Polygamist officers face loss of badges

ST. GEORGE — Colorado City town marshal Sam Roundy is facing the loss of his badge and job of 11 years if Utah takes away his right to patrol the plural community he lives in along the Utah/Arizona border.

Administrative Law Judge Richard Wyss ruled that Roundy was in default because he failed to attend a Jan. 26 hearing that challenged his status as a peace officer. The Utah Division of Peace Officer Standards and Training filed a complaint against Roundy in October 2004, alleging he was practicing plural marriage in violation of Utah's constitution and state law prohibiting bigamy.

Roundy did not deny on Tuesday that he has more than one wife. He said he did not attend the hearing in Salt Lake City because he believed the issue would be reviewed at the upcoming Utah POST meeting next week.

"They juiced up that report. They put things in there that I did not say," said Roundy of the investigator's report provided to Wyss at the hearing. Roundy is fiercely protective of his family and said that he is living an important tenet of his religion by having more than one wife. Roundy is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members openly practice plural marriage.

"Every cop has a religion, but religion doesn't run my job," Roundy said. "We work closely with other agencies and do our jobs. Utah is saying we don't have the confidence of the people, and it's just the opposite of what they're saying. We grew up in this culture and we're part of it. It's religious persecution going after polygamy, that's all it is."

Wyss also recommended that Utah POST revoke Roundy's peace officer certification at its next meeting, which is scheduled next week in St. George. A formal vote is expected to approve the recommendation, said Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith.

Roundy said Tom Hammarstrom, executive director of Arizona's POST, paid him a visit last week.

"He said if Utah went ahead with the decertification, then Arizona would probably follow," Roundy said. "He was up-front with me."

The "Colorado City polygamy issue" is on the agenda of the Arizona's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board meeting scheduled today in Phoenix. No action is expected at today's meeting.

The Arizona board earlier voted to ask its Rules Committee to consider rule revisions that would allow it to address concerns related to polygamy. The same body tried to revoke former Colorado City town marshal Sam Barlow's certification on the same polygamy charge but was rebuffed by an Arizona administrative judge who ruled there was no evidence to suggest Barlow was unable to do his job.