FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.—The leader of a small polygamous group on the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, newly filed federal court documents show.
The filing provides insight into what investigators have found in a case that first became public in August. It came as federal authorities charged three of the self-declared prophet’s wives with kidnapping and impeding a foreseeable prosecution after eight girls associated with the group fled from state foster care.
