FLDS leader gets served, but lawyers claim his brother is in hiding

BEN WINSLOW
FOX 13 News
FEBRUARY 18, 2018

SALT LAKE CITY — Imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has been served with papers in a multi-million dollar lawsuit accusing him of ritualistic sex abuse.

Court documents filed in 3rd District Court show the Fundamentalist LDS Church leader was served at the Texas prison where he is serving a life sentence for child sex assault, related to underage “marriages.” However, attorneys have been unable to find his brother, Seth Jeffs.

“Plaintiff’s counsel believes Mr. Jeffs is in hiding,” the woman’s attorney, Alan Mortensen, wrote in a motion to the judge. “Information about Mr. Jeffs cannot be ascertained with reasonable diligence.”

Mortensen is asking a judge to allow him to serve Seth Jeffs by alternative means, which could mean just posting the lawsuit on the door of his last known address or in a classified advertisement in a newspaper.

FOX 13 first reported last year on the lawsuit filed by a woman known only as “R.H.,” accusing leaders of Utah’s largest polygamous church of years of sexual abuse in ritualistic events.

In the lawsuit, R.H. alleged she was taken from her home with a bag over her head, driven to an unknown location, then disrobed and sexually abused by Warren Jeffs, some of his brothers, and Wendell Nielsen. She alleges that others would watch the abuse.

Seth Jeffs was a key figure in the federal government’s case against leaders of the FLDS Church alleging food stamp fraud. In December 2016, he struck a plea deal with prosecutors and was released from jail immediately with no probation or restitution.

He was said to have led the FLDS Church’s sprawling compound in South Dakota.

http://fox13now.com/2018/02/18/flds-leader-gets-served-but-lawyers-claim-his-brother-is-in-hiding/

Polygamous sect member takes plea deal in food stamp fraud case

Nigel Duara
Los Angeles Times
December 28, 2016

The brother of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has avoided incarceration by pleading guilty in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud case. Had he pleaded not guilty, he could have faced 20 years in prison if convicted.

Seth Steed Jeffs, 43, signed his name to a federal plea deal on Wednesday morning. Before his arrest in February, Jeffs was at the center of an alleged plot to collect government Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars from sect members and redistribute them to sect leadership.

"Between Sept. 1, 2011, and Dec. 28, 2016, I knowingly diverted Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits to non-beneficiaries," Jeffs wrote in the plea deal.

Seth Jeffs was arrested along with 10 other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the polygamist sect that the FBI believes is still run by Warren Jeffs from his prison cell in Texas.

Seth Jeffs' deal Wednesday spares him prison time or a fine, and the government dropped conspiracy and money laundering charges.

Jay Winward, Seth Jeffs' attorney, told KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City that the charges were unnecessary. "This is an investigation that's gone on for five years. I'm not certain in any other circumstance with any other people, the U.S. government wouldn't simply ask them to stop what they were doing rather than indicting them," he told the TV station.

U.S. prosecutors said they're satisfied with the six months that Jeffs has served in jail since he was arrested in February following a multiyear federal investigation.

Seth and Warren's brother Lyle Jeffs was also named in the food stamp fraud indictment, but slipped off his ankle monitor after his arrest and fled. He remains unaccounted for, and the FBI in Salt Lake City has offered $50,000 for information leading to his capture.

Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, form the FLDS community of Short Creek. The FLDS church is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the formal name of the Mormon Church, which banned polygamy in 1890 – though plural marriages remained a custom through the 1930s, when Mormons began to excommunicate those who took multiple wives.

Prosecutors have alleged in court filings that Seth Jeffs operates the group's South Dakota holdings.

Prosecutors allege that church leadership ordered FLDS followers to make purchases with their food stamp cards, then turn over the goods to the church.

In another segment of the alleged scheme, food stamps were cashed at FLDS-owned businesses, but no goods changed hands and the money was handed over to church-owned companies or used to pay for capital expenses, such as vehicles.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-polygamous-sect-20161228-story.html?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=e34f7c5a67-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2016_12_29&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-e34f7c5a67-400018169

Feds to use Warren Jeffs recording to keep followers in jail

BY BEN WINSLOW
fox13now.com

DECEMBER 16, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors plan to use a prison recording of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs in an effort to keep two of his followers in jail pending trial on food stamp fraud and money laundering charges.

John Wayman and Seth Jeffs (one of Warren Jeffs’ brothers) are asking a judge to revisit their detention. U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart ordered them jailed after prosecutors said the pair met — in violation of court orders — under a directive from Warren Jeffs.

In a filing on Friday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said it had obtained a recording of the FLDS leader meeting with one of his wives and a daughter while in prison in Palestine, Texas. While the government admitted it did not know exactly what was on the tape, prosecutors claimed the subject of conversation was John Wayman.

“During the visit, Warren Jeffs referenced a recent revelation directed to John Wayman that Warren Jeffs previously provided to the two women. Warren Jeffs then instructed the women not to give the directive to John Wayman until such time as Warren Jeffs specifies,” assistant U.S. Attorney for Utah Rob Lund wrote.

“The last time Warren Jeffs issued directives to John Wayman and Seth Jeffs, of which the government is aware, both defendants complied with Warren Jeffs’s directives in specific contravention of the court’s express orders.”

Warren Jeffs is serving life in prison for child sex assault related to underage “marriages.”

A judge has scheduled a Tuesday hearing to decide the detention issue again for Seth Jeffs and Wayman. They are among 11 members of the FLDS Church facing charges accusing them of ordering faithful followers of the Fundamentalist LDS Church to hand over Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to church leaders. Federal prosecutors have claimed the scheme exceeds $12 million in taxpayer dollars.

In Friday’s filing, federal prosecutors also appear to acknowledge they are in plea deal negotiations with some of the 11 FLDS members. The lawyer for one of the defendants, Kimball Barlow, previously told FOX 13 his client had informed the feds he would take a deal that included no jail time.

http://fox13now.com/2016/12/16/feds-to-use-warren-jeffs-recording-to-keep-followers-in-jail/

Polygamous sect leader says he'll account for food he donates to church

November 20, 2016
Salt Lake Tribune
Nate Carlisle

 

Seth Jeffs

Seth Jeffs, brother of the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, came closest last week to winning a religious freedom argument.

Closest, that is, among 11 FLDS defendants charged with conspiracy in what prosecutors have called a scheme to defraud the federal food stamp program by taking benefits from sect members and giving the groceries to the bishop to distribute as he saw fit. Jeffs was the only defendant who actually received benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And so, federal Judge Ted Stewart ruled, those other defendants couldn't claim the program's rules burdened their practice of consecrating their belongings if they never belonged to SNAP in the first place.

As for Jeffs, Stewart focused on a section of that law saying the government may burden a person's exercise of religion if that burden "is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest."

The defense never disputed that the government has an interest in helping poor households purchase food, Stewart wrote. There is evidence that food purchased by SNAP recipients from the FLDS was not being eaten by those recipients, but rather distributed across the community even if other households didn't need it.

Therefore, Stewart wrote, the statutes and regulations governing SNAP are "rationally related to a legitimate government interest."

But Jeffs' attorney, Jay Winward, thinks Stewart misunderstood his client's argument. On Friday, Winward asked Stewart to reconsider his ruling and to dismiss the indictment against Jeffs.

Winward's motion explains that Jeffs is not requesting the ability to make wholesale donations of his SNAP benefits to the church to be consumed by anybody approved by the bishop, as Stewart's ruling described.

What Jeffs is proposing, Winward wrote, is the ability to donate food from his SNAP benefits and to receive an equal portion of food in return. Such an arrangement would allow Jeffs to live what the FLDS call the law of consecration.

Jeffs would be willing to provide SNAP administrators with an accounting of his donations and what he received in return, Winward wrote, as well as to provide medical records showing no one in his household is malnourished.

"Indeed, these proposed less restrictive means could apply to all SNAP recipients who donate food, whether to a school bake sale, church potluck or community food bank," Winward wrote. "It would simply require a recipient to account for donated food and require them to ensure receipt of equal amount of food in return."

Stewart will probably rule quickly. Lawyers for Jeffs' older brother and co-defendant, Lyle Jeffs, filed their own reconsideration motion last week. Stewart replied with a ruling the next day that consisted of one page, and said, in so many words, no.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Twitter: @natecarlisle


http://www.sltrib.com/home/4610846-155/polygamous-sect-leader-says-hell-account

Judge rules against polygamous sect in food-stamp fraud case

November 15, 2016
Fox News
Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY –  A federal judge refused Tuesday to dismiss food stamp fraud charges filed against members of a polygamous group, rebuffing arguments that sharing benefits is a protected part of their religion.

U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart decided the case doesn't violate the religious freedoms of the secretive group accused of operating a multimillion-dollar scheme. Most of those accused in the case didn't receive benefits themselves, so they can't argue rules limiting their use is unfair, the judge wrote.

Stewart will, however, allow the defendants to argue at a Jan. 30 trial that they believe their eternal salvation depends on living communally.

Salt Lake City lawyer Jim Bradshaw, who represents one of 11 defendants in the case, said he's disappointed the case will go forward, but he is heartened that the religious-belief arguments can be heard by a jury.

Members of the polygamous group are accused of diverting food-stamp money to front companies and using it buy a truck and a tractor. Sect leaders lived lavishly while low-ranking followers suffered, federal prosecutors contend.

Defense attorneys argue that there's no law barring sharing of benefits, and restricting the group's religious expression could set a dangerous precedent.

Leader Seth Jeffs testified at an October hearing they believe everything on earth belongs to God, which is why members must donate everything they own to a community storehouse. The group's leaders decide how best to redistribute the goods. The "law of consecration" is based on early Mormon beliefs from the 1800s, he said.

His testimony offered a rare glimpse into the group that follows Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life prison sentence for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered wives. The group known for prairie dresses and updo hairstyles is based in a remote community on the Utah-Arizona border. Its members don't usually talk with outsiders at the behest of their leaders.

Seth Jeffs runs the group's South Dakota organization and is a brother of the imprisoned leader.

Known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the group believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven — a legacy of the early Mormon church. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.

The highest-ranking leader ensnarled in the bust, Lyle Jeffs, has been a fugitive for more than three months since he slipped out of a GPS ankle monitor and escaped home confinement in the Salt Lake City area. The FBI has offered a $50,000 reward for finding him.

The 11 defendants have pleaded not guilty to food stamp fraud and money laundering.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/11/15/judge-rules-against-polygamous-sect-in-food-stamp-fraud-case.html

POLYGAMIST LEADER: COMMUNAL LIVING KEY PART OF RELIGION

BRADY McCOMBS
Associated Press
October. 4, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A polygamous sect leader charged with fraud said Tuesday that not sharing goods purchased with food stamps would prohibit him and others from living their religion and being prepared for heaven.
Seth Jeffs and 10 other suspects accused of food stamp fraud and money laundering are trying to persuade a Utah judge they were following religious tenets of communal living, not breaking the law.
He testified that they believe everything on earth belongs to God, which is why members must donate everything they own to a community storehouse. The group's leaders decide how best to redistribute the goods. The "law of consecration" is based on early Mormon beliefs from the 1800s, he said.
"Every person has the privilege to turn everything they have in because we believe all is not ours," said Seth Jeffs, who runs the group's South Dakota compound and is a brother of the group's imprisoned leader, Warren Jeffs. "All belongs to Heavenly Father."
Prosecutors haven't yet cross-examined Seth Jeffs, who wore a jail jumpsuit with his hands and feet in cuffs. He is one of two defendants who are behind bars as the case plays out.
Prosecutors counter the defendants knowingly broke the law by not only donating food to a storehouse but diverting funds to front companies and to pay for a tractor, truck and other items. They say sect leaders lived lavishly while low-ranking followers suffered.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart in Salt Lake City is weighing whether food stamp rules burden the suspects' sincerely held religious beliefs.
He has already warned defense attorneys he is struggling to understand how the suspects had a burden if they didn't personally receive food stamps. Defense attorneys say some of their client's family members, who include multiple wives and many children, receive the benefits.
The courtroom was packed with lawyers, defendants and onlookers. Some 20 members of the sect sat in one corner, the women wearing their typical prairie dresses and updo hairstyles. Since each suspect has at least one attorney, there were some 15 lawyers before the judge, making for unique interchanges and exchanges during questioning of the witness.
One important person not in attendance was Lyle Jeffs, the highest-ranking leader ensnarled in the bust. He's been a fugitive for more than three months since he slipped out of a GPS ankle monitor and escaped home confinement in the Salt Lake City area. The FBI has a $50,000 reward for finding him.
Before Seth Jeffs took the stand, an expert on early Mormonism testified that members of the sect hold beliefs strikingly similar to Mormons in the 1800s. Mormon history expert Lyndon Watson Cook said early Mormons would have worried about their eternal salvation if they didn't follow the communal living guidelines.
"Their language is the language of the 19th century Mormon," Cook said. "That's the way they thought and talked."
Federal prosecutors, though, pointed out that Cook isn't an expert on the sect, and he acknowledged his opinion is based solely on his reading of affidavits submitted in this case.
The sect, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is based on the Utah-Arizona border. They believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven — a legacy of the early Mormon church. The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.
The hearing is scheduled for two days. It's unknown if Judge Stewart will rule from the bench or at a later date. If he rules for the defense it could toss out part of the case.
The 11 defendants have pleaded not guilty to food stamp fraud and money laundering.

http://www.apnewsarchive.com/2016/A-polygamous-sect-leader-says-that-not-sharing-goods-purchased-with-food-stamps-would-prohibit-him-and-others-from-living-their-religion-and-being-prepared-for-heaven/id-52f53e002719401fb3303100e6c78261

Polygamous sect members won't be released before trial

Tuesday, August 23, 2016 1:31 pm

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Two polygamous sect members accused in a food-stamp fraud case will stay in jail after violating their supervised release at the direction of imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs.

U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart decided Tuesday the men can't be trusted to put court orders ahead of instructions from a religious figure.

Prosecutors said they violated the conditions of their release by meeting with each other.

Defense attorneys for John Wayman and Seth Jeffs argued the two leaders met only to reassure rattled members of the group, not discuss the case or plan an escape.

But Stewart seems skeptical after another suspect in the case escaped supervised release this summer. Prosecutors say they believe top-ranking leader Lyle Jeffs is using a network of hiding houses and loads of cash to remain a fugitive.

http://m.cachevalleydaily.com/mobile/news/state/article_ce66c734-577e-594c-b849-49ed7ba0674b.html

2 polygamous leaders are arrested while awaiting trial on food-stamp-fraud charges

ERIN ALBERTY

The Salt Lake Tribune

Aug 01 2016

           

Seth Jeffs and John Wayman allegedly violated terms of their pre-trial release.

Two leaders in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were arrested Monday on suspicion of violating the terms of their release from jail as they await trial in a food-stamp-fraud case.

Seth Jeffs — brother to imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs — and John Wayman, a business owner and former bishop for the polygamous sect, were booked into Washington County jail after being accused of violating their pre-trial release conditions, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Salt Lake City.

The men were ordered to wear GPS ankle monitors and remain in Utah, though Seth Jeffs was given limited travel release to South Dakota, where he leads an FLDS congregation. Rydalch did not say which conditions the men are suspected of violating. Jail records indicate Seth Jeffs was arrested by a Washington County sheriff's deputy, while Wayman was arrested by a federal agent.

Meanwhile, agents have been searching for Lyle Jeffs, FLDS bishop and Warren Jeffs' second-in-command, since he escaped June 18 from home confinement. Investigators say he likely lubricated his ankle monitor with olive oil and slipped out of it, leaving his Salt Lake City home.

Neighbors said they saw a dark, newer model Ford Mustang arrive and later leave the home the night of June 18 but could not identify who was in the car, the FBI has reported. Jeffs was prohibited from talking with witnesses, co-defendants and Warren Jeffs. The judge also ordered him to surrender his passport.

The FBI has urged anyone with information on Lyle Jeffs' whereabouts to call the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office at 801-579-1400 or, if outside of Utah, the nearest FBI office.

Lyle Jeffs, Seth Jeffs, Wayman and eight others have pleaded not guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges alleging they diverted at least $12 million worth of food-stamp benefits from FLDS members in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., collectively known as Short Creek. FLDS sect leaders instructed followers to donate items they bought with their food-stamp cards to a church warehouse, prosecutors say, then the leaders decided how to distribute the products among the membership.

In addition, food stamps allegedly were cashed at sect-owned stores without the users getting anything in return. The money was then diverted to front companies and used to pay thousands for a tractor, truck and other items, prosecutors say.

ealberty@sltrib.com

Twitter: @erinalberty

http://www.sltrib.com/home/4183763-155/2-polygamous-leaders-are-arrested-while

 

Seth Jeffs, brother of FLDS leader, is latest suspect to be released from jail

NATE CARLISLE 
The Salt Lake Tribune
April 1, 2016

A federal judge on Friday released Seth Jeffs, a full brother of imprisoned Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints President Warren Jeffs, from jail.

Seth Jeffs is still charged with two counts of attempted conspiracy stemming from what prosecutors claim was a scheme involving food stamp benefits.

Judge Ted Stewart is requiring Seth Jeffs to reside in St. George for at least the next 30 days, but will allow him to travel to South Dakota to conduct water testing if he notifies U.S. marshals first. Seth Jeffs leads the FLDS congregation in that state and petitioned the state to allow the FLDS compound to increase the size of its well.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

FILE - In this May 20, 2008 file photo, Seth Jeffs, the brother of imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, exits the Tom Green County courthouse in San Angelo, Texas. Jeffs has told the state of South Dakota that members of the FLDS, need more water for gardens, orchards and animal herds at the group’s ranch in the Black Hills near Pringle, S.D., prompting concern by neighbors and law enforcement about a possible influx of members who are being displaced from a compound on the Utah- Arizona border. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3731001-155/seth-jeffs-brother-of-flds-leader

South Dakota leader of polygamist sect pleads not guilty

AP
March 21, 2016

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — A South Dakota man accused of helping to orchestrate a food stamp fraud scheme among members of a polygamous sect based on the Arizona-Utah border has pleaded not guilty.

Seth Jeffs is charged in federal court with conspiracy to defraud the United States and money laundering. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Braithwaite scheduled a status conference in the case for Tuesday afternoon.

The alleged scam involves church leaders in Warren Jeff's Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Authorities say Seth Jeffs is the bishop of the group's South Dakota congregation. Prosecutors say church leaders instructed members how to use food stamp benefits illegally.

Braithwaite on Monday appointed St. George attorney Jay Winward to represent Seth Jeffs. Winward did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

http://www.hastingstribune.com/south-dakota-leader-of-polygamist-sect-pleads-not-guilty/article_b965ceb3-3f3d-573f-8314-8193c8bd98c4.html

Things to Know About Polygamous Sect Food Stamp Fraud Case

BRADY MCCOMBS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABC NewsFeb 26, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY

 Law enforcement officers conducting a search
at Reliance Electric in Hildale, Utah, Feb. 23, 2016.

Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border is reeling after 11 members were indicted this week on allegations that leaders carried out widespread food stamp fraud and money laundering.

A closer look at what's happening:

———

WHAT IS THE SECT ACCUSED OF DOING?

Federal prosecutors say church leaders orchestrated a yearslong scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught.

Followers would scan their food stamp debit cards at church-run stores, leaving the money with the owners, prosecutors say. Group leaders then funneled money to front companies. Some of those funds were used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.

The volume of food stamp purchases at two small convenience stores was so large that it rivaled retailers the size of Wal-Mart and Costco, prosecutors say, with the total amount diverted and laundered estimated at $12 million.

Another common practice was buying groceries with food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to divvy up.

———

WHERE DID THIS HAPPEN?

In the sister cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona — the base for the group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The sect is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

Defense attorneys have not yet commented on the allegations. The sect does not have a spokesman or a phone listing where leaders can be contacted.

———

WHO WAS CHARGED?

Several key players in the sect:

— Lyle Jeffs, who runs day-to-day operations in the community by carrying out orders from his imprisoned brother Warren Jeffs.

— Seth Jeffs, another brother who runs the group's South Dakota compound.

— John Wayman, a confidant of Warren Jeffs' who handles legal and tax issues.

— Nephi Steed Allred, an accountant who set up corporations and helped move around the group's money, prosecutors say.

They face up to five years in prison on the fraud charges and up to 20 years in money laundering.

Warren Jeffs was not charged in the scheme. The sect leader has been in a Texas prison for years, serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting two young girls he considered brides.

Prosecutors and former members say he leads from behind bars by communicating via mail and occasional phone calls.

———

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Four suspects are still at large. Three lower-level defendants are out on supervised release. The key players are behind bars pending detention hearings in federal courts in Utah and South Dakota.

Prosecutors have asked judges to keep them in custody, arguing they are likely to flee and try to hide in the group's elaborate network of houses throughout the U.S., Mexico and Canada. They say the polygamists likely would use aliases, disguises, false identification and prepaid cellphones to avoid being caught — just as Warren Jeffs did in the mid-2000s.

Prosecutors revealed in court documents that Lyle Jeffs has a ranch in South America, according to one of his estranged wives.

———

HAS THE SECT BEEN BUSTED BEFORE?

Yes, but this crackdown marks one of the biggest blows to the group in years.

It comes amid a civil rights trial in Phoenix against the Utah-Arizona community, which prosecutors say discriminated against nonbelievers by denying them housing, water services and police protection.

Federal labor lawyers also are going after church leaders on allegations that they ordered parents to put their kids to work for long hours for little pay on a Utah pecan farm.

The community denies the allegations.

In 2008, authorities carried out a massive raid on the sect's remote Texas ranch, collecting evidence that sent Warren Jeffs and several of his deputies to prison.

In 2005, Utah seized control of a church trust holding more than 700 homes estimated to be worth over $100 million amid allegations of mismanagement.

———

HOW HAVE AUTHORITIES UNCOVERED THE GROUP'S ACTIVITIES?

Prosecutors aren't unveiling exactly how they discovered the scheme, but a steady exodus of followers who have left or been kicked out of the sect in recent years has given investigators an expanding pool of witnesses to help unlock secrets about its operation.

———

WILL THE TAKEDOWN DESTROY THE SECT?

No, though it was expected to rattle the group.

Mid-ranking leaders who have been closely involved in business and religious dealings will likely fill the vacated roles, even it takes time to find their footing, former members and experts say.

Warren Jeffs will likely spin the arrests by telling his flock that the crackdown is further proof the government is an evil entity out to attack their way of life, ex-followers say.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/things-polygamous-sect-food-stamp-fraud-case-37223887

Prosecutors: Jeffs a flight risk because FLDS has access to a system of secure hideouts

Mike Anderson

Rapid City Journal

February 25, 2016

Seth Jeffs

Federal prosecutors, fearing that religious-sect leader Seth Jeffs will flee to avoid prosecution, are asking a judge to keep Jeffs behind bars until his trial on suspicion that he and others of his sect defrauded the federal food stamp program and laundered millions of dollars in illegally gained cash.

Jeffs, 42, appeared today in federal court in Rapid City, one day after his arrest near the compound he is alleged to lead near Pringle. He is a high-ranking member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a reputed polygamist sect that U.S. prosecutors allege has access to a vast system of closed-off and secure hideouts in South Dakota, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, western Canada, Mexico and South America.

The sect, referred to as FLDS, is a radical offshoot of the traditional Mormon church, which long ago disavowed polygamy.

“FLDS leaders,” the prosecution's motion to keep Jeffs behind bars reads, “have developed an elaborate system for moving and hiding members of the group in order to avoid law enforcement detection. The system includes a network of homes and apartments known as ‘houses of hiding’ as well as larger compounds known as “places of refuge.’”

The prosecution also stated in its motion that “FLDS leaders have used houses of hiding to conceal people against their will.”

There was no decision on the motion today. Federal Magistrate Judge Daneta Wollman set a 9 a.m. Monday hearing to decide if Jeffs should be detained until his trial.

The prosecution argues that Jeffs and his codefendants pose a significant flight risk as they might use the FLDS’s network of hideouts, along with an arsenal of disguises, fake IDs, and disposable cellphones, to disappear before their court dates.

Seth Jeffs and 10 other high-ranking FLDS members — all arrested on Tuesday, most near the Utah-Arizona border — are accused of one count of defrauding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and one count of laundering money. According to prosecutors, Jeffs and his co-defendants could face a maximum of 25 years in prison.

Heavy chains clinked as FBI agents unfastened them from Jeffs' wrists and ankles upon his arrival in courtroom No. 2 on the second floor of the federal building downtown. He had spent Tuesday night in the Pennington County Jail.

Jeffs, tall and thin, then sat in his chair, which emitted a prolonged wooden creak, and he remained silent and still for most of the hearing until Wollman asked him how old he is.

He leaned forward then and spoke into the microphone, “I’m 40 …,” he said, his voice trailing off as if he were trying to recall the exact number. Then he continued: “42 at this time. Almost 43.”

The charges against Jeffs and the others allege that from September 2011 to the present, they willfully have diverted and laundered more than $12 million in food-stamp funds to ineligible beneficiaries.

“The conspiracy takes money for food from people it was intended to sustain and converts it into funds used by their leaders to further illegal activities, including maintaining the system of houses of hiding and places of refuge,” the federal motion reads.

The risk that Jeffs and the others may flee if released from incarceration is high, prosecutors say, because the FLDS leaders have much practice in hiding and deceiving.

“People in the system use pre-paid cellular telephones to route calls through multiple devices so that individuals’ locations cannot be identified,” the federal motion reads. “The system also includes a secure Internet protocol phone system to provide confidential communications.”

During today's hearing U.S. prosecutors read Jeffs his rights, the charges leveled against him, and the penalties he could face if he is found guilty.

The FLDS’s system of hideouts, the prosecution alleges, was originally created to protect the group’s leader and Seth Jeffs’ brother Warren Jeffs from being found by law enforcement. Warren Jeffs has been imprisoned since 2007 on convictions on child sexual assault charges, leaving control of the day-to-day operations of FLDS to another brother, Lyle Jeffs.

“Warren Jeffs’ followers consider him to be a prophet who speaks for God on earth,” the federal motion reads, going on to say that FLDS followers are extremely loyal to both men because they “are afraid they will lose their families, their spouses, and their children” and that they will “lose their eternal salvation.”

Seth Jeffs serves as “bishop” of the FLDS compound near Pringle in Custer County. The federal motion states that when he was arrested, Seth Jeffs had large amounts of cash and photos of himself wearing disguises labeled “in hiding.”

Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler, in cooperation with FBI and DCI agents, arrested Seth Jeffs Tuesday on a highway near Custer as part of the coordinated sting against FLDS leaders at the Pringle compound and in Utah and Arizona.


http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/prosecutors-jeffs-a-flight-risk-because-flds-has-access-to/article_98ecad01-f6c3-5b0d-9403-978bcb1d7199.html

Federal Arrests Reveal South Dakota Polygamist Sect Details

JAMES NORD AND DIRK LAMMERS

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ABC News

February 25, 2016

PIERRE, S.D.

A federal crackdown on an alleged food stamp fraud scheme by a polygamous sect on the Arizona-Utah border is offering details about a secretive compound in far southwestern South Dakota that has served as one of the church's "lands of refuge."

Top leaders from Warren Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, including his brothers Lyle Jeffs of Utah and Seth Jeffs of South Dakota, were arrested Tuesday. Prosecutors accuse church leaders of orchestrating a fraud scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally and avoid getting caught, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.

But court documents say sect members living in the South Dakota compound were prohibited from using food stamps while living there, potentially part of the church leadership's efforts to keep secret their property near Pringle, population 111. Known to the faithful as "R23," the group started work on the compound there over a decade ago.

Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas for assaulting two of his child brides. Authorities say his brother Seth is the bishop of the church's South Dakota congregation. Seth Jeffs, who previously downplayed his church role in dealings with South Dakota water regulators, is behind bars in South Dakota pending a Monday hearing in the food stamp case. An attorney for Seth Jeffs didn't immediately return telephone messages requesting comment.

Only about 30 miles from the popular tourist attraction of Mount Rushmore, the church's 140-acre South Dakota property sits along a gravel road secluded by tall pine trees and a recently completed privacy fence. A roving security force of two was bolstered by two or three guards stationed inside the compound's watch tower, a steel-enforced octagonal structure manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, according to an FBI report on a 2014 interview with Sam Steed. He was a compound resident from 2006-2007.

Cell phone batteries had to be removed while on the property. The presiding bishop carried a phone but had to leave to use it, Steed told the FBI.

Steed didn't immediately respond to telephone and email messages requesting comment about the information attributed to him in the court documents.

"You can't see a whole lot anymore," Custer County Sheriff Rick Wheeler said of the South Dakota compound.

After a 2008 federal raid of the sect's Texas ranch that led to Warren Jeffs' conviction, the South Dakota property's population swelled to 100-150, Steed said, according to court documents. Some girls and young women were also moved to the South Dakota compound from the Arizona-Utah border to receive "special training," he said.

"There was a selection process for these girls chosen to go to R23," Steed said. "Lyle (Jeffs) was instrumental in the selection process and told the girls that you had to 'qualify' to go."

Only a dozen people were approved to work on Warren Jeffs' house on the South Dakota property. Construction started in 2008, and it was built with one-foot thick walls, sound barriers and double padded flooring, according to the documents.

Warren Jeffs' son Roy was sent to live in the South Dakota compound for nearly a year in 2007-2008, where he spent long days building houses with log exteriors. Other men helped raise livestock or stood guard in the tower, Roy Jeffs told The Associated Press. He left the sect in February 2014.

Roy Jeffs said only a few dozen people were there at a time. He saw women, but didn't know what they were there for. People weren't supposed to leave without approval from leaders.

Before 2010, the only people allowed to go to South Dakota were devout followers in good standing, he said. In the faith's hierarchy, it was considered more sacred than the base on the Utah-Arizona border but below the Texas compound, which had a temple, Roy Jeffs said.

The sect in 2011 wanted to build a temple on the South Dakota property, but leaders told the Custer County planning commission that the structure was going to be a storage building. The project was scrapped when leaders ran out of money, according to Steed.

"It has the same dimensions as the temple down in Texas, but it was kind of roughed out and never really started," Wheeler said.

Warren Jeffs said sites such as South Dakota were necessary because he believed that the government intended to seize property on the Arizona-Utah border, according to Jerold Williams, a former church elder who supervised early construction of the South Dakota compound until 2006.

"It was a prophesy kind of thing," Williams said. "He was going to do these 'lands of refuge,' he called them, for people to have somewhere to go to."

Some of the detail in court documents matches Williams' account of South Dakota, which was meant to be "top secret." Members doing the work often didn't really know what Warren Jeffs had in mind, said Williams, who left the church in 2012.

Neighbors have regarded the Pringle outpost with mistrust and concern, including skepticism about Seth Jeffs' truthfulness during a hearing last year on a request to draw water more quickly at the compound.

Linda Van Dyke Kilcoin, a nearby landowner, said she hopes the current case prompts government agencies to intensify scrutiny of the group.

Dirk Lammers contributed from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Associated Press writer Brady McCombs in Salt Lake City, Utah, contributed to this story.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/federal-arrests-reveal-south-dakota-polygamist-sect-details-37202670

Polygamous church leaders indicted, arrested in investigation of alleged food-stamp fraud

Erin Alberty, Jessica Miller and Nate Carlisle

The Salt Lake Tribune

February 23, 2016

Indictment against Lyle Jeffs, other FLDS leaders


In a case that some say could destroy Utah's largest polygamous sect, federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced indictments against leaders and members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on charges related to food stamp fraud.

Lyle Jeffs, who has been running the FLDS for his imprisoned brother, is one of nearly a dozen people named in an indictment that was unsealed Tuesday while FBI agents and sheriffs deputies searched businesses in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., that are owned by members of the FLDS.

Also indicted was Seth Jeffs, brother to both Lyle and FLDS President Warren Jeffs, the religion's president and prophet — and who is serving a sentence of up to life in prison plus 20 years in Texas for crimes related to marrying and sexually abusing underage girls.

"If they're finally going to prosecute Lyle and the leaders of the church, it will eventually bring the church down," said Wallace Jeffs, Warren Jeffs' half-brother, who was expelled from the church. "This pretty much cuts the head off the snake."

Hildale and Colorado City, collectively known as Short Creek, are home to the FLDS church. Isaac Wyler, a former member of the church, said Tuesday's action appears to be the largest law enforcement raid in the towns since 1953, when Arizona authorities arrived to arrest polygamists.

"There are officers all over town," Wyler said.

Lyle Jeffs and 10 other FLDS Church leaders and members were arrested Tuesday in Utah and South Dakota, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office. They face one count each of conspiring to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

A large percentage of FLDS Church members living in Short Creek receive SNAP benefits, amounting to millions of dollars in benefits per year, the news release said.

Prosecutors say church leaders ordered members to give their SNAP benefits — in food and cash transfers — to the church, which collects and redistributes commodities to the community. The leaders tell church members that they must obtain their food and household goods only through the church, the indictment alleges.

"This indictment is not about religion. This indictment is about fraud," U.S. Attorney John W. Huber said in the news release of the multi-year investigation. "This indictment charges a sophisticated group of individuals operating in the Hildale­-Colorado City community who conspired to defraud a program intended to help low ­income individuals and families purchase food."

Charged in the indictment are Lyle Steed Jeffs, 56, John Clifton Wayman, 56, Kimball Dee Barlow, 51, Winford Johnson Barlow, 50, Rulon Mormon Barlow, 45, Ruth Peine Barlow, 41, and Preston Yates Barlow, 41, all of Hildale.

Also charged are Nephi Steed Allred, 40, Hyrum Bygnal Dutson, 55, and Kristal Meldrum Dutson, 55, all of Colorado City; and Seth Steed Jeffs, 42, of Custer, South Dakota.

Arrest warrants were issued for all the defendants and at least five of them were in custody by Tuesday evening.

In the physical absence of Warren Jeffs, Lyle Jeffs handles the daily affairs of the organization, including its financial matters, prosecutors said. Another of Warren Jeffs' brothers, Seth Jeffs, leads a congregation of FLDS members in rural Custer County, South Dakota.

"This is what will really bring down the church," Wallace Jeffs said. "The church is basically just a money laundering criminal organization. The fact that they're actually targeting them financially and getting them for these frauds and these money laundering issues is going to bring the church to its knees."

But Wallace Jeffs, who has been in and out of the church's good graces over the years, added that the FLDS Church likely will remain operational for the immediate future.

"They still have people who can operate the church even though Lyle's arrested," he said. "They always have resources to fall back on in case of an emergency like this."

Still, with its assets in jeopardy and its line of succession disrupted, Wallace Jeffs said he anticipates the church will be defunct within "a year or two."

The indictment does not name Warren Jeffs' two younger brothers, Nephi and Isaac, who may be left to operate the church, Wallace Jeffs said. But with the three eldest in custody, the family's ability to control to the organization is weakened, he said.

"Those brothers ... are pretty much the backbone of the church," Wallace Jeffs said. "If you knock them all out and get them put in prison, they really don't have anybody to lead the church. Somebody could try to stand up and say, 'I'm going to do it.' But they're not going to have any credibility. The influence lies in that family. There's nobody that has the influence to keep running the church."

But former FLDS apostle William E. Jessop said there still remains someone with considerable influence and ability to run the church: Warren Jeffs himself. He points to federal investigators' evidence in an ongoing discrimination case that Jeffs continues to run the church from prison, including communications with Isaac and Nephi Jeffs.

"We believe there's so much coming out of the prison, with Warren continuing to give direction," said Jessop, who leads a more progressive polygamous group that has left the FLDS Church. "They they have their little source. There's a whole [regiment] of little soldiers just trying to follow orders. ... Wherever corruption is, it's going to continue on as long as there's people to carry it on ... no matter whose the name."

Washington County Sheriff Cory Pulsipher said Tuesday that his office helped initiate the investigation and has officers participating on the FBI's Public Corruption Task Force.

"What started as a small investigation quickly grew to a point where it was important to work with federal agencies to build a case to present to a grand jury," Pulsipher said in a statement.

Eric Barhart, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City Field Office, called Tuesday's indictment the "culmination of the tireless efforts" of the FBI task force, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General, the Washington County Sheriff's Office and the Washington County Attorney's Office.

"The violations included in the indictment are especially egregious since they allege that leaders of the conspiracy directed others to commit crimes, for which only certain people benefited," Barnhart said. "This type of conduct represents nothing less than pure theft. The FBI and its law enforcement partners will actively pursue those entities or persons who unlawfully manipulate and control government programs for their own gain."

Washington County Attorney Brock R. Belnap, whose office also participated in the investigation, will participate in prosecuting the case.

"I am grateful for the numerous partners who have worked diligently on this case," Belnap said. "It is our shared hope that this action will help innocent families receive the food assistance that they genuinely need while holding people accountable who conspire to divert those resources to illegal purposes."

KUTV showed video of Mohave County, Ariz., deputies blocking streets around a dairy retailer in Colorado City. Other witnesses told The Salt Lake Tribune that agents were at Reliance Electric, a longtime contributor to the FLDS, as well as a produce business.

The prosecutors' indictment says the alleged fraud is rooted in the FLDS Church's "United Order," instituted in 2011, which instructs all adherents to donate their lives and all their material substance to their church.

Members were told to divert their food stamp benefits to the church by purchasing food from church-owned businesses like the Meadowayne Dairy Store and Vermillion Cliffs Produce and then bring those items to the FLDS Storehouse for "donation," according to the indictment.

"These leaders also provided instruction on how to avoid suspicion and detection by the government," the indictment alleges.

FLDS leaders also told members to transfer their SNAP benefits to the church-owned stores without receiving any food products, according to the indictment.

On one occasion, Wayman is accused of taking an EBT card — which operates similar to a debit card and is linked to a SNAP account — from a qualifying person and giving it to an unauthorized person to buy food and goods.

Prosecutors also allege that the proceeds from the SNAP fraud financed ineligible purchases, such as paper products, a tractor and a truck.

Last year, 728 households received food stamps in either Colorado City, Ariz. or Hildale, Utah, according to officials in each state. And the combined benefit reached about $7.2 million.

Colorado City had about twice as many SNAP recipients as Hildale, 500 to 228, and it was worth twice as much, $4.8 million to $2.4 million.

The Arizona Department of Economic Security participated in the investigation and celebrated Tuesday's indictments.

Department of Economic Security Inspector General Juan J. Arcellana said: "The indictments in this case will put an end to a sophisticated, organized and illegal operation."

Blake Hamilton, an attorney who has represented Reliance and the dairy in the past, said in a text message he was only learning of the raid and had no comment. The church itself has no spokesperson.

Hamilton pointed out none of those indicted work for or serve in elected positions with Hildale or Colorado City, though Kimball Barlow is a former member of the Hildale City Council. Wayman is a longtime FLDS businessman and church elder who briefly served as the bishop of Short Creek in 2012.

Agents have not said what was seized in the raids, whether the storehouse remains in operation, or whether FLDS members are still receiving food benefits.

Huber said during a Tuesday press conference that he wasn't sure whether the indictments would affect the community's ability to get government food benefits going forward.

"I can imagine, using common sense, that if you engage in fraud, it may disqualify you from taking part in the program in the future," he said.

While Jessop and Wallace Jeffs both praised federal officials for pursuing the case, they were concerned that FLDS families — who they say have given all they own to the church and may have no independent means of survival — could suffer in the wake of the raids.

"It does affect women and children more particularly," Jessop said. "This is the food that gets put on the table for a lot of them."

Members also may feel dissuaded from accepting food and supplies from sources not sanctioned by the church, Jessop said, and some may embrace scarcity as a righteous cost.

"They've been taught for years that the government's an enemy," he said. "For the government to come in, they think it's just answering the prophecy. Some will continue to hold strong to their beliefs. Some will pay a serious element of sacrifice to hold onto what they believe."

The Short Creek searches come as the municipal governments in the towns are on trial in a Phoenix courtroom. The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the towns, claiming they discriminate against people who do not follow the FLDS. The case could go to the jury next week.

There has been testimony in that trial that families with food stamps would use their government-issued debit cards at retail stores operated by FLDS members. The stores would be reimbursed by the government but food would go to the FLDS storehouse, according to the testimony.

Lyle Jeffs and Wayman are expected to appear Wednesday morning at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City.

Seth Jeffs is due in a South Dakota courtroom, and the remaining defendants arrested in the Hildale/Colorado City area will appear in the federal courthouse in St. George.

Huber said he hopes authorities will be able to take the remaining suspects into custody soon.

"Today, thus far, we are very fortunate that this law enforcement business was conducted safely and that [for the] people who were taken into custody, it was done so safely and orderly," he said. "We hope that will continue."

The potential penalty for conspiracy count is five years in prison. The money laundering count carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison.

This is the second time this month federal agents have raided Utah businesses associated with a polygamous sect. On Feb. 10, agents from the FBI, the IRS and the Environmental Protection Agency searched the Salt Lake County offices of Washakie Renewable Energy, which is operated by members of the Kingston Group.

The Kingstons and the FLDS are separate polygamous churches. Huber said the two raids were not related.

AT A GLANCE

The accused and the allegations against them:

Lyle Steed Jeffs » handles the daily affairs of the FLDS Church organization in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona — including its financial matters. He is accused of directing members to divert their food stamp benefits to the FLDS Storehouse. Members are told they must obtain all of their food and goods from this storehouse.

Seth Steed Jeffs » is accused of acting as signator on the Quality Wholesale Distributors bank account into which Meadowayne Dairy Store’s operators transferred SNAP fraud proceeds. Prosecutors believe Quality Wholesale was a front for the FLDS Storehouse.

John Clifton Wayman » acted as the bishop of the Short Creek Stake congregation in 2012. He is accused of circulating instructions for diverting SNAP benefits to the storehouse. He is also accused of taking a benefits card and giving it to an unauthorized person to purchase food and goods.

Kimball Dee Barlow » managed the FLDS Storehouse, and is accused of disseminating protocol for diverting SNAP benefits to the storehouse.

Nephi Steed Allred » is accused of organizing Quality Wholesale Distributors in an effort to conceal and disguise the involvement of the FLDS Storehouse.

Winford Johnson Barlow » acted as president of Meadowayne Dairy Store from May 2012 and April 2015.

Rulon Mormon Barlow » served as the general manager of Meadowayne Dairy Store and is accused of transferring SNAP fraud proceeds to accounts associated with Quality Wholesale Distributors.

Ruth Peine Barlow » is the wife of Rulon Barlow, and assisted her husband in the operation of the dairy store.

Hyrum Bygnal Dutson » was the general manager of Vermilion Cliff’s Produce, and is accused of transferring fraudulent SNAP proceeds to accounts associated with companies acting as a front for the FLDS Storehouse.

Kristal Meldrum Dutson » is the wife of Hyrum Dutson, and helped her husband in the daily operations of the produce store.

Preston Yates Barlow » took over managerial control of the dairy store in October 2015, and is also accused of transferring fraudulent proceeds to accounts of companies believed to be fronts to the storehouse.

— Source: U.S. District Court indictment

ealberty@sltrib.com

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3571913-155/fbi-searching-businesses-in-polygamous-towns?fullpage=1