Former polygamist is thorn in sect's side

When he turned 17, he drove a pickup to the home of then-prophet Leroy Johnson expecting to begin a life of hard labor, the sole career choice for most FLDS boys.

He was in for a shock.

"Young man, we need a dentist," Johnson decreed. Fischer would get to go to college, a rare privilege in the sect.

Fischer became a dentist to polygamist groups. Wives drove hours to visit him, with dozens of children in tow, because they trusted him.

Feeling overwhelmed by having to treat so many kids, he said, he began tinkering with dental products at night and developed one that stopped bleeding faster than anything he had seen.

When no company wanted it, Fischer launched his own company. He began testing a tooth whitener and other inventions on his family.

Although Fischer's fortunes soared, he was unhappy. The drama of having three wives -- two of them sisters -- was becoming more than he could bear.

After feuding with FLDS elders, Fischer was summoned to a meeting with then-prophet Rulon Jeffs in 1995.

He survived the showdown but saw that son Warren Jeffs was in control.

So Fischer told his immediate family that he was breaking from the FLDS -- though he understood it would mean leaving his larger family forever.

"You come to a crossroads where you have to decide: Who are you more loyal to? Is it the people that brought you into this Earth, or those you brought in?" Fischer said. "I chose to break the cycle."

Some FLDS members now view Fischer as a Judas who is bringing pain on his people by punishing their prophet.

"It's sad that he decided to become vengeful and use his money against a group of people he once loved," said Fischer's brother Samuel.

Fischer still hurts when he thinks of those he left behind but says he has never regretted his decision. His custom-built home at the base of the Wasatch Mountains is still filled with family -- only now it is the broader family of outcasts he has adopted, three of whom were recently living in his guest quarters.

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miguel.bustillo@latimes.com