Polygamist Church Buying Land in Other States

KSL News/November 8, 2004

First it was in Texas, now Colorado. A Southern Utah polygamous church is unloading land in Utah and buying property in neighboring states. It's raising questions about just what they're planning to do.

Southern Utah's fundamentalist LDS church has put 1300 acres of land around Hildale up for sale.

At the same time, the polygamous church is buying 60 acre plots of land just over the border in Colorado. It already has land in Texas.

Anti-polygamy activists have suggested FLDS leader Warren Jeffs may be ready to run from law enforcement.

FLDS lawyer Rod Parker disagrees. He says the church may be just be trying to live its communal lifestyle somewhere else.

Jeffs is the target of a criminal investigation. The Utah Attorney General's Office had no comment on the land sales and purchases but says it is aware of it.