GUILTY UT - Top FLDS leaders arrested in Utah food-stamp fraud, Feb 2016

[Steft50]

Anyone surprised? I'm not.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...s-arrested-in-utah-food-stamp-fraud/80814442/

 

[Deleted member 117884]

Anyone surprised? I'm not.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news...s-arrested-in-utah-food-stamp-fraud/80814442/

Not surprised.

 

[MamaJoJo]

Not surprised either.

Though I have to say, I had the fortune of breaking down in Colorado City, AZ in the early 90s on my way back from a weekend date at the Grand Canyon. My boyfriend and I pushed our car up to one of the houses right off of Hwy 389 and while the men tended to the car I struck up a conversation with a little girl swinging on the porch. She told me she had 38 brothers and sisters. I thought she was telling tall tales until I realized where I was!

We were treated very well by a son (one of 46) of one of the elders who owned an auto shop in the center of town. It was a Sunday so everything was shut down and it was at the height of religious services but he helped us all day long (and fed us, too). I will never forget the hospitality we were shown and, that evening, he even gave us a tow to St. George. All on his "day of rest", bless his heart.

We received many stares (like we had green skin) and drew a few crowds, too. I felt like I had been dropped onto another planet, too, with the way everyone dressed and their social customs.

Every time the Jeffs come into the news I think of my experience and try to believe that I wasn't dreaming.

 

[Frigga]

You weren't dreaming, many of them are good, good people. Some of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure to know.

 

[Margo/Mom]

http://www.dispatch.com/content/sto...ists-charged-in-massive-food-stamp-fraud.html

Regardless how many wives one has--rippiing off the federal government is gonna get you in some trouble.

 

[seattlechiquita]

Oh maaaaan.... I had missed these freaks so much. Hours of entertainment await!!!

 

[Tillicum]

From the above link:

They said they ultimately learned that residents were scanning their food stamp debit cards at the stores but getting no items in return, allowing leaders of the polygamous sect to funnel the money to front companies. The proceeds paid for a John Deere loader, a Ford truck and $17,000 in paper products, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

 

[faw720]

Oh maaaaan.... I had missed these freaks so much. Hours of entertainment await!!!

Yep, IMO these guys are the worst of the worst. They use religion to dupe really good people. I'm sure everyone will remember a few years back when the FLDS ranch in Eldorado Texas was raided. A relative of mine was friends with some mainstream LDS members in Texas & one of the mainstream members happened to let something unintentionally slip one day. Even though the mainstream members do not practice polygamy they were raising money to assist their fundamentalist brothers in their time of need. Some of the mainstream members apparently support polygamy by saying they believe in it, but they also believe "that the time for it just hasn't come yet". We live in a strange world.

 

[seattlechiquita]

Yep, IMO these guys are the worst of the worst. They use religion to dupe really good people. I'm sure everyone will remember a few years back when the FLDS ranch in Eldorado Texas was raided. A relative of mine was friends with some mainstream LDS members in Texas & one of the mainstream members happened to let something unintentionally slip one day. Even though the mainstream members do not practice polygamy they were raising money to assist their fundamentalist brothers in their time of need. Some of the mainstream members apparently support polygamy by saying they believe in it, but they also believe "that the time for it just hasn't come yet". We live in a strange world.

Yep, these men are the scum of the earth. They embezzle the government they say they hate and not obey, they treat women and children as objects, and have no shame about it.

 

[meanmaryjean]

Quick question: Why don't the Westboro Baptists protest these losers?

 

[faw720]

Good question.

 

[U2forever]

:facepalm: Why am I not surprised? :sick:

 

[LinasK]

Sweet!

 

[LietKynes]

Soooo... it's fine for them to live according to their 'beliefs' ; but they expect everyone else who works to pay for their lifestyles ? I think not.
Live how you want-- but don't fleece the gov't. you despise; and don't mistreat people in your compound(s); and allow women who want to leave, to do so without having to flee in secret --- oh, too late for that. (cue major sarcasm)

Crazy to such extremes it's hard to even fathom.
My own opinion , but there are others who agree--from what I've read about this Jeff's sect.

 

[K_Z]

Very good, in depth article about the current fraud/ money laundering situation:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3576091-155/polygamous-flds-leaders-plead-not-guilty

A motion filed by prosecutors seeking to detain Lyle Jeffs, Wayman, Seth Jeffs — brother to Lyle and Warren Jeffs — and Nephi Allred cites an "elaborate" system for moving and hiding members of the group to avoid detection by law enforcement, which includes apartments and houses in the U.S., western Canada, Mexico and South America. The system was originally developed to protect Warren Jeffs from prosecution, according to the motion.

The motion also requests "strict conditions" for the other indicted members' release.

"If they got bail, they'll definitely run," said LeRoy Jeffs, who left the FLDS community two years ago. "That's a given. They'll run just like my dad ran. Everything's a big secret."

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

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 Electronic Benefit Transfer, or 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.

"Because the funds for food are diverted to other purposes, hundreds of people — especially those disfavored by the elites — lack sufficient food," according to a U.S. attorney's office motion to detain four of the principal indicted members, pending trial.

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.

I think these charges are going to stick. The feds appear to have done their homework.

 

[Fairy1]

Very good, in depth article about the current fraud/ money laundering situation:

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3576091-155/polygamous-flds-leaders-plead-not-guilty






I think these charges are going to stick. The feds appear to have done their homework.

I sure hope so and I hope there will be more charges. Food stamp fraud is not the only crime they commit.

 

[K_Z]

http://www.sltrib.com/news/3133193-155/meet-lyle-jeffs-the-man-who

Article from January 2016-- "Meet Lyle Jeffs". This is one scary, nasty man. I hope he's convicted and sent to prison for at least 25 years.

 

[K_Z]

Eleven people now face food stamp fraud and money laundering charges. Food stamp debit cards were scanned, but shoppers got nothing in return, prosecutors say. Group leaders then funneled money to front companies.

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

Devout followers will only know what leaders tell them about the arrests because of a standing rule not to watch TV, browse the internet or read newspapers, said Thomas Jeffs, a former member of the sect and son of the highest-ranking leader arrested: Lyle Jeffs, Warren Jeffs' brother.

"They're most likely being told that the government drummed up some evidence to try and put them away and it's the fault of us apostates," said Thomas Jeffs, 28.

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...sect-leaders-facing-on-food-stamp-6850820.php

BBM.

$12 Million dollars. That's a pretty significant chunk of $$. I think that at least half of the 11 people will see serious prison time. I don't think they will wiggle out of this one. Glad to see authorities continue to chip away at this dangerous, oppressive, criminal cult. I hope more and more of the enlightened members decide to leave. And cooperate with authorities. I'm just so sad for the kids born into, and trapped in, this hellish existence.

After the Texas raid, that also sent Warren Jeffs' trusted deputies to prison, Lyle Jeffs eventually stepped into the power vacuum.

In the years that followed, Lyle Jeffs relayed a series of bizarre edicts from his imprisoned brother that forbade children's toys, Internet access, new marriages and sexual relations between spouses without Warren Jeffs' permission.

As the rules became more restrictive, the number of people who have left or are being kicked has swelled.

That's given authorities a much larger pool of potential witnesses, opening up access to closely guarded secrets they're now sharing with police. That's bolstered a series of new actions from police and prosecutors, including an ongoing civil rights trial in Phoenix and child labor proceedings in Utah.

WaPo thinks the food stamp charges could topple the cult. Hmmm. That might be wishful thinking.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ss-flds-church-utahs-largest-polygamous-sect/

Last September, the Labor Department sued FLDS for oppressive child-labor conditions, alleging that church leaders put at least 175 children younger than 13 to work to harvest pecans without compensation.

In January, a civil rights trial began against the twin polygamous towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah — collectively known as “Short Creek” — where FLDS is based. Prosecutors claim that the communities discriminate against residents who aren’t members of the church, depriving them of housing and essential services such as water and police protection. The church denies these allegations.

“If they’re finally going to prosecute Lyle and the leaders of the church, it will eventually bring the church down,” Wallace Jeffs, a half-brother of Warren Jeffs who was expelled from FLDS, told the Salt Lake Tribune. “This pretty much cuts the head off the snake.”

 

[K_Z]

Here is the now-unsealed 16 page federal indictment against Lyle Jeffs and his 10 fellow FLDS named defendants:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/300202409/Indictment-against-Lyle-Jeffs-other-FLDS-leaders

So I have to laugh a bit about this. The FLDS leaders set up 3 shell corporations to receive the SNAP EBT reimbursement funds from the 2 convenience stores. Essentially, these shell corporations "pretended" to supply food to the 2 convenience stores, and the 2 convenience stores pretended to sell the pretend food they bought.

The convenience stores were loftily named "Meadowayne Dairy Store" and "Vermillion Produce". Those actually sound superficially like grocers. These 2 tiny convenience stores posted earnings in excess of what a huge Walmart or Costco would make.

So, the creativity of the FLDS money launderers seemed to run out when they put their heads together to think up names for their shell corporations, lol! They invented 3 of these pretend organizations to "sell" food to their convenience stores. They named them:

"Quality Wholesale Distributors" -- that's not a bad name, though uninspired

"Prime Wholesale Supply" -- Both quality and prime-- the best of the best, right?

And:

"Products Unlimited"--LOL!! Really, that's the best name they could come up with, to launder $12 million dollars?? It's like a bad movie script or something.

But oh yes, I think there will be some very serious prison time handed down. Hope it doesn't take years to prosecute. And I hope the defendants are not granted any bail, as they are clearly flight risks.

 

[K_Z]

Ok, so THIS phrase caught my attention:

After the Texas raid, that also sent Warren Jeffs' trusted deputies to prison, Lyle Jeffs eventually stepped into the power vacuum.

In the years that followed, Lyle Jeffs relayed a series of bizarre edicts from his imprisoned brother that forbade children's toys, Internet access, new marriages and sexual relations between spouses without Warren Jeffs' permission.

As the rules became more restrictive, the number of people who have left or are being kicked has swelled.

BBM

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...sect-leaders-facing-on-food-stamp-6850820.php

And I kinda thought, "sexual relations between spouses without Warren Jeffs' permission" is prohibited?? AND new marriages? What's up with that?

This kind of group usually wants a woman to voluntarily and intentionally produce as many children as there are non-pregnant menstrual cycles, from as early age as possible-- why would new marriages, and sexual relations between spouses be constrained in this cult, which only grows by adding newborns?

Is the communal money too short for large families? Preparing to uproot and colonize a new location? Preparation for "let's all drink cyanide Kool-Aid and head for heaven because we are so persecuted" apocalypse?

But no! Here is the answer-- testified to in court Sept 2015, by the ex-wife of Lyle Jeffs, Charlene Jeffs, who managed to escape the cult, and get custody of her teenage kids. Sickening. Really. There is no end to the sadism of this cult, IMO.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...er-wife-current-church-leader-Lyle-Jeffs.html

Instantly reminded me of Offred in "The Handmaid's Tale" dystopian novel. Yikes!! Control of women thru sexual subservience to any assigned man, forced reproduction, and shuffling of kids to prevent strong ties between a woman and her bio kids. Omg-- every new detail that comes out about this cult is more and more horrific, IMO.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Handmaid's_Tale

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...orced-men-watch-wives-raped-article-1.2381086

http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/