13 apply for polygamous trust board

13 apply for polygamous trust board


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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - At least 13 people have applied to become members of a board of trustees being formed to take over a state-run trust that once belonged to Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect on the Arizona-Utah border and holds an estimated $118 million in property, Utah court officials said Thursday.

Seven applications were postmarked by the deadline but arrived at court after the deadline had passed, Utah state courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said.

Third District Court Judge Denise Lindberg must decide if four additional people who inquired about applying for the board after the July 11 deadline will be considered.

Lindberg will have the final say in choosing the board members. She must select at least five people but has the authority to choose more.

The names of the applicants were being withheld at this point, Utah state courts spokeswoman Nancy Volmer said.

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Attorney general offices in Utah and Arizona are reviewing the applications and doing credit and background checks.

A court order sets out the step-by-step process for reviewing the applications, but there is no date set for the final selection. The timing depends on several factors, including whether applicants are asked for more information.

The trust holds 750 homes and a scattering of other properties estimated to be worth $118 million, said Bruce Wisan, a Salt Lake City accountant who was put in charge of the trust when it was seized by Utah in 2005 over allegations of mismanagement by Jeffs and other leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Many of the estimated 7,500 people living in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are still followers of Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting two underage girls he considered his brides. He is trying to lead the sect from jail.

None of his followers are expected to be on the board because he has prohibited them from participating.

The board will likely be faced with difficult decisions.

Wisan predicts there will be multiple claims on at least one-third of the 750 homes in the trust. Some homes were built by one person then maintained and lived in by another, he said. In other cases, several different people have lived in a house over the past two decades.

After having the homes tied up in a lengthy court battle, residents are eager for resolution.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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