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John Hollenhorst ReportingBruce Wisan: "Everybody has to pay property taxes, and these people are no different."
A warning today for followers of fugitive polygamist Warren Jeffs, pay your property taxes or face eviction -- soon!
The odds are increasing for a confrontation between Jeffs' followers and government officials taking steps to evict them from their homes.
Pay up or get out, that's the message to Warren Jeffs' brother. He's being targeted as an example for hundreds of other Jeffs followers who haven't paid their taxes.
The compound in Hildale is where the tax tangle may come to a head in the next two to four weeks. There are several smaller buildings and a main house that's 9,000 square feet, not counting the basement. County records say it has 12 bathrooms and an unknown number of bedrooms. Numerous vehicles came and went today. Authorities say the primary resident is Warren Jeffs' brother Lyle, an important leader of the FLDS Church.
Bruce Wisan is the court-appointed official who oversees much of the community's financial assets.
Bruce Wisan, Court-appointed Fiduciary: "They've received an edict or whatever from their leader who said not to pay property taxes, and it's not appropriate. We all have to pay property taxes, and they're living down there basically free."
About 10,000 people live in Hildale and Colorado City. Ninety-percent of the homes are owned by the United Effort Plan trust.
The 110 million dollar empire was controlled by Warren Jeffs until the courts put it under Wisan's control. About a million dollars in property taxes are overdue. Wisan is putting the most prominent residents on notice to pay up or he'll go to court, starting with Lyle Jeffs.
Bruce Wisan: "Then I will evict, we will evict." Reporter: How would you do that? "With the help of law enforcement."
Sending in cops to oust prominent Jeffs followers would seem to raise the risk level.
Bruce Wisan: "Possibly. They've never shown themselves to be violent and I would not expect this to be any different."
The other possibility is that the Jeffs people will just pack up and move. Rumors of a mass exodus have been flying for more than a year but have never really materialized. But with new Jeffs compounds popping up in Canada, Texas and other states, the rumors have a fresh tailwind.
