BULLHEAD CITY, Ariz. • A former fire official in the polygamous community of Colorado City has been given probation for misusing public funds.
The Mohave Valley Daily News reports that former Colorado City Fire Chief Jacob Leonard Barlow had pleaded guilty to solicitation of misuse of public money in February and was sentenced Friday.
Authorities say fire district's money was deposited into an unauthorized account and misused for personal purchases.
Barlow's attorney, Bill Porter, says there was no evidence of misuse of public funds and that other fire districts have done the same thing.
Prosecutor James Schoppman says other districts don't use an outside account for personal business.
David William Darger also pleaded guilty Friday to the same charges as Barlow.
Darger is the former secretary-treasurer for the fire district.
Colorado City, Ariz., along with Hilldale, Utah, comprise a community dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway polygamous sect.
The mainstream LDS Church has outlawed plural marriage for its members since 1890.