Ex-Police Chief: Warren Jeffs Still Controls FLDS Community

By Dennis Lambert
Published: Tuesday, March 31, 2015 - 11:56am
(Photo courtesy of Utah Department of Corrections)
Warren Jeffs

A former police chief who served the twin towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, said the community has always been a theocracy.

The comments of former Chief Helaman Barlow came in an interview with ABC’s "Nightline." In the story, Barlow said every aspect of the community is controlled by jailed church leader Warren Jeffs.

Barlow, who has left the church, said he lived in fear that Jeffs and other church leaders would take his family away if he failed to do their bidding. 

He told ABC’s Dan Harris the church even controls who goes into law enforcement in the community on the Arizona-Utah line.

"You had to get permission to go to police academy from the church. My job was to protect the church," Barlow said.
 
Jeffs is serving a life prison sentence in Texas for marrying and raping two 12-year-old girls.

The federal government is suing the local governments, accusing them of being controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints.