FLDS leader admits food stamp fraud
Federal prosecutors say they will ask a judge to send polygamous cult leader Lyle Jeffs to prison for five years and make him repay the U.S. government $1 million for fraudulently obtained food stamp funds.
The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City to separate counts of federal food stamp fraud and failing to appear in court. He was a federal fugitive for more than a year after using olive oil to slip out of an ankle-monitoring bracelet.
After his guilty pleas, John Huber, the U.S. Attorney for Utah, told reporters that prosecutors will recommend that Jeffs personally repay $1 million and serve five-years in prison when he鈥檚 sentenced in December.
A federal indictment alleged Jeffs and 10 other FLDS members of his racist polygamous religious sect illegally used federal food stamp cards to convert food stamp purchases to cash that went into the church鈥檚 coffers. The group鈥檚 main community, Short Creek, is comprised of the adjoining communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.
鈥淭his case made a significant impact on the United States government, and also upon that community in the Short Creek area,鈥� the U.S. attorney said, according to the .
Under a plea deal, a third count alleging money laundering will be dismissed by the government, but Jeffs will be personally responsible for the $1 million in restitution.
鈥淭his is a personal obligation for Lyle Jeffs, $1 million on the hook,鈥� Huber told the Salt Lake City newspaper. 鈥淣ow, whether we can get $1 million out of him is another story,鈥� he said.
鈥淲e're not out to punish people of faith, people with sincere religiously held beliefs," the federal prosecutor said. 鈥淲e're out to punish fraudsters."
Jeffs reportedly was penniless when he was arrested June 14 in Yankston, South Dakota, where he attempted to pawn two Leatherman tools for $35, triggering suspicion.
His brother, Warren Jeffs, is in deteriorating health, serving a life-term in Texas for child rape, but still reportedly plays a leadership role in the FLDS sect.
Since 2005, the FLDS sect and its child bride, arranged marriages, has been listed as a hate group by 澳彩开奖 because of its anti-black, homophobic and antigovernment views.
The FLDS is a breakaway from today鈥檚 modern Mormons, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Saints, which abandoned polygamy or 鈥減lural marriage鈥澛� years ago and has 鈥渘othing whatsoever to do with this polygamous sect.鈥�
