ST. GEORGE — The organizer of a public campaign to assist the so-called "lost boys" of polygamy offered alcohol, cash and other freebies to help lure them to the July news conference announcing the effort.

Dan Fischer, a former member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, hosted a party at his house where minors were allowed to drink beer and wine. Many were offered cash at the party and asked to be on hand for a news conference the following week.

"I feel bad that that happened," said Fischer, who left the FLDS Church about 12 years ago. "I feel tragic about it. It was a private gathering at my house. I didn't know the kids or their ages. It was a chance for me to meet some of the kids. We provided wine and beer for the adults. I did learn some of these kids got some beer. After that, I made sure there was no alcohol available at any other gathering with the kids."

Fischer said 18 teenagers and a dozen adults were at the party. Several teens said they had been told it was a simple get-together for kids who had left or had been ousted from the communities. But they said they felt used when they realized the main reason behind it was to help generate interest in Fischer's nonprofit group, Diversity, and its campaign to help an estimated 400 boys.

Many of them are said to have a skid-row existence — living hand-to-mouth, sleeping in their cars, hiding out behind commercial trash bins or living in groups of 10 or 12 in low-rent apartments. Others claim that a number of them aren't being shunned but in fact have run away or are drug and alcohol abusers.

Under Utah law, Fischer could be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and furnishing alcohol to minors, both class B misdemeanors.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who participated in Fischer's July 31 news conference and volunteered to be a mentor to one of the teenage boys, said he talked to Fischer on Monday after learning what happened at his house.

"I told him I took a public position to support what he's doing, but it has to be legal, above board," Shurtleff said. "He can't do anything illegal, he can't harbor runaways or things like that. But the bottom line is that these are kids who need help, and the guy's trying to help. He's trying to help these kids get an education."

But two of the teenagers who attended Fischer's party said they felt manipulated by the adults and Fischer.

"They got a lot of those kids drunk," said a 16-year-old girl who did not want to be identified. She grew up in Hildale, a polygamous community sharing the Utah/Arizona border with its more populous twin, Colorado City. "Every last child there was under age. Alcohol was given to any child who wanted it."