Jury: Polygamous towns discriminated against nonbelievers

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Mar 7, 4:43 PM EST

Jury: Polygamous towns discriminated against nonbelievers

By JACQUES BILLEAUD
Associated Press

PHOENIX (AP) -- Two polygamous towns in Arizona and Utah violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them basic services such as police protection, building permits and water hookups, a jury said Monday.

The civil rights trial marks one of boldest efforts by the government to confront what critics have long said was a corrupt regime in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. The towns were accused of doing the bidding of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

The judge will now decide which punishments to impose on the towns. Federal authorities have not specified the changes they will seek, but they could ask for the Colorado City Marshal's Office to be disbanded and for its duties to be handed over to local sheriff's offices.

. . .

Near the end of the trial, a federal grand jury in Utah indicted several church leaders on criminal charges of conducting a food-stamp fraud scheme. The U.S. Labor Department has a separate action against a ranch with ties to the church over a pecan harvest in which children and teenagers were pulled out of class and forced to work long hours with few breaks.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_POLYGAMOUS_TOWNS_TRIAL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

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[center]



Colorado City, Arizona





Hildale, Utah [/center]

[Dont call me Shirley]

1. Good deal these criminals got busted. Throw the book at them.

[silvershadow]

2. Good. Stop these scammers. nt

[LisaM]

3. It's about time

I wish someone would have brought this up with either McCain or Romney when they were running, as they are from both of these states! If I'd had the opportunity to question McCain, it would have been about Colorado City.

[Chakab]

4. I'm sorry, but the word has been out on those towns for decades. It's no secret what goes on there

Last edited Mon Mar 7, 2016, 07:17 PM - Edit history (1)

or that the local government was controlled by the polygamists.

Why would you live there if you weren't part of the sect?

[displacedtexan]

5. There was a reality show about a woman who rescued women who wanted to leave there.

She said it was almost impossible to help anyone in those two towns/states because the church controlled law enforcement, which meant that any LEO info on any of the church leaders and members was always readily available to the church elders. When they have access to LEO databases and all bulletins, they have time to hide evidence of wrongdoing.

Hopefully, this will change all of that in those towns.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Might get Tombstoned for this.

Romney's family are former Members of the FLDS and there is a large Romney Polygamous family presence in Mexico near the U.S. border. Mitts Cousins and nephews and nieces. Having dealt with the FLDS in Hilldale and Colorado City,and yes this statement comes to mind,"We don't want you here","you ain't one of us",and seen the young boys brought to St George Utah and dumped at a Shopping Center,maybe with a few dollars in their pockets. To think they are told not to contact their Mothers or any family living in the Twin Towns.

Maybe things will change for the better,these people has persecution complex and History tells me,they will hunker down and the same old same old will happen with in months.

[yardwork]

9. It's heartbreaking. More people need to go to jail.

[Wellstone ruled]

10. The lead agency leading

the investigation is suspect to say the least. Washington County Utah Sheriff's family is related to most of the same people he was investigating. Still a closed Community and they will adapt in some way,and the Child abuse will continue. As well as the under age marriages. All they will do is run things through South Dakota or Nevada were everyone looks the other way.

[Eugene]

7. Polygamous Leader to Remain Jailed in Food Stamp Fraud Case

Source: Associated Press

Polygamous Leader to Remain Jailed in Food Stamp Fraud Case

By BRADY MCCOMBS, ASSOCIATED PRESS
SALT LAKE CITY — Mar 7, 2016, 5:09 PM ET

A polygamist sect leader accused of orchestrating a yearslong, multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud will remain behind bars as he awaits trial, a judge ruled Monday, rejecting testimony from family and friends who said he would not flee because he cares about the people he leads.

Lyle Jeffs is accused of defrauding the federal government out of taxpayer funds and depriving needy people of food, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead said. Those allegations cast doubt on the testimony from Jeffs' sister, Mary Musser, who called him a nurturing, involved father who is admired as a spiritual leader in the twin polygamous towns on the Utah-Arizona border, the judge said.

Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations of the group, whose leaders have been indicted on allegations of diverting at least $12 million worth of federal benefits. They instructed followers to buy items and give them to a church warehouse or use food stamps in sect-owned stores without getting anything in return, prosecutors say.

Before the ruling, Musser and Edwin Barlow, a member of the town council in Hildale, Utah, chuckled and scoffed at prosecutors' suggestions that Jeffs would use aliases, disguises, secret rooms, bunkers and weapons to elude authorities.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/witnesses-polygamist-leader-flee-fraud-case-37466391

[Judi Lynn]

8. Hope this super grifter will be convicted. This is one nasty group of slimy, vicious parasites.

Only they would conspire to use U.S. taxpayers' hard-earned money, then mock the process, calling it "bleeding the beast."

We know beasts by their behavior.

[L. Coyote]

11. Feds deal double blow to FLDS, the sect led by the Jeffs brothers

Feds deal double blow to FLDS, the sect led by the Jeffs brothers

.... In Phoenix, a federal jury found that church leaders controlled the municipal governments of two cities that discriminated against nonbelievers.

And in Salt Lake City, a federal magistrate ordered Jeffs' brother, Lyle, the so-called bishop of the two towns, to remain behind bars as he awaits trial in an alleged food stamp swindle and money laundering scheme. ...........

three Jeffs brothers -- Warren, Lyle and Seth -- are now behind bars, creating what would appear to be a leadership vacuum in the FLDS.

Warren Jeffs continues to hold sway over the sect from prison, according to testimony at the civil trial in Phoenix. Lyle Jeffs carries out his directives as the bishop of Short Creek, which includes Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, the two cities targeted in the verdict in Phoenix. And Seth Jeffs is bishop of a compound near Pringle, South Dakota, known as R-23.

It remained unclear what will happen next in Hildale and Colorado City. The municipal governments could be decertified or fall under receivership, and the shared police force could be disbanded. In that case, outside police agencies could take over control from the Colorado City Marshal's Office. .......

[Judi Lynn]

12. Tremendous article. So they've palmed $12 million in food stamps!

Hope the coming trial will get this cleared up.

"Bleeding the beast." That's such a repulsive term they created for cheating the US taxpayers.

The article says that Seth Jeffs has controlled Pringle, South Dakota, also known as "R-23."

[center]





Looks as if they will see everyone coming! [/center]

[snooper2]

13. I always wanted to drive through one of those creepy ass towns blasting Eazy-E with 4 12" subs

LOL

[Adrahil]

14. Waiting to hear from the right....

on this egregious violation of religious liberty.

[dembotoz]

15. theocracy in action

when non participation in the expected organizations produce exclusion from economic and social activities or benefits

for example purpose only.....

date only within the sect
shop at only church member stores
patronize only church member professions
kids play on only church sponsored teams or scouts
attend only church sponsored school

you do not need jack boots to have a totalitarian society
seen em in action

[ChairmanAgnostic]

16. what beautiful land, what cute kids, being wasted

on those miscreants.

No, they are far more vile than that.

[apnu]

17. Good, I'm glad their discriminatory practices were busted.

Not going to comment on the polygamy, the central issue here is a tyrannical majority punishing a minority, which is the most un-American thing I can think of. I'm glad justice was serviced and I hope to there is more justice to be dealt.