Replies to post #255195 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

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Lyle Jeffs, Polygamist Accused Of Fraud, Arrested After Nearly A Year On The Run

Polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs leaves the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City in January 2015.
June 15, 2017
Lyle Jeffs, a leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who has been accused of large-scale food stamp fraud and money laundering, was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday after nearly a year on the run.
Jeffs was indicted last February and gave the FBI the slip last June. The FBI believes he used olive oil to slide a GPS tracker off his ankle, as the Deseret News reported last year [ http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865657856/FBI-Lyle-Jeffs-likely-used-olive-oil-to-ditch-ankle-monitor-flee-law-enforcement.html ].
The bureau offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. Jeffs was found in South Dakota and arrested on Wednesday night, the FBI says [

#ARRESTED: FLDS leader Lyle Jeffs in custody after nearly a year on the lam. He was arrested in South Dakota around 8:30 last night. pic.twitter.com/6oDNbiXXaC

— FBI Salt Lake City (@FBISaltLakeCity) June 15, 2017

].
Jeffs is the brother of infamous polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted of child sexual assault [ http://www.npr.org/2011/08/04/139004476/polygamist-leader-convicted-of-child-sex-abuse ] in 2011 for his "marriages" to a 12-year-old and 15-year-old. Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence.
After his brother's imprisonment, Lyle Jeffs became acting leader of the FLDS sect, a radical offshoot of the Mormon church that began splintering from the mainstream church more than a century ago. The FLDS has a few thousand members and, unlike the contemporary Mormon church, believes in polygamy. Lyle Jeffs reportedly has, or had, nine wives [ http://www.sltrib.com/news/3133193-155/meet-lyle-jeffs-the-man-who ]; Warren Jeffs had dozens of wives.
In January 2016, the Salt Lake Tribune reported [ http://www.sltrib.com/news/3133193-155/meet-lyle-jeffs-the-man-who ] that "Uncle Lyle" had become the church's chief executive and religious leader:
"Lyle, in his brother's name, has enforced rigid doctrines unlike any the faith has had before, former members say, with bans on marriages, sex among spouses [you can read more on this rule here [ http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/30/us/polygamist-flds-warren-jeffs-update/index.html ]] and a grocery list of foods, such as beans, milk, sugar and chocolate. No one is allowed to read or watch secular media or view the evidence law enforcement collected against Warren in Texas. Lyle also has evicted perhaps hundreds of men, women and children. Others have left on their own. ...
"Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor ordered Lyle, some FLDS businessmen and the church itself to pay fines totaling almost $2 million for using children and unpaid labor during a 2012 pecan harvest. The fines remain under appeal and have not been paid."
The church has also been accused of discriminating against non-members.
But it was the alleged food stamp fraud that brought criminal charges [ http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/24/467958518/polygamous-church-leaders-indicted-over-allegations-of-food-stamp-fraud ] — not just for Lyle Jeffs, but for nearly a dozen church leaders and members.
[...]
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/06/15/533051035/lyle-jeffs-polygamist-accused-of-fraud-arrested-after-nearly-a-year-on-the-run