Isaac Wyler filed a complaint against former church Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The ex-sect member described how he suddenly became the victim of intimidation and vandalism after he was excommunicated.
He filed a complaint to local officers for a dozen of times after his property was vandalized. According to the Spectrum, Mr. Wyler told the police that his fences and water lines were cut. However, the police officer made no response because he was no longer a member of FLDS. Wyler told the jury in US District Court that there are two sets of rules depending upon who you are. Isaac Wyler, who left the church back in 2004, also told the justices that after he had left the church, he found a dozen of dead cats in his backyard.
He is the second former member of the reported denomination to file a complaint and testify at the trial on behalf of the US Justice Department. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints broke away from mainstream Mormonism when the latter disavowed polygamy more than a hundred years ago.
According to the Lawyer Herald, the polygamous religious sect controls the Arizona-Utah border towns of Colorado City and Hildale. The juries accused the denomination of denying housing and police services to those who are non-members.
Justice Department Attorney Jessica Clark released an open statement on Wednesday saying that individuals who are not members of FLDS in Arizona and Utah did not have a freedom in a city governed by the laws of the land and not by the laws of some polygamous sect.
Attorney Jeffrey Matura, the lawyer of FLDS, said that the federal government wants to make this case about religion, as WMC Action News reported. The lawyer countered the lawsuit that was filed against FLDS and asked the justices 'who is discriminating against who?"
Local police officials are accused of failing to look into the crimes against non-members and excommunicated individuals. Meanwhile, FLDS denied such allegations and had maintained that the government is discriminating against them.
After Wyler had left the church, he went to work as a part-time consultant for a communal land trust in Utah. He was also convicted and charged with trespassing for carrying out an eviction in his work for the land trust. However, he noted that none of his complaints about his property and vandalism ever led to arrests.
