title: Polygamy czar
text: # Polygamy czar
  
  Polygamy czar is an informal title given to the "Investigator of Crimes within Closed Societies" for the Utah Attorney General's Office. The position was established by the Utah State Legislature in 2000. The office is responsible for investigating crimes associated with Fundamentalist Mormon communities that practice plural marriage, including tax evasion, welfare fraud, child abuse, sex abuse and domestic violence. Ron Barton, Utah's first polygamy czar, contributed to the prosecutions of polygamists Rodney Holm and Tom Green on child rape and bigamy charges.
  
  In Utah, prosecutions for polygamy per se depend on the circumstances of each case, ranging from an infraction with a relatively small fine, up up to a felony.
  
  ## In fiction
  
  A fictionalized polygamy czar was introduced in the HBO series Big Love in the episode "Affair."
  
  ## Officeholders
  
  * Ron Barton (2000–2004)
  * Jim Hill (2004–2006)
  