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Secret tape recording made with polygamist leader, Jim Harmston
Secretly made tape recording reveals what is not admitted to the newspapers.
(From Salt Lake City Weekly, October 8, 1998)
Polygamist leader Jim Harmston probably feels as exposed as Bill Clinton. The prophet of the
True and Living Church of Saints of the Last Days thought he was confiding in a trusted fellow
church official as the two sat talking inside a wooden shed. Harmston, in his 60s, never guessed
his confidante, Rodney Clowdus, held a hidden tape recorder.
Their 90-minute recorded conversation, obtained by City Weekly, touched on the ecstasies of
both sex and religion. Clowdus' relaxed Alabama drawl and lack of embarrassment about the
topic appeared to encourage Harmston to confide. Clowdus directed the conversation, saying he
was "worried" about certain matters -- specifically, Harmston's secret polygamous marriage to
15-year-old Angie Mower.
Clowdus first told Harmston another female group member had been speculating that the self-proclaimed prophet had sex with Mower in a building called the Brigham House.
"No, I was married to her in the Endowment House, And they don't need to know that I married
her at all," Harmstons responded emphatically. "If they could prove that I had, it's automatic
jail." Harmston went on to say that "they can't prove nothing" because Angie and a young man
named Jay Remero were married civilly by a district court judge, and now her driver's license
says Remero.
Clowdus reminded Harmston he showed the young couple's marriage certificate in a church
quorum meeting. "There's not a thing they can do. No worry. It's done," Harmston concluded.
Ironically, Clowdus cautioned Harmston against discussing his marriage to Angie on the phone,
"where an LDS operator might be listening."
Harmston then confessed his marriage to Angie was "the hardest thing he ever wrestled with"
and that "God had to give me that revelation again and again and again.... It was the farthest thing
from my flippin' mind."
Again, Clowdus addressed what he called his worries. "Timing is what I'm concerned about, is
it necessary for her to have the child, you know, have you gotten Angie pregnant yet?"
Harmston responded: "She's probably pregnant. She's missing her period a few days."
Clowdus appeared to draw a mental deep breath before addressing another concern. "You said
something once that blew my mind. I don't see how a 15-year-old girl can be a good lover."
"Oh, she isn't," Harmston protested quickly. "But she's the most cuddling little thing you'll see
in all your life."
Harmston admitted he didn't invite all of the True and Living Church members to his
controversial wedding. Only Dan, Bart and John -- three of his apostles, two of whom are
married to his daughters. Harmston said he told his wives to "go to the Lord and talk about it."
Feeling he'd caught Harmston, Clowdus turned the tape in to the Sanpet County Sheriff's Office.
He left the TLC eight months after he had joined.
In a phone interview with City Weekly, Harmston denied his marriage to Mower. He decline to
comment further, saying he's "uninterested in letting reporters create more of a brouhaha."