One such individual is Brian David Mitchell, who calls himself the prophet Emmanuel and is alleged to have abducted the Mormon schoolgirl Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home in June 2002 and held her for nine months.
During her captivity, Elizabeth was made to become Mitchell's second "wife" in a bizarre ceremony, after which he is said to have raped her. Mitchell and first wife Wanda Barzee will face trial this autumn for aggravated kidnap and sexual assault.
Thomas Green, one of Utah's worst offenders, is serving a five-year jail sentence for the rape of a 13-year-old he married in 1986.
Green had five wives and 33 children.
Observers of polygamist groups in Utah, where 73 percent of the state's 2.4 million residents are Mormons, believe the crackdown could herald the end of a way of life pursued for generations.
"The ability of the polygamist community to operate with impunity is drawing to an end," said Rick Ross, executive director of the New Jersey-based Ross Institute monitoring US cults.
"The Mormon church, which controls Utah, is realising polygamists are an embarrassment. The state is using child abuse as an issue to tackle the wider problem."
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