Rapid City Journal photo

PRINGLE, S.D. (AP) — A South Dakota judge has ordered a secretive polygamous sect to sell it’s compound in the Black Hills to pay for a lawsuit settlement. Court documents show that a South Dakota sheriff has been ordered to sell the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ property near Pringle in Custer County.

The sect still owes nearly $1.7 million to three men as part of a 2017 settlement in federal court. Sheriff Marty Mechaley says the 140-acre property will be sold during an auction on Feb. 25 at the Custer County Courthouse. The compound sits along a gravel road and is shielded from view by tall pine trees, a privacy fence and a guard tower.