An unoccupied pickup truck on a farm near polygamist enclave Colorado City was blown to bits Sunday evening in an explosion being investigated by federal agents.
A commercial explosive like dynamite is believed to have been used in the blast, says Tom Mangan, spokesman for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
No one was injured, but the previously working field truck was destroyed, he says.
See also: -Tom Horne Attempting to Disband Police Force in Polygamist Towns
Agents are checking around with local registered explosives dealers to see if any products are missing.
As of Wednesday, "no significant leads" have developed in the case, Mangan says.
The farm was located north of the town limits, just south of the Utah border, he says. Mangan declined to provide further details, such as the property owner's name or an exact time for the event, referring New Times to the Mohave County Sheriff's Office.
Trish Carter, spokeswoman for the sheriff's office, confirmed that her agency called the "AFT" for help in the case "to see if it was truly an explosion. They haven't given us any more status."
The incident involved "some farm equipment" and occurred between Friday, September 19th and Sunday at midnight. She says it happened in Colorado City. We think Mangan has the location and time right, not Carter.
Maybe this was some teens' idea of entertainment. Then again, something more sinister is possible considering the fact that much of the land near Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, is inhabited by members of the polygamist cult, the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints. As more attention on the child-rapes, theft of public money and corrupt police force of Colorado City comes to light, and more pressure comes on the community to change its ways, allegations have arisen of retaliation by cult members against ex-members and government workers.
The explosion comes a few weeks after the September 4 ruling by a judge denying the Arizona Attorney General's motion to disband the marshal's offices that have long been enforcers for the polygamists in the towns of Colorado City and Hildale. The same day, somebody shot through a window at the Mohave County victims advocate office, which helps people escape the brainwashing and sexual abuse of the FLDS. Investigators believe it was a .22-caliber bullet, or possibly a BB gun. Nobody was in the office at the time.
UPDATE: Mike Watkiss with Channel 3 News (KTVK-TV), who's covered the Colorado City scandal extensively, reported in a piece published on Thursday that the truck belonged to a family of ex-FLDS members who claim to be victims of ongoing harassment by the cult. Check out his report by clicking here. If it's true that Shane Stubbs and his family were targeted by the FLDS with this explosion, the case is starting to sound like domestic terrorism.
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