Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leaders Lyle Steed Jeffs and John Clifton Wayman, arrested on fraud and money laundering charges, both appeared in Utah Federal Court Wednesday morning.
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A Utah religious group that has been described by the the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white supremacist, homophobic, anti-government, totalitarian cult” could be on its last legs after being charged with food stamp fraud.
In October, an FLDS member conducted a SNAP transaction for $800 without receiving eligible food products. Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting his 12- and 15-year-old child brides at a secretive church compound in that state.Lyle Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations in the polygamous community of Hildale, while Seth Jeffs leads a branch of the group in South Dakota.This indictment is not about religion.
“The indictment alleges church leaders diverted SNAP proceeds from authorized beneficiaries to leaders of the FLDS Church for use by ineligible beneficiaries and for unapproved purposes”, according to a Department of Justice release from the Utah District US Attorney’s Office. “This indictment is about fraud”, US Attorney John Huber said in a statement.
Federal prosecutors are expected to argue Wednesday that the 11 defendants should be kept in custody and not set at liberty for fear they might “present a flight risk”, according to the government’s motion filed late Tuesday. Members were instructed to drop off and donate the items they bought with their government-issued EBT card back to the storehouse, or swipe their cards without selecting any goods at all. According to the indictment, the convenience stores made more sales than franchisees like Walmart and Costco.
In this December 16, 2014, file photo, people walk along a street in Hildale, Utah. State officials in Arizona and Utah told the Salt Lake Tribune that about 700 Short Creek households received a total in food stamp benefits of $7.2 million previous year.
In an interview with the Salt Lake Tribune, Wallace Jeffs, a half-brother of Warren Jeffs and an expelled church member, said that the sweeping indictments could eventually bring down the church.
Lyle and Seth Jeffs were the remaining “backbone” of the church, Jeffs said. 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 freakish orders from Jeffs and leaders loyal to him.
Although the FLDS has a name that suggests it is part of the Mormon church, it actually split decades ago from the mainstream church. “Combined with everything else, it’s incredible”. Despite his criminal convictions and witnesses testifying to his sexual aggression against young women, Jeffs has clung onto a devoted following.
“Churches don’t have every one of their leaders in prison”, he said. FLDS members reportedly continue to practice plural marriage.
Members of the church are under strict instructions not to watch TV, read books or listen to the radio.
“Still”, he continued, “even after Warren went to jail, people stepped up”.
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“The ones who have been duped into believing their beliefs in Warren Jeffs are valid, they’re probably going to continue to look at it as some sort of test that God is requiring them to meet”, he said.
