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Mormon fundamentalist gets five years for polygamy
Avowed polygamist Tom Green was sentenced Friday to up to five years in state prison and ordered to pay 78,000 dollars in restitution to the state government for welfare assistance his family fraudulently collected. Green, 53, a member of a fundamentalist Mormon sect that accepts polygamy, was convicted in May on four counts of bigamy and one count of criminal nonsupport. He could have received up to five years in prison and a fine of 25,000 dollars on each count, said court executive Paul Sheffield. "We are just all very sad that we live in a society where a man can be sent to prison for being a father," Green said before he entered the courtroom for sentencing, according to the Deseret News. He kissed his five wives and five of his 30 children before he was taken into custody by Utah County sheriff's deputies. The modern Church of Latter Day Saints condemns polygamy. But an estimated 30,000 fundamentalists still practice it in Utah, though most are not as open as Green. Green brought in a check Friday for 20,000 dollars to cover part of the fine, Sheffield said. "He was immediately transfered to Utah County Jail," he said. "From there he will be taken to Utah State Prison." Just how much time he eventually serves will be up to the state's Board of Pardons and Parole, he said, adding that five years is the maximum the outspoken polygamist will serve. Green has been excommunicated from the mainstream Mormon Church. He and his family live in Partoun, a remote area of south central Utah. Before the trial began he anointed his son Melvin, 14, to head the household in his absence. During the weeklong trial -- Utah's first for polygamy in 50 years -- Juab County prosecutoor David Leavitt painted Green as a man with a lust for teenage girls.
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