Bluffdale polygamist Owen Allred says not all polygamists are created equal.
But state investigators and at least one ex-member say there may be more going on within Allred's secret society than the group's "prophet" is saying.In an unprecedented news conference in his attorneys' office Monday, Allred, leader of the 5,000 member Apostolic United Brethren, told reporters of a people who abhor violence and abuse and of his own desire to help state officials root out crimes in secret polygamous communities.
But a former member says her own father was abusive and the church hierarchy did nothing to stop it. She criticized Allred as a mouthpiece without much real power.
"An organization can flat out make a statement like that, but that's not what happens in daily life," said the 26-year-old woman who grew up in the group. The woman did not want to be identified because she still lives in Salt Lake County with her mother, who is still a polygamist's wife.
"I've never seen (Allred) be a mean person or perform an abusive act," she said. But church leaders turn away from problems unless they threaten to expose the church, she said.
Allred - whose brother Rulon Allred was murdered by followers of rival polygamist Ervil LeBaron in 1977 - was spirited and forthcoming in his first-ever press conference.
It was a high-profile public relations effort for Allred. The goal, he said, was to emphasize that his group is separate from others, including the Kingston clan, of which two members have been charged with abusing a young girl who fled a polygamous marriage to her much older uncle.
But an investigator for the Utah Attorney General's Office said Allred's effort does nothing to reconcile enormous differences between what Allred says and what ex-followers contend is going on.
Mike King has spent 10 years gathering information about various polygamous groups, including Allred's.
"There is testimony that appears on paper. There is testimony from those who've lived in the polygamous communities and there is testimony from those who've identified themselves as victims," King said.
The devil is in the details between these inconsistencies, he said.
"How can you say on paper that everything is swell when people are also saying crimes are being committed?"
Because of the difficulty prosecuting crimes that occur within secret polygamous communities, King, Salt Lake District Attorney Neal Gunnarson and other prosecutors believe education is the only way to get these crimes into the public eye.
And Allred has said he may be willing to have state officials come out and provide information to his members about what is illegal and where people can go for help should they need it.
Allred said there probably are members who are not law-abiding citizens but if a person breaks the law he would not "hide them under a bushel."
Voice shaking, Allred pleaded for state leaders not to make him and his followers "the enemy."
He frowns on young people dating before the age of 17, and if young AUB girls get married it is never with his consent, Allred said. However, members have "free agency," and if someone marries without his permission, there's nothing he can do, he said. Anyone can leave the lifestyle at any time.
A polygamist's lifestyle, in fact, can be quite taxing. "I don't think there's any good in it if it's not used for religious purposes."
Allred says followers of his Apostolic United Brethren are faithful people who shun alcohol and tobacco, promote education, vote in elections and pay 10 percent of their earnings to their church.
They are carpenters, accountants, schoolteachers and even include three doctors and a dentist.
Allred calls his many wives his LOLs, "my lovely old ladies," but the 84-year-old leader won't say exactly how many women call him their "husband."
The meeting, which found Allred moving from laughter to tears, was a result of his failure to gain a personal meeting with top state officials.
Prompted by the recent accusations of abuse and violence in polygamist communities, Allred sent a letter to Gov. Mike Leavitt and Attorney General Jan Graham Friday.
After only silence from the state Capitol, Allred and his attorneys invited the media to hear his message. Looking into news cameras Allred asked Leavitt and Graham not to judge all polygamists by the actions of a few.
"I would say they (the Kingstons) are doing us an awful lot of damage," Allred said. "Please don't associate us with other people that are called fundamentalists that allow child marriages, appoint marriages, that do things that are contrary."