Sister Wives: Police Report Exposes TLC Fakery Surrounding 2010 Utah Investigation Into Kody Brown

The dramatic premise behind the Brown family’s move from Utah to Las Vegas featured on Season 2 of Sister Wives has been debunked. 

Fans watched the plural family, Kody, Meri, Janelle, Christine, and Robyn Brown, and their 16 children flee the family’s home in Lehi, Utah “under duress,” amid an investigation launched in 2010. Cheat Sheet checked into documents from the actual probe and put together a story that disputes the TLC narrative.  

At the time, the entire Brown family followed the Apostolic United Brethren, a Fundamentalist Mormon faith that accepts the practice of polygamy. Kody and his wives decided to do the TLC show to share their way of life with the world. The family went on a press tour after Season 1, where they officially proclaimed that they were polygamists. The Lehi Police Department launched an investigation into the clan after the show’s first season aired. Polygamy was a third-degree felony in Utah at the time.

Kody made the decision during Season 2 that the family must flee the state due to the ongoing investigation. The patriarch, citing religious persecution, decided that in order to protect their religious rights and maintain their family structure, the clan would relocate to a more “open-minded” place, Las Vegas, Nevada.

The media picked up on the Brown’s plan and the family was informed that they had 24 hours before TMZ broke the story. The show documented the family’s frantic escape from Utah, as a siren blared in the distance. The supposed concern was that Kody would be prosecuted and the family divided, similar to what happened to Christine’s grandfather, an AUB leader. 

What the show didn’t mention was that the Utah attorney general’s office rarely prosecuted polygamists for polygamy alone. Plural marriage offenses were often tied to other crimes such as underage marriage, child abuse, human trafficking, domestic violence, and welfare fraud.  

The Lehi PD put out a report of their investigation into the Browns in 2010. The report acknowledged that Kody was an admitted bigamist and was living with four wives. State prosecutors chose not to prosecute Kody because there were no other associated crimes. 

Instagram account, WithoutACrystalBall, posted part of the report which reads—“I did not locate any evidence that suggests these individuals are committing any other crimes commonly associated with the practice of Polygamy, including welfare fraud, underage marriages, or sexual offenses against children or minors. This does not confirm that these crimes are not occurring, only that there is currently no evidence supporting it.”

The report pointed out that the Browns were likely being compensated for promoting a lifestyle that was classified as a criminal act in Utah.

“It is most likely that the Brown Family received some sort of financial consideration for their involvement in this project. That would suggest that they were paid to promote an activity that is a criminal act in their home state. However, it is unknown at this point what, if any, financial compensation was received.”

Kody Brown relocated his family in order to continue filming Sister Wives. The Utah investigation would have ended if the Browns had ended their relationship with TLC. 

The report also revealed that a Sister Wives producer, Timothy Gibbons, connected with Kody through Principle Voices, a group that was working to decriminalize polygamy.

The report stated—“It was found that in 2009, independent producers Timothy Gibbons and Christopher Poole approached the North Carolina-based company, Figure 8 Films, with the concept of a reality show about the Brown family. Prior to this, Timothy Gibbons had been introduced to Kody by Anna Wilde with the Polygamy advocacy group Principle Voices.”

Kody and his wives teamed with the network to promote polygamy amid a push for decriminalization in Utah. In 2020, state lawmakers passed a bill that reduced bigamy from a felony to a minor infraction, comparable to a traffic ticket. 

Gibbons reportedly promised that no opposing views would be given a spotlight on the TLC show. Viewers were kept in the dark about the show’s ultimate goal.

Interestingly, the Brown family’s narrative has imploded in recent months, amid marital splits and emotional family turmoil. 

Sister Wives airs on Sundays, at 10 pm, ET, on TLC. 

 

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