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SALT LAKE CITY -
A former police officer from the polygamous border town of Colorado City has filed a lawsuit against Arizona authorities, accusing them of violating his religious freedom rights. In the lawsuit, Fundamentalist LDS Church member Preston Barlow seeks his job back, as well as compensation.
Filed in Phoenix, the lawsuit names the Arizona Attorney General's Office as well as the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the agency that certifies and disciplines police officers. Two Arizona POST investigators are also named in the lawsuit.
Barlow, 30, claims that he had only been a Colorado City town marshal for about a month back in 2006 when Arizona POST investigators came to him with questions as part of an overall inquiry into the police department in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
"They told him it was not an investigation, even though it was an investigation," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Barlow.
The twin cities' marshals had come under increasing scrutiny over their allegiances to their faith and the law. At the time, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was a fugitive and on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Arizona authorities had already obtained a letter penned by another town marshal who pledged his loyalty to the polygamist leader.
According to a transcript of an interview conducted by POST investigators, Barlow was quizzed about Jeffs.
"If you knew where he was would you tell us?" POST investigator John Malkiewicz asked Barlow, according to the lawsuit.
"I choose not to answer that," Barlow replied.
"He's, he's a fugitive and you're a police officer," Malkiewicz told him.
The transcript indicates that there is a long period of silence before POST investigator Ron Gibson jumped in, telling Barlow: "You're not gonna answer that either."
"I choose not to answer," Barlow told him.
Parker told Fox 13 News on Sunday that he did not believe that many of the questions were proper, given that many were intrusive about Barlow's beliefs as an FLDS member. The FLDS Church is a breakaway sect from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which no longer practices polygamy and excommunicates members who do.
"I don't think they can ask those questions, especially when they're coming at him from the perspective of religious persecution," Parker said.
Ultimately, Arizona authorities stripped the Colorado City town marshals of their badges, alleging that they'd also failed to report cases of abuse, in addition to committing crimes themselves -- including bigamy.
"None of that applies to Preston," Parker said. "He's not a bigamist. He has one wife. He hasn't committed crimes. He hasn't failed to report crimes."
Utah followed Arizona's lead and also decertified many of the police officers, who are cross-deputized in Hildale. Parker said his client was not ruling out a lawsuit against Utah authorities, but was opting to wait and see what happens with the civil suit in Arizona first.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Sunday that it has yet to be served with a copy of Barlow's lawsuit and was declining to comment until it reviewed it.
"I think more what we're trying to do here is make a statement," Parker said. "You can't treat people like this. You can't apply a religious test. You can't ask people what their beliefs are."
FOX 13's Ben Winslow reports.
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Filed in Phoenix, the lawsuit names the Arizona Attorney General's Office as well as the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, the agency that certifies and disciplines police officers. Two Arizona POST investigators are also named in the lawsuit.
Barlow, 30, claims that he had only been a Colorado City town marshal for about a month back in 2006 when Arizona POST investigators came to him with questions as part of an overall inquiry into the police department in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
"They told him it was not an investigation, even though it was an investigation," said Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Barlow.
The twin cities' marshals had come under increasing scrutiny over their allegiances to their faith and the law. At the time, FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was a fugitive and on the FBI's Most Wanted list. Arizona authorities had already obtained a letter penned by another town marshal who pledged his loyalty to the polygamist leader.
According to a transcript of an interview conducted by POST investigators, Barlow was quizzed about Jeffs.
"If you knew where he was would you tell us?" POST investigator John Malkiewicz asked Barlow, according to the lawsuit.
"I choose not to answer that," Barlow replied.
"He's, he's a fugitive and you're a police officer," Malkiewicz told him.
The transcript indicates that there is a long period of silence before POST investigator Ron Gibson jumped in, telling Barlow: "You're not gonna answer that either."
"I choose not to answer," Barlow told him.
Parker told Fox 13 News on Sunday that he did not believe that many of the questions were proper, given that many were intrusive about Barlow's beliefs as an FLDS member. The FLDS Church is a breakaway sect from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which no longer practices polygamy and excommunicates members who do.
"I don't think they can ask those questions, especially when they're coming at him from the perspective of religious persecution," Parker said.
Ultimately, Arizona authorities stripped the Colorado City town marshals of their badges, alleging that they'd also failed to report cases of abuse, in addition to committing crimes themselves -- including bigamy.
"None of that applies to Preston," Parker said. "He's not a bigamist. He has one wife. He hasn't committed crimes. He hasn't failed to report crimes."
Utah followed Arizona's lead and also decertified many of the police officers, who are cross-deputized in Hildale. Parker said his client was not ruling out a lawsuit against Utah authorities, but was opting to wait and see what happens with the civil suit in Arizona first.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office said Sunday that it has yet to be served with a copy of Barlow's lawsuit and was declining to comment until it reviewed it.
"I think more what we're trying to do here is make a statement," Parker said. "You can't treat people like this. You can't apply a religious test. You can't ask people what their beliefs are."
FOX 13's Ben Winslow reports.
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FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! @fox13now
