Polygamy czar is an informal title given to the "Investigator of Crimes within Closed Societies" for the Utah Attorney General's Office. The position was established by the

Utah State Legislature The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term li ...

in 2000. The office is responsible for investigating

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...

welfare fraud Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...

, child abuse,

sex abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...

, domestic violence and other crimes committed within Fundamentalist Mormon communities that practice plural marriage. Ron Barton, Utah's first polygamy czar, contributed to the prosecutions of polygamists Rodney Holm and Tom Green on child rape and bigamy charges. A fictionalized czar was introduced in the HBO series ''

Big Love ''Big Love'' is an American drama television series that aired on HBO from March 12, 2006 to March 20, 2011. It stars Bill Paxton as the patriarch of a fundamentalist Mormon family in contemporary Utah that practices polygamy, with Jeanne Tri ...

'' in the episode "Affair."

Officeholders

* Ron Barton (2000–2004) * Jim Hill (2004–2006)

Notes

References

* Government of Utah Mormon fundamentalism Mormonism and polygamy Latter Day Saint movement in Utah {{utah-stub