Deputy wounded in confrontation with separatists on Utah land

A North Las Vegas company's ongoing legal struggles with a religious separatist group in southwest Utah led to a shootout Thursday that left one Utah sheriff's deputy wounded.

A 640-acre piece of land, located about 40 miles west of Milford, Utah, has been owned by North Las Vegas-based Ranger Enterprises since 1993. On Thursday, at the company's request, the sheriff of Beaver County and three deputies attempted to evict several members of the Immanuel Foundation and Fraternity of Preparation, a polygamist group that had lost the land after failing to pay property taxes.

In the ensuing confrontation, group leader Tony Alexander Hamilton shot one deputy in the leg, critically wounding him, according to police. After a 20-minute standoff, Hamilton was subdued and arrested.

Wynn Bartholomew, the Salt Lake City attorney representing Ranger in the dispute, said Ranger has had the group evicted at least three separate times in the last seven years.

"(The separatists') attitude is, 'Unless you're God, get the hell off our land,' " Bartholomew said. "They're claiming the land has been dedicated to God, so it is separate from all government interference, regulations and taxes."

James Eldredge, then the president of Ranger, grew up in Beaver County and often spent time on the land, Bartholomew said. Eldredge died in a 1997 plane crash, passing control of the company to his son, David Eldredge.

Eldredge's primary business is a Salt Lake City rental car company. Bartholomew said Eldredge and his brothers have business interests in Las Vegas, and spend considerable time here, but he was unaware of what those business ties are. Eldredge's three companies are incorporated with North Las Vegas addresses, but no listings are available for any of them.

Eldredge could not be reached for comment.

Bartholomew said he wasn't aware of any plans to develop the land, but said that repeated lawsuits by the Immanuel Foundation challenging the title have made it virtually impossible to sell or develop the property. One recent lawsuit even cited the Northwest Ordinances of 1787 as precedent, Bartholomew said.

"They keep filing things that cloud the title, and no one is going to buy a property with a clouded title," he said.

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