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Judge orders Utah police agency to share files on FLDS cops

Posted at 11:54 AM, Jul 16, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-16 13:54:58-04

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has ordered the Utah agency that polices the police to cough up its files on officers in the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City.

In a decision issued Monday and obtained by FOX 13, U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Warner ordered Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) to provide its investigative documents to the U.S. Justice Department and Hildale/Colorado City.

“The court DENIES POST’s motion to quash the subpoena and orders the documents to be produced subject to Confidentiality Stipulation and Protective Order already in place in the underlying lawsuit,” Warner wrote.

“The court notes that the records requested are not the result of a criminal investigation; it is pursuant to an administrative matter. Thus, any documents produced by POST in response to the subpoena are deemed confidential under the Protective Order will be entitled to that protection throughout the litigation.”

Read the judge’s order here:

In June, FOX 13 reported that both the Justice Department and Hildale were taking POST to court to demand they hand over their investigative files on the Colorado City Town Marshal’s Office.

POST refused, insisting its policy is to not release information on ongoing investigations.

The Colorado City Town Marshal’s Office has faced ongoing scrutiny over its officers’ loyalties to imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. The Fundamentalist LDS Church leader is serving a life sentence in Texas for crimes related to underage marriages.