Confrontation
In January 1957, officials from the Arizona State Department of Education threatened Tijerina and the other parents with jail time if they did not send their children to public school. Even when confronted with the Supreme Court cases defending the right to home-schooling, the officials would not back down. Tijerina claims to have later found out that the real reason for the harassment was "Rockefeller money was planning to build a model city about a mile from the Valley of Peace." As a last resort, Tijerina took his case to the Phoenix press. However, neither of the two major papers covered the story of the persecution.
On March 19 of the same year, Tijerina was charged with the grand theft of six feed-trailer wheels. The case was thrown out for lack of evidence, but the next month, he was charged with another theft, this time for hardware discovered in the Valley of Peace. During the investigation, officials found out that Margarito Tijerina, who had joined the commune, was wanted in Indiana and took him into custody.
Reies was accused of being the getaway driver during a failed attempt to free his brother from Pinal County Jail. During a recess at his hearing, he left the courthouse, becoming a fugitive.
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