A former police officer from a polygamous community has filed a lawsuit against Arizona officials, claiming he was defamed and his civil rights violated when they revoked his police certification, AP reports.
Preston Barlow’s certification was revoked in September 2007 after allegations of misconduct the previous year.
The lawsuit contends that Barlow, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was targeted for his faith and misled about the nature of the investigation that ended with his decertification and the loss of his job.
Barlow, 30, is one of at least six officers from the Colorado City Town Marshal’s office to be decertified by authorities in Arizona or Utah since 2003, some for the practice of polygamy, a tenet of the FLDS faith.