Thomas Arthur Green (June 9, 1948 – February 28, 2021) was an American

Mormon fundamentalist Mormon fundamentalism (also called fundamentalist Mormonism) is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Bri ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

who was a practitioner of

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more tha ...

. After a high-profile trial, Green was convicted by the state of Utah on May 18, 2001, of four counts of

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

and one count of failure to pay

child support Child support (or child maintenance) is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child (or parent, caregiver, guardian) following the end of a marriage or other similar relationship. Child maintenance is paid d ...

. This decision was upheld by the Utah State Supreme Court in 2004. State v. Green, September 3, 2004
accessed March 22, 2006
/ref> He was also convicted of child rape, on the basis that one of his wives had his child at the age of 13. The wife in question was his stepdaughter before they were married; she was the daughter of his first polygamous wife. In total, he served six years in prison and was released in 2007.

Religion

Green was raised as a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

(LDS Church). He served as a

Mormon missionary Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)—widely known as Mormon missionaries—are volunteer representatives of the church who engage variously in proselytizing, church service, humanitarian aid, and commu ...

in the church's Great Lakes

Mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

(Indiana and Michigan) from June 1967 to June 1969. In the 1980s while in his thirties, Green left the LDS Church and converted to a type of

Mormon fundamentalism Mormon fundamentalism (also called fundamentalist Mormonism) is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental Fundamental may refer to: * Foundation of reality * Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a ...

, which teaches that its adherents should practice

. (The LDS Church stopped allowing polygamy in the 1890s.) He eventually took seven wives. He was also a one-time apostle for the

Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as The Righteous Branch, The Branch Church, The Peterson Group and Christ's Church, is a fundamentalist Mormon sect of the Latter Day Saint movement. It is based ...

, a fundamentalist group that split from the

Apostolic United Brethren The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) is a Mormon fundamentalist group that practices polygamy. The AUB has had a temple in Mexico, since at least the 1990s, an endowment house in Utah since the early 1980s and several other locations of worship ...

, another fundamentalist group.

Trial and conviction

The prosecution, led by

Juab County Juab County ( ) is a county in western Utah, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 10,246. Its county seat and largest city is Nephi. Juab County is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...

Attorney David Leavitt, alleged that Green married teenagers, divorced them, and then collected the welfare payments they received as "single mothers" while he continued living with them. Described as "Utah's first high-profile bigamy case in half a century," Green's trial attracted substantial national attention and some international media coverage. His other wives also all refused to testify against him. On June 24, 2002, Green was convicted of

child rape Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (wheth ...

for having sex with 13-year-old Linda Kunz, who ultimately was his legal wife. Kunz, who refused to testify against Green at the trial, was born in 1972, and gave birth to her first child with Green in 1986. Green had four other wives and 35 children in all. Tom Green was sentenced to five years in prison for the first conviction, and five years to life in prison for the second conviction. While he was in jail, one of his wives reportedly left him and took their children with her. Green was released from prison on parole on August 7, 2007.

Documentary film

Green and his lifestyle were the subject of the British-made documentary ''One Man, Six Wives and Twenty-Nine Children'' in 2000 at the New York International Documentary Film Festival.

Death

Green died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pneumonia in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

at age 72 during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Utah The COVID-19 pandemic began in the U.S. state of Utah in early March 2020 with travel-related cases. Residents stockpiled goods, large conferences were made remote-only, postponed, or cancelled; a state of emergency was declared, and some public ...

Notes

External links