Arizona prosecutors take aim at church, marshal in Colorado City

KINGMAN, Ariz. - A 26-year-old mother of six who said she escaped the clutches of a polygamous church and wants a legal divorce from her husband, a member of the church in Colorado City, has an ally - the Arizona attorney general's office.

And her plight has brought new energy to prosecutors who are seeking legislative remedy to problems they're having with the town's Marshal's Office, which they suspect is an unlawful arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Prosecutors, who aired their concerns at a news conference in Phoenix on Tuesday, indicated that they are reviving state legislation that could allow a Mohave County Sheriff's Office takeover of primary law enforcement responsibility and the dissolution of the Colorado City Marshal's Office.

But an attorney who represents the Arizona-Utah border community about 160 miles northeast of Las Vegas said the facts and issues are being misrepresented. He invited criminal prosecution if there is any proof of misconduct and lawbreaking.

Ruby Jessop Barlow filed for divorce and child custody in Mohave County Superior Court in Kingman on Dec. 19.

The initial filing alleged that she was 14 years old when assigned to John H. Barlow, 32, in an April 2001 "celestial marriage" supported by the church, before they were legally married in Nevada two days after she turned 16 in May 2002.

The pleading alleged that she endured years of sexual abuse and several times failed to flee the marriage and community. It alleged that church officials returned her to her husband and held her in a church enclave in Canada for months.

In a news release issued with the news conference, Attorney General Tom Horne said that imprisoned church prophet Warren Jeffs compelled the first marriage and that Ruby Barlow "was held against her will for more than ten years. ... Her exact whereabouts were unknown for years until very recently when she was able to escape the town."

Jeff Matura, the Phoenix lawyer representing Colorado City, said Horne is blowing smoke.

"It's allegations. It's headlines, but where's the evidence?" Matura said. "It's like the old TV commercial. 'Where's the beef?' If there is evidence out there, OK, there are laws on the books already to deal with this, and these people should be prosecuted and arrested if in fact that is actually what is going on."

The marriage dissolution paperwork said the Barlow marriage produced six children, now ages 2, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10. Ruby Barlow asked for custody of the children, alleging she had been denied access to them for more than a month after leaving her husband late last year.

Horne said she "escaped" during a 15-minute window when her husband was away with the children and had no choice but to flee on her own and leave them behind.

Process server Sam Brower tried to serve divorce and child custody paperwork to John Barlow on Jan. 8. An affidavit that Brower filed in the divorce case alleged that the church and Colorado City Marshal's Office officials ran interference for Barlow when Brower followed him.

Brower said that a church security vehicle followed him as he followed Barlow and that that vehicle gave way when Town Marshal Hyrum Roundy stopped him in the neighboring community of Hildale, Utah. Brower said Roundy told him he was pulled over for following another vehicle too closely.

Brower said Roundy detained him without probable cause for about 30 minutes, refusing to cooperate when told he had been following Barlow to serve him papers.

Matura said Roundy cited Brower for following too closely, but let him slide for failing to show proof of insurance and vehicle registration.

Brower said that he visited the Colorado City town office the next day and that Town Manager David Darger was unhelpful when he explained he was there to serve papers on Barlow, believing him to be a dispatcher for the Marshal's Office.

Brower's affidavit and testimony from Ruby Barlow prompted Superior Court Judge Rick Williams to approve an emergency order granting her temporary custody of the children during a Jan. 14 hearing in Kingman.

"The Respondent (Barlow) has been withholding the children from the Petitioner and the Petitioner has been denied any meaningful contact with the children for approximately 1 month," Williams' order said.

It directed the Marshal's Office to accept service of the divorce and child custody papers on Barlow's behalf.

"This order is being made due to the testimony of Petitioner that Respondent is an employee of that office," the order said. "The Court can infer that the office was running interference and not helping matters when service was previously attempted."

Matura said Wednesday that the court was misled because Barlow does not work as a Marshal's Office dispatcher, but instead as communications intake employee for the town and is not involved with dispatching marshals on law enforcement matters. He said the distinction is important because the Marshal's Office and its employees can't legally accept service for Barlow.

Brower was told the same thing when he tried to deliver the legal papers to the Marshal's Office for Barlow on Jan. 17. He was accompanied by sheriff's Deputy Richard Allen who was trying to locate and secure the children so they could be returned to Ruby Barlow as directed by the court order.

Allen's report indicated that he was notified that John Barlow would meet him at the Marshal's Office and that Barlow surrendered the children to him when the rendezvous occurred at 4:30 p.m.

During his news conference Horne praised the Sheriff's Office for recovering the children for their return to their mother. Horne and Sheriff Tom Sheahan have alleged that the Marshal's Office and its personnel are corrupt in that they are more loyal to Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' directives than they are the laws of Arizona.

Horne and Mohave County attorney Matt Smith said there will be review and investigation of some of the allegations raised in the divorce case that spilled into the news conference.

Victoria Stazio, the lawyer representing Ruby Barlow in the divorce action, said she and her children are living in Phoenix with her sister, Flora Jessop, who fled polygamy and the church long ago. Stazio said there are no hearings set at present in the divorce and child custody matters.