Polygamy's Rape of Rachael Strong [Paperback]

Rachael Strong was raped: By her polygamist prophet stepfather forty-five years her senior who claims he was only living his religion. By a published doctrine that warns: submit or be destroyed by God. By a Utah movement to decriminalize polygamy. By the new "political correctness." Was it incest? Was it rape? Was it extortion? Some call it simply a religious choice Rachael made. In 2006, the State of Utah is enacting policies that appear to be decriminalizing polygamy, and non-profit victims advocate Tapestry Against Polygamy has been asked not to use politically incorrect words like "victim" or "escape" or "brainwashed" or "cult." When well-educated, fashionably-dressed, articulate pro-polygamy women living comfortably as independents appeal to the public, and court the Attorney General, explaining how civilized polygamy really is - after years of hearing about group-controlled polygamist women being downtrodden, poorly dressed, poorly educated, and ruled by their husbands - people pay attention. Freedom of Religion is now headed to the Supreme Court. Will they consider the difference between "free-will" plural marriage and the human rights violations of "religious-coercive" polygamy? This book documents a recent case history of a Mormon Fundamentalist polygamist, who is a ruthless sexual predator. And he is not being prosecuted.

Plural marriage and its religious concepts are an important part of Utah’s past and present history. From federal government pressure to cease the practice in the late 1800s to present-day state government efforts to be friendly to those who still practice it, a story rich with controversy develops.

The issue involves those polygamists and their wives who sincerely believe they are following God’s commandment to replenish the earth, as opposed to predators who use the same commandment to justify heinous acts of abuse.

Independent polygamists and their families live quietly in mainstream society and group polygamists live either in society or within a specified geographical area. Each polygamist group has a male leader considered by its members to be the one true "prophet" on the earth and they believe he is fully justified by God in setting the laws by which the group operates.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints focuses on helping its members build strong and secure families, and it excommunicates members found to be practicing polygamy. But because it was the federal government that forced the Church to stop the practice, and because the Church scriptures still contain the commandment, and because members expect to practice plural marriage in heaven, they still hold the belief of plural marriage as holy. And many members have ancestors who practiced plural marriage. All this creates mixed feelings among the populace about what the government should do to those who practice polygamy today.

To add to the complexity, Freedom of Religion legal issues are also at play, and a polygamy case presently at the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is headed for the Supreme Court, and will arrive about the same time as one on same sex marriage.

Many believe that the State of Utah is already implementing practices that will in effect decriminalize polygamy. State officials say it is to stem the abuse by opening the doors to polygamists so they no longer need fear government and will seek help. It may also be that they want to be prepared for whatever the Supreme Court will ultimately decide.

A new controversy has developed as a result. Many escaping victims needing help from polygamy abuse feel betrayed by the new actions of the state government, because their needs are being downplayed so the still-practicing polygamists won’t be embarrassed or offended.

The new state Safety Net program presently has meetings where both groups are expected to attend together – side by side – abuse victims and pro-polygamists. It seems the government does not understand the intimidation, powerlessness, and subserviency these victims battle against.

The only advocate devoted specifically to helping physically and emotionally damaged women leaving polygamy is non-profit Tapestry Against Polygamy.

Two women on parole for being accessories to sex crimes against children assisted in a carefully crafted conspiracy by Mormon Fundamentalist leader James D. Harmston – to coerce his beautiful twenty-year-old stepdaughter Rachael to become his seventeenth wife. Her stepfather since she was ten years old, this "prophet" had been attracted to Rachael’s beauty even then, and began plotting to one day make her his wife.

Rachael married a young man in the group when she was sixteen and emotionally bonded with him, fully expecting to bear him children. To her shock, she was specifically ordered by her stepfather prophet not to become pregnant. When she accidentally became pregnant and bore a child, he was furious, ordered the husband to throw her out, and implemented his plan, an intensive mind control program:

The world was coming to a rapid and horrible end, she had been the devil’s wife in a previous life, God had turned his back on her, and this life was her very last chance to save herself and her baby from soon-to-occur eternal damnation. Her only chance to be saved was to marry her stepfather, the prophet, who held her imminent destruction in his hands. Shattered, she married him and was subjected to such degrading and dehumanizing sexual acts with this sixty-four year old predator stepfather that the day soon came when she realized that damnation could not be worse and left.

Was it incest? Was it rape? Was it extortion? Was it conspiracy to commit a felony? Was it domestic violence? Was it conspiracy to defraud? Some may call it simply a religious choice Rachael made. But was it? There is no question that "duress" was applied.

Rachael has never been given an official response from the Utah Attorney General about why he declines to prosecute. The case was submitted to him in late 2004.

The Attorney General states that Utah now declines to prosecute the crime of bigamy between consenting adults, but will prosecute crimes against children; and he explained to polygamists in a St. George Town Meeting that he would not prosecute "a religious tenet." He has responded well to the wishes of a pro-polygamy group of women who live in mainstream society. They call their group Principle Voices, and they want polygamy decriminalized.

When highly-educated, well-dressed, and articulate pro-polygamy women living as independents come forward, explaining how civilized polygamy really is, and they do this after years of public perception of group-controlled polygamist women being downtrodden, poorly dressed, poorly educated, and unquestioning of their husbands – of course, people will pay attention. They become an entertaining media story – and they also provide Utahns someone to point to and say "See, this is the real polygamy, not those others."

Before society is lulled into accepting polygamy as just another lifestyle, let’s make sure all the cards have been placed on the table so everyone can see and examine them.

John R. Llewellyn, retired Salt Lake County Sheriff's Lieutenant, specialized in sex crime investigation that included polygamy complaints. He compiled an intelligence file on mass murderer Ervil LeBaron, who in 1977 ordered the death of Dr. Rulon C. Allred, leader of Utah's second largest polygamist group.

In order to best combat and understand the polygamist, deputy Llewellyn studied Mormon doctrine and was converted to Mormonism, and then Mormon Fundamentalism. Impressed with the integrity, virtue and undaunted conviction of many of the polygamists, Llewellyn became a member of AUB, but when the leadership claimed they were the sole conduit to a celestial exaltation, Llewellyn left.

Llewellyn is recognized as an expert on Mormon Fundamentalism and polygamy. He is also the lead investigator in a lawsuit against polygamist James D. Harmston and his True and Living Church, headquartered at Manti, Utah, as well as a consultant for the Attorney General's Office.
John Llewellyn is uniquely qualified as a polygamy expert and can speak to the issues in a way no one else can. He is highly articulate and thoroughly knowledgeable about law enforcement polygamy strategies, government attitudes, and the vast issues inside and outside of polygamy. He knows all the leaders of polygamy groups, many of their members, and a multitude of polygamists who live outside a group. Other books:Author Murder of a Prophet: Dark Side of Utah Polygamy, A Teenager’s Tears: When Parents Convert to Polygamy, and Polygamy Under Attack: From Tom Green to Brian David Mitchell. He is available for interviews by TV and the Press.
John R. Llewellyn has appeared on Larry King live, ABC Primetime, The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, Fox News Channel's The Edge with Paula Zahn, MSNBC, Inside Edition, and Good Morning America.