Cover-Up (Arizona Attorney General internal memo)

Arizona faces a "Waco-level" threat from Mormon fundamentalists.

Comments (0) By John Dougherty Thursday, Oct 3 2002

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By focusing on polygamy in the isolated FLDS community straddling the Arizona-Utah border, former governor Pyle ended his political career.

Nearly 50 years later, Attorney General Janet Napolitano finds herself the Democratic nominee for governor.

Michael Hogue

Jim McDonald

Male leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rule the towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, with an iron grip. The remote location and proximity to the state line have contributed to lax enforcement by Arizona and Utah of anti-polygamy laws.

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But as the state's top prosecutor, Napolitano has failed to prosecute a single case stemming from a two-year investigation into a cult her own investigators say is engaging in violence and subjugation of women and children.

This is no longer simply a question of lifestyle and religious freedom.

Napolitano's special investigations unit reveals a town in the iron grip of brutal leaders who have engaged in illegal acts including rape, incest, assault, weapons violations, kidnapping and fraud.

Rather than encouraging appropriate legal action to protect young women from being repeatedly raped by their fathers, Napolitano's special investigations unit appears more concerned with keeping the allegations out of the press and dodging its constitutional duty to enforce the law.

"If someone is actually crying out and asking for help, and we are not doing anything about it, that is really sad," says Mohave County Supervisor Buster Johnson.