Warren Jeffs church elders arrested in food stamp fraud

https://www.justice.gov/usao-ut/pr/...hurch-leaders-conspiracy-divert-snap-benefits

The indictment alleges that starting in about 2011, FLDS leaders, including Lyle Jeffs, instituted the “United Order” within the ranks of the Church. Participation in the United Order purports to constitute the highest level of worthiness and spiritual preparedness in the church. Devout FLDS members aspire to eligibility in the United Order. Adherents to the United Order must donate all of their material assets to the FLDS Storehouse, a communal clearinghouse charged with collecting and disbursing commodities to the community. United Order policy also dictates that members must obtain their food and household commodities solely through the FLDS Storehouse, according to the indictment.

Religious extremist leaders always talk a good game about the spiritual world and the afterlife, but somehow they also care very deeply about followers giving them money, and a lot of it.

Why is money so closely connected to higher levels of spirituality?

Where are these mofo's when there's a cult of toxic corruption like Hubbard's CoS that has been stringing people along for years in its fuckery? Hellllllooooooo! Seriously folks, there has been literally years of people shouting out about cult of scientology, crimes? Oh yeh in spades, over and over again, yet, and I suspect having a legal team at work for them, it seems to fly under their radar on a regular basis.
How about a wee peek at Flag, for example, where the wonderful (lolol) regs there ,for years, encouraged people to apply for student grants, welfare, equity loans, maxing out credit, all the fun stuff... And for what? Where did all that money go? Well, I suspect, and could be wrong, but there's no doubt in my mind it all now sits in the off-shore accounts of RTC/Miscavige etc., their billion dollar 'slush-fund', from which no assets shall ever be released.
This food stamp fraud is really small taters imho, and the powaz wot be just sort of seem to shy away from the really big organized fraudsters.


gah.

My notes from Feb. 29 here in Rapid City, SD;


Notes from Seth Jeffs hearing in Rapid City, SD 2/29/16, 9am
About 12 people in the audience. None dressed particularly like FLDS people. Several taking notes, so I assume some reporters there. No cameras. No witnesses were called. Seth came in with jail clothes on and handcuffed. He seemed quite relaxed and never looked around the courtroom.

Prosecution had 2 lawyers. One spent about 10 minutes basically going over their 180 pages of exhibits they had given. $12 million had been laundered by the FLDS, with Seth being one of the leaders of the group.

He listed the states where FLDS has properties, and there were so many I didn't get them all; Oregon, Texas, Nevada, Colorado, and Canada I wrote down.
The group had used hundreds of pre-paid phones to hide the locations and communications of their leaders.

Warren Jeffs quote; "No person, no country... has the right to bring into question what his prophets do."

Seth had $700 in cash, several credit cards, and his passport on him when he was arrested this time. He has a pilot's license. When he was arrested for harboring his fugitive brother Warren, he had $142,000 and Warren's FBI wanted poster in the car.
The 2 main arguments for not letting Seth out were that 1) he previously harbored a known fugitive (Warren) and 2) he destroyed a computer at Warren's bequest to hide evidence. Warren got 3 years' probation for the harboring charge, but only had to serve 1.

Jeffrey Connelly [sp?] was Seth's lawyer for the previous water hearings, so they have some relationship going back. He spent about 20 minutes trying to weaken the idea that Seth would flee. 1) a lot of the 180 pages the state put up were about Warren and Lyle, not Seth, 2) Seth had already been in custody once (for harboring Warren) and never tried to flee or anything, 3) the state granted Seth early release from his probation, thus showing that he was not a flight risk, and 4) none of the special conditions listed in the rules for such a case applied to Seth. On #4, the judge noted that children were deprived of their food stamp money and thus were aggrieved by Seth's actions. Connelly conceded that was potentially the case, which meant that there was a condition in the rules that applied.

The prosecution took about 8 minutes to rebut Connelly, basically saying that this case is much more intrusive on Seth, because he's facing up to 25 years and a $20 million fine. So he has much more to fear than just probation like last time.

The judge, after having looked over a few new exhibits by the defense, ruled that Seth was not likely a danger to people if he was released, but that he was a flight risk. She again noted Seth's helping Warren hide, and destroying evidence on Warren's behalf. Seth stays in jail.

http://knau.org/post/community-members-celebrate-guilty-verdict-flds-discrimination-lawsuit#stream/0

"They may be small potatos, but they are evil small potatos."

I agree Dis!

That bunch of twisted fuckers look like fine upstanding citizens, like, upstanding as in a line-up of frikken gangsters eh... yuck.

I'm sorry I don't mean to pry I was reading this and I'm curious because I've seen shows and things about the FLDS and how horrible they are. While I have no clue how hacking and anon things work I gotta admit the whole FLDS thing is disgusting and horrendous. Isn't there some way to stop it?

Sorry but so what do you guys do here and why hasn't anyone taken down the FLDS?

Makes sense, Rape Culture is horrendous and sexist, though I've never been a big protester in such there are alot of things I'm against and one major thing being how stupid humanity in general has become U__U I hate being defined as millenial because I do not fit that criteria but I hope and wish you guys luck in trying to end these horrible things.

This sounds stupid but that's why I'm an unregistered Republican, yeah the views are there but why further engrain yourself into the system especially when voting doesn't count? But I swear the world is turning into the movie Idiocracy. I'm sorry for going off topic x.x

Unfortunately, FLDS has splinter factions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bountiful,_British_Columbia

Warren Jeffs and Bountiful trafficked in young girls. More like it was Jeffs poaching on Bountiful

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...-us-polygamist-court-documents/article590162/

Was Jeffs getting some Scientology in Jail?

Here's one of the previous threads about the FLDS:

https://whyweprotest.net/threads/warren-jeffs-can-anons-get-involved.108411/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/warren-jeffs-predicts-apocalypse-ahead-124017859.html
Jeffs declares apocalypse , when apocalypse is a no show then the church members are at fault. Jesus didn't come because of their impurities and they must purify.

hope he is getting some"prison love" in the shower

DOUBLE DERP!
Wonder how much they paid that judge off?
What a maroon.

How the Polygamy Cult Will Hide Fugitive Leader Lyle Jeffs | The Daily Beast

Fugitive cult leader Lyle Jeffs may be hard to find: The FLDS cult and its network of safe houses has years of experience in hiding fugitives.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articl...lt-leader-lyle-jeffs-could-evade-the-fbi.html

Polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs using secret, nationwide 'house of hiding network' set up by brother Warren Jeffs to continue evading arrest, say former followers

• Lyle Jeffs fled a multi-million dollar fraud trial on June 9
• Ex-members of his fundamentalist Mormon sect say he'll be hiding now
• Most likely he'll be in one of the many houses of hiding in the US
• The houses are owned by those sympathetic to Jeffs' sect
• Some have cameras so police can't sneak up on them
• And men and women from the cult are taken to the houses to do chores
• Lyle Jeffs' brother, Warren Jeffs, is head of the sect

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...inue-evading-arrest-say-former-followers.html

I've never understood the bail-idea of the US system. It's basically an invitation for anyone with money to run away.

Oh SNAP!

Life After Polygamy: The Daughters & Wives of A Polygamist Cult Reclaim their Hometown



VICE

The FLDS broke away from mainstream Mormonism in order to continue the practice of polygamy. They established the community of Short Creek along the Utah/Arizona border to follow their beliefs in isolation. In 2011, their prophet Warren Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison (plus 20 years) for sexual abuse of two of his child brides, ages 12 and 15.

VICE travels to Short Creek to meet with some of the young women who escaped from the cult, who have recently to returned to the town to try to rebuild a new life there.

Happy for them

fucking cults
If I had the means and the power, I wish I can free all the victims of all cults being held against their will and ease the pain of all those suffering.
It saddens me that the US government does very little to protect people in cults because of "religious beliefs".
There is nothing religious about a cult. PERIOD
If any of their followers are suffering and the leaders are not living within the law, they need to be stopped.
They all should be abolished.
And the US government should be ashamed of themselves for letting this suffering continue.
They have the power to stop it, but they don't. A slippery slope I know, but a lot more can be done. It just isn't being done.

Can't the FBI (my mortal enemy as am a 4channer) get this shit right ?

Feds Sue Polygamous Towns and FLDS for Illegal Arrests and Discrimination Against Local Businessmen

Illegal arrests by a cult-run police force have spurred a new federal lawsuit against two polygamous towns on the Arizona-Utah border.

By Ray Stern, Phoenix New Times

Quote:

Three businessmen who are former members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints allege that officials in the rural towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, violated their constitutional rights. They claim the officers with the Colorado City/Hildale marshal's office arrested two of them for trespassing on land they were leasing, that the marshal's office failed to investigate reports of vandalism on the leased land, and that Colorado City officials refused to provide water and garbage services to the property.

The violations are the result of a conspiracy between the FLDS church and the towns' officials "to punish, discriminate against and attempt to drive out of Colorado City and Hildale persons who were not believers in the FLDS faith," the complaint states. (The FLDS is not to be confused with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a.k.a. the Mormon Church.)

The two towns, located in a remote area known as Short Creek, are the FLDS's home base, where teen girls have been forced into polygamous marriages — raped, under state law — for decades without much interference from authorities. The cult's grip has loosened somewhat since the mid-2000s, following hard-hitting stories by former New Times writer John Dougherty.

The United Effort Plan (UEP) trust, which holds the deed to most of the land in the towns, was wrested from the FLDS in 2005 and put under the control of court-appointed lawyers. FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was arrested in 2007 for the sexual assault of children and is serving a life sentence in Texas. But despite increased attention from authorities, American-style government has been slow in coming to the towns because FLDS members control the police and most official town positions.

Recently, though, the cult's control over the area has weathered serious blows: In 2014, the towns lost a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by non-FLDS members who were refused town services. In February of this year, 11 FLDS leaders were arrested and charged with food-stamp fraud. A month later, a federal jury verdict found that the cult had discriminated against non-FLDS members, resulting in a settlement of more than $1.4 million.

Continued here:
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news...ed-illegal-arrests-and-discrimination-8735308

Leader of polygamist group moves to Minnesota

A recent land purchase raises concerns the group may establish a “religious colony” near Minnesota’s North Shore.

By KARE 11 News, January 17, 2019

Quote:

A leader of a notorious religious group that preaches polygamy and marriages involving children has relocated to Minnesota and is buying land.

Records obtained by KARE 11 show that a company in which Seth S. Jeffs is a “Managing Member” recently purchased 40 acres in a remote area near the Superior National Forest west of Grand Marais.

“If past behavior is indicative of future behavior, they would bring people to start a religious colony,” said Alan Mortensen, a Utah attorney who thinks Jeffs may have moved to Minnesota to avoid a lawsuit alleging that he allowed and witnessed the ritualistic rape of a young girl.

Mortensen has filed a civil lawsuit in Utah accusing Seth Jeffs and other leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) of participating in “religious sexual rituals with underage girls” involving Seth’s brother Warren Jeffs, the group’s so-called Prophet.

Source and video: https://www.kare11.com/article/news...esota/89-e85b9d1e-65e1-4959-8cf4-1f9859f894ea

Seth Jeffs, brother of notorious polygamist cult leader purchases land for North Shore compound

By Hannah Jones, City Pages, January 21, 2019

Quote:

Since December 2017, Alan Mortensen, an attorney from Utah, has been looking for a man named Seth Jeffs.

If that last name rings a bell, it’s because Seth is the brother of Warren Jeffs – the self-proclaimed “Prophet” of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, which is a Mormon offshoot known for, among other things, rampantly marrying underage girls to grown men. These days, Warren is in prison, eight years into a life sentence for sexually assaulting two girls, ages 12 and 14. He called them his “spiritual wives.”

But that was just a sample of the way Warren ran his church. Over the years, he married something like 80 women and children. And his brother, Seth, was allegedly a witness to and a broker of “religious sexual rites” with young girls, according to a civil lawsuit Mortensen filed against him two winters ago.

This lawsuit in particular – the reason Mortensen has been searching for Seth for 13 months – concerns a woman referred to only as R.H. in court documents. A quick warning: The incident details are upsetting.

When R.H. was just 8 years old, she says, some of Warren’s cronies showed up in her house, placed a bag over her head, and led her away, driving her to an unknown location. As soon as she got there, the bag was taken off her head, and her clothes were removed. She was then forced to perform “vaginal, oral, and other types of sexual acts” with Warren, according to the complaint – all while Seth and some of the other church higher-ups sat back and watched.

Warren allegedly told her if it hurt, it was because “God was unhappy with her.” If she cried, “God would punish her.”

R.H. says this happened to her again and again, five to six times a week, until she was 12. When she turned 14, she says she was forced to watch these “rituals” being performed on other young girls -- and record what happened in detail – as a “scribe.” There was little she could do, the complaint says. She was just a kid, and she and her family were dependent on the church for support and shelter.

Warren has already been served his court papers; he was easy enough to find in his prison cell. But Mortensen could never seem to get his hands on Seth long enough to serve him. That is, until earlier this month, when he got a tip that Seth was in Minnesota – living in a vacation home in Cook County he had been hired to renovate.

Seth wasn’t just living in Minnesota. By the looks of it, he was buying land there, too. A sale finalized in August by a company called Emerald Industries, LLC – of which Seth is a “managing member” – made him the owner of 40 acres of remote land between Lutsen and Grand Marais.

Continued at http://www.citypages.com/news/broth...hases-land-for-north-shore-compound/504558581

Lawmakers Take Aim at South Dakota Compound of FLDS, Sect Made Infamous by Warren Jeffs

No births or deaths have been reported there in 14 years. A new bill would make that a crime.

By Tarpley Hitt, Daily Beast, February 1, 2019

Quote:

Fourteen years after an offshoot of the polygamist sect made infamous by Warren Jeffs established a remote, “military-style” compound in the Black Hills of South Dakota, state lawmakers have advanced a measure designed to shed some light on what goes on behind its walls.

House Bill 1110, which was moved out of committee to the floor in a 12-1 vote, establishes a penalty for citizens who fail to report new births or deaths. The law would apply statewide, but it was written specifically with the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints compound in mind. The residents of the 140-acre complex have not issued a single birth or death certificate since they first moved to the state, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.

“We’ve talked about doing something about this faction for years. This is the first time we’re doing anything,” Rep. Tom Goodwin (R), a co-sponsor of the bill, told his colleagues in a hearing Wednesday night.“I don’t think ever since this capitol has been here, there has ever been a bill like this.”

Reporting births and deaths has always been mandatory in South Dakota. But there has never been a penalty for failing to file birth or death certificates. If the new bill passes, citizens who do not file a birth certificate within one year or report a death within 48 hours will be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.

The hidden compound, known by its residents as “R23,” was founded in 2005 by a brother of Jeffs, the former polygamist leader currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years in prison on two counts of criminal assault of a child. Jeffs had ruled the FLDS faithful, an offshoot of the Mormon Church, from the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, until attracting the attention of federal authorities in the mid-2000s. As Jeffs fell from power, many of his followers scattered and set up camp elsewhere.

One group, thought by former FLDS members to consist of the cult’s “elite,” bought the land in South Dakota and erected a massive fortress, guarded by a lookout structure, much like an air traffic or prison guard tower. The complex is not easy to get to. Enclosed by a barbed wire fence and pine trees, it sits at the end of a long, dead-end road, 20 miles southwest of the nearest town, Pringle, South Dakota (population: 112). “I’ve never been there,” Rep. Peri Pourier (D), who voted in favor of HB 1110, told The Daily Beast. “You can’t drive by. They would know you were there. Pictures are sufficient for me.”

The residents also rarely interact with the outside community, making it hard to know what, exactly, is going on inside. But local authorities do know that residents have been having babies. One of the FLDS’ core tenets is the practice of polygamy, believing that maintaining large “plural” families will secure them higher status in heaven. By Goodwin’s estimate, there were as many as 300 people living there a few years ago. One former resident named Sarah Allred told the Associated Press in 2017 that at least two dozen births had taken place at the compound, including her two daughters in 2008 and 2010. Allred said FLDS officials denied her daughters access to basic government documents like birth certificates and Social Security cards.

The failure to report births and deaths poses several problems for the local community. For one, the lack of records also makes it harder to monitor sex trafficking, a crime associated with the FLDS church, which has a well-documented history of forcing young girls to marry much older men. It also makes it very difficult for members who flee. When people leave the church, they rarely have money, credit, or outside contacts. If births aren’t reported, they also have no government records. From an official standpoint, “they just don’t exist,” Goodwin said at the hearing.

<snipped>

If the bill does pass later this year, it’s unclear how much it will accomplish. Given the extreme remoteness of the compound, residents could easily flout the law without much notice. They’ve done it in the past. For years, the prominent FLDS members defrauded public programs like SNAP for millions of dollars. In 2016, the compound’s former leader Seth Jeffs took a plea deal with 10 other members of the church for food stamp fraud. (He has since purchased a large tract of land in Minnesota).

More at https://www.thedailybeast.com/lawma...nd-of-flds-sect-made-infamous-by-warren-jeffs

Neighbors of polygamist cult issue warning to Minnesota

A recent land purchase by FLDS church leader sparks fear that religious compound could be planned for northern Minnesota.

By KARE 11 News, February 6, 2019

Article and video: https://www.kare11.com/article/news...esota/89-d5383c46-4e95-41e9-be42-6e6aa03e6631