Thread: Leaders in Warren Jeffs' polygamy sect arrested for welfare fraud

I wonder if the government will use the same diligence to stop welfare fraud in Muslim communities where men take multiple wives and claim they are "female relatives".....
Leaders in Warren Jeffs' polygamy sect arrested for welfare fraud



Law enforcement officers walk through Hildale, Utah on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years. Lyle Jeffs, one of the 11 charged in the scheme, runs the day-to-day operations in the polygamous community. (Chris Caldwell/The Spectrum via AP) (Chris Caldwell )
By The Associated Press
on February 23, 2016 at 8:15 PM

Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering — marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years.

The charges are the government's latest move targeting the sect based on the Utah-Arizona border, coinciding with legal battles in two states over child labor and discrimination against nonbelievers.

Prosecutors accuse church leaders of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.
One common tactic was buying groceries with the food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to choose how to divvy up. Other times, members would give their cards to others who weren't supposed to use them, prosecutors said.

They also would swipe the cards at church-run stores without walking away with foods or goods, leaving the money to the store owners. Some of those funds were then used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.

Eleven people were charged in the scheme, including Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, top-ranking leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and brothers of imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs.

Lyle Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations in the polygamous community of Hildale, Utah, while Seth Jeffs leads a branch of the group in South Dakota. Their brother is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides at a secretive church compound in that state.

"This indictment is not about religion. This indictment is about fraud," U.S. Attorney John Huber said.

The bust goes well beyond fraud — putting in doubt who will lead the group and how members will respond to a decisive message from government officials they have historically despised, said Amos Guiora, a University of Utah law professor who has studied the church.

"This is a clear drawing of that magical line in that sand that government will not tolerate crimes committed in the name of religion," Guiora said.

The sect does not have a spokesman or a phone listing where leaders can be contacted. The Associated Press could not verify if the defendants had attorneys yet.

Blake Hamilton, an attorney representing Hildale, said none of those indicted was serving in a government position and that it had nothing to do with the city government.

The arrests come amid a civil rights trial in Phoenix against the twin polygamous towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Arizona, in which prosecutors say the communities discriminated against people who were not members of the church by denying them housing, water services and police protection.

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

The communities deny the allegations.

Prosecutors said the actions in this new case weren't coordinated. But private investigator Sam Brower, who has spent years investigating the group, said authorities seemed to have gotten help from large numbers of people who have been kicked out or left amid a series of increasingly bizarre orders from Jeffs and leaders loyal to him.

"This is huge blow," Brower said. "Combined with everything else, it's incredible."

The indictment doesn't provide a total dollar figure for the amount of food stamp fraud allegedly committed, but prosecutors said a large percentage of people in the group receive food-stamp benefits amounting to millions of dollars each year.

The indictment says the food-stamp proceeds would be deposited into the accounts of two church-controlled companies, and managers of both stores transferred the money to three additional companies that acted as fronts for the sect's storehouse and concealed the nature of the proceeds.

Guiora said group members refer to the practice as "bleeding the beast," taking money from a government they disdain and using as they see fit.

Federal, state and local police served search warrants and made arrests Tuesday in Salt Lake City; Custer County, South Dakota; and Hildale and Colorado City.

Most of the defendants — who face up to five years in prison for food stamp fraud and up to 20 years for money laundering — are expected to make initial court appearances Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors are asking the judge to keep them behind bars, arguing in court documents that they are flight risks. They contend that if allowed out on bail, the polygamists are likely to flee and seek to hide in the group's elaborate network of houses throughout North and South America, using aliases, disguises, false identification documents and pre-paid cellphones to avoid being caught.

If the leaders remain jailed and get convicted, "there are clear questions about who is going to lead a flock that is very leadership dependent," Guiora said.

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/201...d_news_article

Polygamous leader takes plea deal in food-stamp fraud case

James Nord
FILE - In this July 9, 2015 file photo, Seth Jeffs, right, brother of imprisoned polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs, participates in a state water board meeting in Pierre, S.D. Jeffs, another high-ranking polygamous group leader appears ready to take a plea deal in a multimillion dollar food-stamp fraud case. Jeffs has a change of plea hearing scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2016, morning in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/James Nord, File)


Posted: Wednesday, December 28, 2016 2:19 pm |Updated: 2:45 pm, Wed Dec 28, 2016.
Associated Press |

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A high-ranking polygamous leader was released from jail Wednesday after pleading guilty in a multimillion-dollar food-stamp fraud case, becoming the second of 11 defendants to accept a plea deal in the crackdown on the sect based along the Utah-Arizona border.

Federal prosecutors said deals could be coming with other defendants implicated in the scheme in which at least $12 million in food stamps was misused — some diverted to front companies to buy tractors, trucks and other items.

Seth Jeffs, 43, pleaded guilty to felony fraud after prosecutors agreed to accept the six months he has already served in jail as his punishment.

The charge carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years in prison.

Conspiracy and money laundering charges against Jeffs were dropped as part of the agreement.

Prosecutor Robert Lund acknowledged that some people might not be satisfied with the deal, but he said the time Jeffs spent behind bars will serve as a deterrent.

Federal prosecutors will continue to keep close tabs on the group's use of food stamps and plan to hold training sessions in the community to make sure people know what is allowed, Lund said.

Jeffs runs the group's South Dakota compound and is a brother of Warren Jeffs, the sect's leader who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered wives.

Seth Jeffs declined to talk in court Wednesday other than to answer the judge's questions. He smiled and laughed with his attorney Jay Winward before the proceeding.

Outside court, Winward said Jeffs is happy to go home to his family. Winward accused prosecutors of unfairly targeting his client due to his family connections.

"I'm not certain that if it were any individual besides Seth Jeffs that they wouldn't simply just ask the person to stop donating their food to their church," Winward said.

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 Mormon church abandoned the practice in 1890 and strictly prohibits it today.

In an attempt to have charges dismissed due to religious beliefs, Seth Jeffs testified in October that he and other members of the group donated food bought with food stamps to a community storehouse because they believe everything on Earth belongs to God. He said the group's leaders decide how best to redistribute the goods.

U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart refused to dismiss the charges on that argument, and Winward acknowledged Wednesday that he wasn't sure that defense would have made a difference with a jury.

Lund said prosecutors opted not to seek repayment or fines from Jeffs because it wasn't likely the government would ever get the money.

"The people in that community, including the defendants, are among the poorest people who live in Utah," Lund said.

"They have no ability to pay restitution."

Lund would not say if a plea deal was possible with fugitive Lyle Jeffs, the highest-ranking sect leader accused in the scheme. He has been sought for more six months since he slipped out of a GPS ankle monitor and escaped home confinement in the Salt Lake City area.

"We'll have to cross that bridge when, and if, we are ever able to find him," Lund said.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/new...95c1b649d.html

Published 27 mins ago
Last Update 16 mins ago

Polygamous group lets go of sprawling Arizona worship center

By BRADY McCOMBS | Associated Press


This Oct. 25, 2017, photo shows a meetinghouse in Colorado City, Ariz. A polygamous group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, is letting go of the sprawling building where its members worshipped, in the latest sign that the sect run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs is crumbling and losing control of the community it ruled for a century. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


SALT LAKE CITY – A polygamous group based on the Utah-Arizona border is letting go of the sprawling building where its members worshipped, in the latest sign that the sect run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs is crumbling and losing control of the community it ruled for a century.

The group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, now has nowhere to gather for worship services after the nearly 53,000 square-foot (4,900 square-meter) building was taken over last week as part of government-ordered evictions that have taken away about 200 homes and buildings from members who refuse to pay property taxes and $100-a-month occupancy fees.

The meetinghouse with capacity for several thousand people is valued at $2.8 million and sits on about 7 acres (2.8 hectares) in the remote red rock community, on the Arizona side of the border.

The building has a stage, a church-like setup for services and classrooms for religious education but has not been used for at least six months, Jeff Barlow said Monday. He is the executive director of a government-appointed organization that oversees a former church trust that has properties in the sister cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.

The FLDS doesn't have a spokesperson to comment about the development.

The sect is experiencing a major leadership void with Warren Jeffs serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting underage girls he considered brides and his brother Lyle Jeffs serving nearly a five-year sentence for his role in carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme and for escaping home confinement while awaiting trial.

Members have said they have been worshipping at home on their own.

The lack of local leaders meant nobody stepped up to take responsibility for the building when Barlow's organization warned an eviction was imminent, said Christine Katas, who lives in the community and serves as an intermediary between Barlow's organization and the FLDS. Rank-and-file members don't believe they have the authority to do so, she said.

"It's very sad for the FLDS. I've seen people cry over it," Katas said. "Both sides are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Everybody wishes there was a different outcome."

The evictions have led many FLDS members to take refuge in trailers around town or move away, while former members have purchased the homes and buildings and moved back. Group members don't believe they should have to pay for what belonged to a communal church trust that the state of Utah took over more than a decade ago amid mismanagement.

The evictions are part of the shifting demographics in the sister cities of about 7,700 people. Non-sect members last year won control of the mayor's office and town council in Hildale, Utah and nearly did the same in municipal elections in Colorado City.

The town government and police are being watched closely by court-appointed monitors after a jury found past town and police leaders guilty of civil rights violations. Sprawling homes that used to belong to Warren Jeffs have been converted into beds and breakfast and sober living centers.

Members of the group still consider their leader and prophet to be Warren Jeffs, even though he has been in jail in Utah or Texas continually since 2006.

Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but the mainstream church abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it.

The Salt Lake Tribune first reported the eviction of the meetinghouse.

Barlow said the board of the organization he runs, called the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, will meet on Jan. 5 in a public meeting to discuss what to do with the building, constructed in 1986, Barlow said. One possibility is converting it to a civic center, though that would likely require seeking grant funds, he said. The UEP board will make the final decision.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/polygamou...worship-center