate his home. Chatwin held a January news conference during which he denounced Warren Jeffs and likened the church leader to Adolph Hitler.


Eviction case has closing arguments
e-Press The Tri-States News Network Murphy Broadcasting, Inc. Originally published April 17, 2004
KINGMAN, Ariz. - Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez has taken under advisement an eviction case emanating from Colorado City. Chavez is expected to rule within 30 days after attorneys presented closing arguments Wednesday in the proposed eviction of Ross Chatwin. Plaintiff attorney Rodney Parker said Chatwin was a tenant at will of property owned by the United Effort Plan, a trust controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Parker said the trust has legal authority to evict Chatwin without cause or reason if it so chooses. Defense attorney Joan Dudley, however, argued Chatwin grew up being taught that he could live on UEP land for life. Chatwin testified that he was encouraged by church officials to build a home and make other improvements during his period of residency. Dudley maintains Chatwin doesn't want to leave and shouldn't be forced to do so. Read more


Judge Won't Evict Man from Church Property
The Associated Press Originally published May 20, 2004
(Kingman, Arizona-AP) -- A Mohave County (Arizona) judge has refused to evict a Colorado City man from a home on land owned by the polygamist church that dominates the town. Superior Court Judge James Chavez denied a request by the United Effort Plan trust to evict Ross Chatwin from property owned by the trust. The trust is controlled by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Chatwin publicly criticized the church in January. Chavez ruled that Chatwin had possessory interest in the property because promises from church leaders. He said Chatwin cannot be evicted unless the church compensates him for improvements he made to the two-story home. During a March trial, Rodney Parker, an attorney for the trust and church, argued the trust could evict Chatwin without cause. Chatwin's attorney Joan Dudley said Chatwin grew up being taught that he could live on the trust land for life. Chatwin testified that he was encouraged by church officials to build a home and make other improvements.


United Effort Plan Trust vs. Ross Chatwin
Mohave County Superior Court Originally decided May 20, 2004
Read the Court's decision


Ex-FLDS member seeks to evict his brother
By Lorin McLain Kingman Daily Miner Originally published July 23, 2004
KINGMAN – The attorney representing a man excommunicated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints filed a motion to have his brother evicted from their shared premises in Mohave County Superior Court on Monday. The United Effort Plan, the church’s government arm, originally requested that Judge James Chavez evict Charles Ross Chatwin from a home in Colorado City that he shares with his brother, Steven Chatwin. Chavez, however, entered an order on May 20 granting Ross Chatwin license of the house he shares with his brother. Ross Chatwin denounced the church and compared its prophet, Warren Jeffs, to Adolph Hitler during a Jan. 23 news conference. After the order was issued, Steve Chatwin continued to make improvements to the house, according to Joan Dudley, Ross Chatwin’s attorney. “The UEP told Steven to move to the top and stay,” said Dudley. Steven Chatwin testified at an earlier hearing that he left for Canada in 2000 and returned to Colorado City in 2002. “I was given permission to take charge of the home and began construction on the upstairs,” he said. The judge in an Arizona state court case in the late 1980s awarded the UEP a “limited constructive trust,” such that if the trust removed someone from its property, the person could receive compensation for improvements made to the property, according to a Miner story published earlier this year. “I completed it with the help of the community. Utility service is in my name,” Steven Chatwin said. The utility service was switched from his brother’s name with the help of the UEP, he testified. Read more


Hildale police arrest ex-FLDS member
Ross Chatwin apprehended while evicting brother from upstairs residence
By Rachel Olsen The Spectrum Originally published Thursday, September 9, 2004
ST. GEORGE -- Ross Chatwin believed he was within his rights to change the locks on an upstairs apartment at his residence after a Mohave County court deemed he had a right to reside there. However, Hildale police officers on Tuesday arrested Chatwin, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, on a first-degree charge of criminal trespass. Chatwin changed the locks in the middle of a civil matter regarding the eviction of his brother Steven, who lives in the upstairs of the home in which Chatwin resides. The home is owned by the FLDS church's financial arm, the United Effort Plan. The FLDS church, based in the twin communities of Hildale and Colorado City, expelled Chatwin from the church, which led to a civil matter as to whether Chatwin should leave the UEP-owned home. Read more


Arizona charges Chatwin with trespass at this own home
The Eldorado Success myeldorado.net Originally published September 16, 2004
Ross Chatwin, the man who stood up to FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs and went to court to win the right to stay in his Colorado City, Arizona home, was arrested last week, shortly after returning to his home following a trip to Eldorado. Interestingly, Chatwin was charged with trespassing at his own home, the very home awarded to him by Arizona Superior Court Judge James Chavez. Chatwin was released a day later, shortly after Mohave County, Arizona, Deputy Attorney James J. Zack, Sr. reviewed the charges against him, as well as Judge Chavez's order giving Chatwin the house as a "life estate." Chatwin had reportedly entered the upstairs apartment occupied by his brother, Stephen, and was changing the locks in hopes of keeping the man and his family out of the home, when C-City police officers Helaman Barlow and Fred Barlow were called to the scene. The officers reportedly told Chatwin they were not aware of Judge Chavez's ruling. They then arrested Chatwin as his wife, Lori, videotaped the incident. Read more


Family-feud case offers glimpse of life in polygamous community
By Lorin McLain Kingman Daily Miner Originally published November 24, 2004
KINGMAN – A Colorado City man who was evicted from the home he shared with his brother after claiming to have invested around $40,000 in the property made his final argument for compensation in court Monday. The civil trial provides a glimpse of the church that controls life in the polygamous community. The brother being sued testified that his brother has been encouraged by a church official to continue living in the home, which was built on property owned by a church company, despite being evicted. Steven Chatwin, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, continues to live on the premises. Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavis ruled in May in his brother’s favor for legal title of the house. The brother, Charles Ross Chatwin, has been excommunicated from the church. He has claimed that the United Effort Plan, the church organization that owns most of the property of the polygamous community, has encouraged Steven Chatwin to remain in the house. Chavez previously had ruled that Ross Chatwin has the right to retain the residence until he receives compensation from United Effort Plan for his investment in the house. Steven Chatwin also refuses to leave and is suing for compensation on the same grounds. Read more


Judge rules ex-FLDS man must pay to evict his brother
By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, December 4, 2004
ST. GEORGE — Ross Chatwin found out Friday what it's going to take to kick his younger brother's family out of a house the two families share in the polygamous Arizona town of Colorado City — and it could be about $23,000, according to an Arizona judge. Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez ruled this week it would be "inequitable" for Chatwin to take possession of the upper level of the house without compensating his brother, Steven, for improvements he made. "This decision by Judge Chavez is consistent with other decisions he has made regarding trust property," said Rod Parker, attorney for the home's landowner, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its United Effort Plan Trust. Ross Chatwin and his wife, Lori, live in the basement of the house with their six children, while Steven Chatwin lives in the upper level with his wife and children. The men moved into the house at separate times under the direction of FLDS church leaders. But Ross Chatwin's excommunication one year ago led to an eviction notice issued by the trust, and the 36-year-old's refusal to move sent the case to court. Read more


Judge rules man must pay brother before evicting him from shared home
The Associated Press Casper Star-Tribune Originally published December 4, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A man trying to evict his brother from the upstairs portion of their shared home in a polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border will have to pay to do it. An Arizona judge ruled Friday that Ross Chatwin will have to reimburse his brother for improvements made to the upstairs portion of the house in Colorado City, Ariz., the Deseret Morning News reported Saturday. Mohave County Superior Court Judge James Chavez ruled it would be "inequitable" for Chatwin to take possession of the upper level of the house without compensating his brother, Steven, for improvements he made. "This decision by Judge Chavez is consistent with other decisions he has made regarding trust property," said Rod Parker, attorney for the home's landowner, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its United Effort Plan Trust. Ross Chatwin and his wife, Lori, live in the basement of the house with their six children, while Steven Chatwin lives in the upper level with his wife and children. Read more


Family fights FLDS for utilities
The Associated Press KVOA Channel 4 - Tucson Originally broadcast April 24, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY A Colorado City, Ariz., family feuding with the leaders of a fundamentalist polygamous sect had their electricity and water service shut off yesterday after the Hildale City Council dubbed them "squatters." The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints owns most of the land in Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, and considers followers who build and live there tenants-at-will. Ross and Lori Chatwin were excommunicated from the church, but had won a court fight to stay in their home. But utilities for the house were in Ross Chatwin's brother's name and the two Chatwin families lived together until three weeks ago. That's when Steven Chatwin, an active member of the church, moved away. Since then Ross Chatwin has fought to keep the lights on and the water running. Yesterday, city leaders said the Chatwins were squatters shut off the services. The shut-off only lasted an hour. Utilities workers restored the service after the Hildale City Council consulted with their attorney. Read more


FLDS dominated council backs away from fight over utilities
The Eldorado Success myeldorado.net Originally published April 28, 2005
HILDALE, UT -- Ross and Lori Chatwin, the Colorado City, Arizona couple who defied an order to leave their home after being excommunicated from the FLDS church by its Prophet Warren Jeffs, won yet another victory Friday when the Hildale, UT city council was forced to back down from its decision to disconnect electric power and water service to their home. The Chatwins appeared Friday at an emergency meeting of the Hildale city council where they pleaded with the panel not to turn off their electricity. But council members, who are all FLDS members, referred to the couple as "squatters" and denied the Chatwins’ request. Later that day, workers from the Hildale City Utility Dept. which also handles services in Colorado City, arrived at the Chatwin home and disconnected the electric and water services. The outage lasted just over an hour before calls from the media prompted Hildale officials to back down. By mid afternoon the power was restored and the water was turned back on. The showdown began more than a year ago when Ross Chatwin was excommunicated from the FLDS church by Prophet Warren Jeffs. He was also ordered to move out of his home which sits on land owned by the United Effort Plan, a charitable trust owned and controlled by the church. But Chatwin refused to comply and went to court to fight the eviction. Read more




Read the May 2004 eviction trial transcript of the United Effort Trust, Plaintiff vs Ross Chatwin, Defendant - Mohave County Superior Court Case No. CV-2004-83

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