Bruce R. Wisan

Uh huh…

Unpaid property taxes have put control of more than 150 homes in a polygamous community in jeopardy and more may soon be at risk — part of a growing financial crisis that has reignited a rift between sect members and a court-appointed overseer.

Investment interests in 35 large, communal properties that are part of the United Effort Plan Trust were auctioned in a Mohave County tax lien certificate sale in February. The sale was triggered after about $124,000 of the $1.2 million total tax bill in Colorado City went unpaid in 2007.

The move means those who picked up the liens will be able to foreclose on the properties in three years if the back-due taxes plus accrued interest charges are not paid. That tab had surpassed $148,910 as of August, according to the Mohave County Treasurer’s Office.

The UEP Trust properties now saddled with the tax liens include homes, commercial and school buildings, vacant land and a 54-acre site that features a community park and a zoo.

Source/Full Story:  Salt Lake Tribune
Technorati Tags: FLDS, United Effort Plan Trust, Bruce R. Wisan

An appeal filed with the Utah Supreme Court says a district judge went too far when she stripped a polygamous sect’s charitable trust of its religious purpose and denied church members “an effective voice” in court proceedings.

In rulings in the United Effort Plan Trust case, 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg has sanctioned “continued violations” of constitutional rights of thousands who belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the appeal claims.

The appeal was filed Aug. 26 by attorneys representing five FLDS members, including sect bishops Lyle Jeffs and James Oler. Lindberg refused to allow the men to participate in the case.
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It says those decisions include: Funding a “war chest against the FLDS,” endorsing a religious test for distribution of property deeds, rejecting settlement proposals aimed at ending the trust dispute and approving the sale of Berry Knoll Farm, a key trust asset.

On Aug. 24 Lindberg ordered that the farm be auctioned to the highest bidder to pay $3 million owed to fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan, who manages the trust, and his attorneys.
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Source/Full Story @:  Salt Lake Tribune
Technorati Tags: FLDS, UEP

A Utah judge has ordered that a polygamous group’s historic farm be put up for bid to solve a cash crunch in a property trust once controlled by the sect.

Third District Judge Denise Lindberg said accepting bids on Berry Knoll Farm, part of the United Effort Plan Trust, will ensure the trust receives the "greatest economic value" and avoids any perception of bias in deciding who gets the property.

The judge said that if no acceptable bids are received, trust overseer Bruce R. Wisan may proceed with a previous purchase offer.

But that purchase contract is in flux. Kenneth Knudson of Berry Knoll Farms LLC recently told The Salt Lake Tribune he did not plan to proceed with the purchase without assurances the property will not be encumbered by lawsuits.

And more lawsuits are likely, including one on hold in federal court filed by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who oppose the sale.

Wisan said he was not concerned about the federal action or any appeal to the Utah Supreme Court and will meet Wednesday to discuss the bid process with his trust advisory board, made up of non-FLDS members.

He expects interest in bidding on the property will be low given the politicized climate in the area, leaving Knudson and the FLDS as the only likely candidates.

"I do not expect a higher and better offer than what we have," said Wisan, referring to Knudson’s offer. "In essence, that is his bid."

Wisan said Monday he is "inches" away from finishing a revised purchase contract with Knudson, whom he acknowledged wants a "clear, nonappealable title" before closing the sale.

Source/Full Story: Salt Lake Tribune

Attorneys for a southern Utah polygamous church are asking a judge to reverse the sale of cows from a church farm by a court-appointed accountant.

Papers filed in 3rd District Court on Friday say the sale of 565 heifers from Harker Farms in Beryl decimates the value of the farm — a key asset in settlement negotiations over the United Effort Plan trust.

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Sect attorneys say fiduciary Bruce Wisan should have disclosed plans to sell the cows during negotiations. Wisan sold the cows for $360,000 on June 2. The sale was disclosed in a June 15 court filing — the same day the Utah attorney general’s office submitted a settlement proposal to the court that includes a mechanism for returning the farm to the FLDS.

FLDS lawyers also contend Wisan sold the young, non-milking cows below market rates. The lawyers place the value of the livestock at $537,840.

Source/Full Story: Standard-Examiner

A court-appointed fiduciary of a polygamous church trust has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor trespassing and other charges related to his management operations.

Bruce R. Wisan was charged in Mocassin, Ariz. in April with six combined misdemeanor counts of solicitation, facilitation and criminal trespassing. They involve allegations that he encouraged a trust employee to enter homes in Colorado City, Ariz., last summer without the permission of residents.

The homes are held in the United Effort Plan Trust, an arm of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Utah courts took control of the trust in 2005 and named Wisan its manager.

Source/Full Story: signonsandiego.com

Source: Deseret News

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A lawsuit was filed in Salt Lake City’s 3rd District Court late Friday, seeking to set aside an $8.8 million default judgment awarded to the court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust. The money was awarded in 2007 to Bruce Wisan after the UEP’s former trustees, including FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, failed to respond to Wisan’s lawsuit alleging they defrauded the trust.

But now the church is fighting back, claiming the judgment was obtained through “fraud upon the court.”

“The judgment was entered based upon false, incomplete, and misleading evidence,” FLDS attorney Rod Parker wrote in the 42-page lawsuit.

The FLDS’s lawsuit alleges that Wisan misrepresented to the court the property values, transactions, and claims the UEP trust may have had over personal property. Wisan has said that property was being taken from the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

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Source: The Calgary Sun

A court-appointed official from the U.S. is trying to take over a private school in B.C. run by the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Bruce Wisan, appointed by a U.S. court to protect the assets of the Church, has launched a lawsuit in B.C. Supreme Court.

He is hoping to gain control of the Bountiful Elementary-Secondary School near Creston, B.C.

Speaking from his home in Utah, Wisan said he became involved in Canada because of the split within the community between followers of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and supporters of Canadian Winston Blackmore.

He says children of Blackmore supporters are not allowed to attend the school or even use the playgrounds.

Wisan said he launched the lawsuit to force an equitable distribution of FLDS assets in Canada.

He has asked the court to remove the FLDS members as directors of the society that runs the school. He wants to be appointed as trustee to regulate the school’s affairs.

From deseretnews.com

Fundamentalist LDS faithful may vacate the towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., rather than accept court-ordered reforms to the polygamous sect’s real-estate holdings arm, the United Effort Plan Trust.

“The leadership is drawing a line in the sand and there may be some vacancies,” Bruce Wisan told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday.

The court-appointed special fiduciary of the UEP Trust said he has been told by various sources that FLDS members are building more facilities outside the community.

The action comes as he is imposing more measures to stabilize the UEP’s cash-flow situation and housing in the border towns. Wisan is planning to impose a $100-a-month assessment on residents for infrastructure improvements tied to subdividing the communal property, which, he said, could cause conflict.

Warren Jeffs, FLDS, United Effort Plan Trust, Bruce R. Wisan, Leroy Stubbs, Denise Lindberg

From the Salt Lake Tribune

The state’s takeover of a polygamous community’s property trust has simply replaced one feudal system with another, several residents told a Utah judge today.
In the first public criticism of the state action, those residents asked 3rd District Judge Denise Lindberg to slow the sale of assets held by the United Effort Plan Trust – specifically, the Harker Farm in Beryl, Utah. They also asked the judge to reduce the trust’s legal fees and better explain how a newly instituted $100 a month assessment will be used.
The most surprising thing about the criticism? It came from ex-members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
“We feel like we’re still under one man,” said Leroy Stubbs, with fiduciary Bruce R. Wisan replacing sect leader Warren S. Jeffs.

Warren Jeffs, FLDS, United Effort Plan Trust, Bruce R. Wisan, Leroy Stubbs, Denise Lindberg

 A federal judge ruled today that law officers in a polygamous community acted appropriately when they handcuffed and removed a former sect member from a home he was trying to claim.    U.S. District Judge Dale A. Kimball granted summary judgment in favor of the city and officers, saying the deputies had reasonable cause to handcuff Andrew Chatwin during a dispute over the home and that Chatwin failed to prove his rights were violated during the short standoff.    Chatwin had alleged Hildale City, former Colorado City Town Marshal Fred Barlow and deputies Jonathan Roundy and Helaman Barlow violated his rights when they barred him from a home in the community in 2005.    The Colorado City Town Marshal’s Office provides law enforcement service in Hildale and the adjoining town of Colorado City, Ariz., home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.    Chatwin built the home in Hildale but left it in his father’s care when he defected from the sect in 1996.

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Andrew Chatwin, Fred Barlow, Jonathan Roundy, Helaman Barlow, FLDS, Hildale , Bruce R. Wisan, Peter Stirba, Big Dan’s Drive-In