A judge issued arrest warrants for a Cedar Hills couple who appeared by video instead of in person Friday to be sentenced for crimes tied to a 2020 armed standoff at a Cedar Hills home. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)
Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
PROVO — A judge issued arrest warrants for a Cedar Hills husband and wife after they appeared remotely for a scheduled sentencing hearing instead of coming to the courthouse in person as the judge had ordered.
Paul Cromar motioned during the video hearing that he wanted to speak, and said he and his wife perceive the arrest warrant “as an act of war.” He said they have not missed any hearings and have sometimes waited hours for hearings to begin.
Cromar said they do not consent to “any voluntary or involuntary servitude” and asked if the judge was trying to “sell us into slavery.” He said he believes the court is trying to “man steal” them, citing Exodus 21:16 which says anyone who steals a man should be put to death.
This led 4th District Judge Christine Johnson to ask if he was making threats, and Cromar denied that it was a threat.
Paul and Barbara Cromar were convicted by a jury of burglary, a second-degree felony, and wrongful appropriation, a third-degree felony. The charges stemmed from a 2020 armed standoff with police after investigators say they had been living illegally in a Cedar Hills home for eight months and owed more than $1 million in taxes. Police say Paul Cromar had made statements that he was never going to leave the home again.
Charging documents say the Cromars did not file tax returns between 1999 and 2005. The federal government took possession of their home. They were evicted in 2019 and the house was sold, but they later broke in and began living there again, police say.
An initial warrant in the case said supporters of the couple involved in the standoff had also been involved with a standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada and a standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. The warrant also said neighbors reporting seeing adult males practicing movements in military camouflage in their backyard and sandbags being carried into their home and people who appeared to be guarding the home.
On Sept. 24, 2020, officers from multiple agencies entered the house and found weapons, sandbags and wooden boards placed in potentially tactical positions to keep people from getting in and bomb-making materials.
In Friday’s hearing, Johnson against sentencing the couple yet, partially because Paul and Barbara Cromar had not met with Utah Adult Probation and Parole as the court had previously ordered. That agency prepares pre-sentence reports and provides sentencing recommendations. Johnson said she suspects such a report would recommend probation instead of prison.
Paul Cromar explained that he and his wife decided it would be unwise to speak with Adult Probation and Parole agents, claiming that the agency is “not a part of proper lawful government.”
In the hearing, Cromar argued that the court would not let his lawyer, someone not licensed to practice law in Utah, represent him and maintained the person assigned to represent them had never spoken with them. He also claimed that he did not receive a fair trial in June.
Cromar told the judge he is not interested in probation and asked Johnson to sentence them Friday so they could move forward with pursuing other legal remedies.
Deputy Utah county attorney Jared Perkins said he believes Paul and Barbara Cromar “have a problematic misunderstanding of the law” and have made it clear they will not cooperate. He said he supported the judge issuing the arrest warrant.
Johnson said she would prefer not to send the couple to prison and give them an opportunity for probation. She said she will move forward with a sentencing analysis after the Cromars are taken into custody and may consider prison later if the two continue to seek prison instead of probation.
“It’s unfortunate that they’ve refused to cooperate because this court has no grudge against them and had no intention to order some maximum sentence,” Johnson said.
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Emily Ashcraft joined KSL.com as a reporter in 2021. She covers courts and legal affairs, as well as health, faith and religion news.
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