Lawsuit alleges child marriage, rape in Utah polygamous sect

By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Women who were members of a Utah polygamous group say in a lawsuit that they were forced into underage marriages, raped and had to work as children in the group’s businesses. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in state court in Salt Lake City alleges the Kingston Group, also known as the Order, arranged such marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the group. The lawsuit against group members seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. John Gustafson, a representative of an organization affiliated with the Kingston Group, calls the claims “frivolous” and unlikely to succeed.