Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Suit Charges FLDS Towns With Discrimination Against Non-FLDS Members

The FLDS-controlled towns of Colorado City, Arizona and Hilldale, Utah, along with the FLDS Church, were sued last week in federal district court for discriminating against non-members of the Church. The allegations in the complaint (full text) in Prairie Farms. L.L.C. v. Town of Colorado City, (D AZ, filed 10/12/2016) are summarized in a news article from the Phoenix New Times:
Alleged illegal arrests by a cult-run police force have spurred a new federal lawsuit against two polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border.
Three businessmen who are former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints allege ... that officials in the rural towns ... violated their constitutional rights. They claim the officers with the Colorado City/Hildale marshal's office arrested two of them for trespassing on land they were leasing, that the marshal's office failed to investigate reports of vandalism on the leased land, and that Colorado City officials refused to provide water and garbage services to the property.