A polygamous leader accused of taking more than 20 wives, including underage girls, pleaded not guilty to kidnapping and tampering with evidence charges stemming from a federal investigation into his community on the Utah-Arizona border.

The leader of a small polygamous group near the Arizona-Utah border had taken at least 20 wives, most of them minors, and punished followers who did not treat him as a prophet, newly filed federal court documents allege.

A federal appeals court has upheld the conclusion of a judge and jury that officials of Colorado City unconstitutionally used their power to discriminate against those who were not members of a certain religious sect.

Nearly 200 children from a polygamous sect had to work long hours in the cold, sometimes with little food, as they picked pecans for a Utah contracting company with ties to the group, a federal judge found in a decision that marks the latest blow to the group.

Two polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them basic services such as police protection, building permits and water hookups, a jury said Monday.

After twice failing to convince lawmakers to pass a law forcing a polygamous enclave to disband its police force, Attorney General Tom Horne is now taking the request to a federal judge.

The Attorney General’s Office said it will continue funding patrols by Mohave County deputies of the polygamous enclave of Colorado City, despite Gov. Jan Brewer’s decision to line-item veto a $500,000 appropriation for those patrols.

A federal judge will hear arguments Friday on a request to move a civil rights lawsuit against two polygamous towns out of Arizona.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit today against two rural polygamous towns, alleging that their police officers selectively enforce laws based on religion and defer to the wishes of Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

There will be no respite between legislative sessions in Attorney General Tom Horne’s crusade to rid a remote polygamist community of its police department.