FLDS-tied firms in court?
 Arizona won't confirm, but grand jury expected to see S.L. businesses
 
By Ben Winslow
Deseret Morning News
 
People with ties to the Fundamentalist LDS Church and a financially troubled school district were scheduled to appear before an Arizona grand jury in Phoenix on Wednesday.

Whether or not they showed up is not being discussed.

"I can't comment on anything that involves the grand jury," said Arizona attorney general's spokeswoman Andrea Esquer. "Anything that attends to the grand jury in Arizona is confidential."

The target of subpoenas issued in Salt Lake City and St. George is Jeffrey P. Jessop, the former financial director of the Colorado City Unified School District. He resigned under pressure in 2005, after the state of Arizona took over the district amidst allegations of mismanaged funds and teachers working months without pay. Police raided the district's offices in Colorado City, seizing computers and boxes of files.

Those ordered to provide the grand jury with records related to Jessop on Wednesday included Salt Lake-based businesses that have had ties to the FLDS Church. They include Village Transportation, Village Truss and the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the FLDS Church.

Car dealer Jody Wilkinson was also served with a subpoena for records.

"They actually requested a bunch of records," Wilkinson told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. At first, the car dealership was unable to find what the Arizona Attorney General's Office was looking for. After being provided with a VIN number for a car, Wilkinson found his Acura dealership had sold one — but not to Jeffrey P. Jessop.

"It came up for another Jessop," he said. "We sold a car to a Jessop in '98."

Several people in the St. George area were ordered to appear before the grand jury on Wednesday.

Last week, police officers in Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., were ordered to appear before the grand jury. It resulted in police officers being absent from the polygamous border towns.

While those officers were appearing in a Phoenix court, one appeared in a courtroom in Bullhead City, Ariz.

A judge ordered police officers to answer questions about the disappearance of equipment from land owned by the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust. Police in Hildale and Colorado City have come under scrutiny for their loyalties to the FLDS Church, including accusations that they have hindered the efforts of the UEP's court-appointed special fiduciary.

"The judge granted our motions to compel," said Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for the court-appointed accountant overseeing the UEP. "He ordered the police to pay the attorney's fees, which is a sanction."

In 2005, the state of Utah asked a judge to take control of the UEP, arguing that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs had been fleecing it. The UEP controls homes, businesses and property in the border towns. Its assets are estimated at $110 million.

Jeffs is a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. Prosecutors in Utah and Arizona have charged him with crimes related to forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Federal prosecutors have charged him with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
 
deseretnews.com
Originally published Thursday, May 25, 2006
 
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