COLORADO CITY, AZ (ABC 4 News) - The FBI is taking an interest in the arrest last week of a Colorado City couple by town marshals.
Matt and Genevive Hainline were arrested on Tuesday, July 20th, on their own property. The marshals claimed to have a temporary restraining order signed by a local justice of the peace against the Hainlines. The TRO essentially forbid them from entering their own back yard.
The TRO identified their back yard and a work shed in it by a separate address. It appeared to subdivide the Hainline's property creating a separate lot where one does not exist.
The Hainlines have roots in the town, but are not part of the FLDS polygamist group. Two years ago they received an authorization of occupancy for the property from an administrator appointed by a Utah judge to oversee the UEP trust. The trust owns most of the land in the community.
Last week ABC 4 News first showed you video of Genevive Hainline's arrest by two marshals. They appeared to pull her down off a truck and throw her to the ground. Even after being handcuffed, Hainline was held face-down on the ground with a knee in the small of her back.
Some people in the town dominated by the FLDS complain the marshals routinely ignore the law, instead following the directions of their religious leaders.
Sources tell ABC 4 the Hainlines, as well as some of the people who witnessed the arrest, were interviewed by FBI agents in Kingman, Arizona.
The point of the interviews is unknown. The FBI will not confirm or comment on current investigations.
