Police have launched a bigamy investigation into the polygamous stars of a new reality TV series.
The show, “Sister Wives,” premiered Sunday on TLC. But detectives began investigating Lehi advertising salesman Kody Brown and his four wives when the network first announced the show several weeks ago, said Lehi police Lt. Darren Paul.
“Admittedly, [the investigation] was brought on by the publicity surrounding the show,” Paul said. “It’s rare because most of the time people don’t bring this kind of attention onto themselves. But it is a state law, and we’re going to investigate it.”
Paul would not say whether police have found evidence that Brown legally married more than one of his four wives: Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn Brown. But, he noted, Utah code defines bigamy through cohabitation, not just through legal marriage contracts.
Detectives are still investigating and have not turned the case over to prosecutors to be screened for charges, Paul said. Bigamy is a third-degree felony.
The law puts police in a position where they have no choice but to investigate “upstanding families” who aren’t breaking any other laws, said Anne Wilde, cofounder of Principle Voices, a plural marriage advocacy group.
“This just shows all the more reason the crime needs to be reduced ... so that this doesn’t happen to consenting adults,” she said. “We have a right to form our families in the way we select, just like all the other alternative-lifestyle families in the U.S. — which, by the way, are more than 50 percent of all families.”
Kody Brown has 13 children and three stepchildren. He and his wives have said their plural marriage is no secret; they have told their employers and coworkers and their children’s friends and teachers, they said in interviews this weekend with The Tribune.
“I know the family so well, and they’re such fantastic people,” Wilde said. “They’re not flaunting it at all. They’re trying to educate people that this is a viable lifestyle.”
Brown did not return calls Monday night from The Tribune. A TLC spokeswoman said the network was unaware of the investigation before being called by a Tribune reporter and had no further comment.
Tribune reporter Vince Horiuchi contributed to this report.
The  family at the center of the new   series '''' are now the subject of a criminal investigation. Yesterday, following Sunday's debut of ''Sister Wives'', police in , Utah, where the show is set, announced they are investigating Kody Brown and his four wives for possible charges of bigamy.

''Sister Wives'' focuses on Brown, his four wives—Meri, Janelle, Christine and Robyn—and his 13 children and three step-children. The family has said they are participating in the show to bring more public awareness to polygamist families and fight societal prejudices.

Brown has claimed the arrangement is not illegal because he is only legally married to Meri, and the other marriages are only spiritual unions. However, Lehi police said yesterday that state laws identify bigamy through cohabitation, not just legal contracts. The department plans to turn their findings over to the Utah Attorney General's office at the conclusion of their investigation.

TLC contacted the state attorney general's office before the series was broadcast in anticipation of potential legal issues. The office has not explicitly stated they will not charge the Browns, but has stated they do not have the resources to prosecute polygamists unless they are suspected of serious crimes, like  and .


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