Lyle Jeffs has been in charge of the FLDS polygamist sect of the Mormon church since his brother and prophet, Warren Jeffs, was incarcerated for sex crimes with underage girls.
If ever a religion deserved a little persecuting, it would be now.
FLDS Rap Sheet:
- Steal at least $12 million in SNAP benefits to fund your cult
- Worship a man who had sex with a 12-year old girl (on tape!) and impregnated a 15 year-old
- Close schools and force kids as young as 6 to harvest pecans
- Force a 14-year old girl to marry her 19 year-old 1st cousin
- Manipulate families to maintain power and excommunicate boys to control the sex ratio
- Discriminate against non-FLDS members by denying water and police protection
- Run from the law using a network of safe houses in US, Canada, Mexico, and South America
…and that’s just what’s on the books.
Not to mention polygamy, which is illegal — but you get your own reality TV show for polygamy these days.
Last year alone, $7.2 million in food stamp benefits was given to 700 households in the FLDS community on the Utah-Arizona border known as Short Creek. Most of these “unemployed single moms” are actually secondary wives in polygamist families.
The food was redistributed by the church with priority given to top-ranking members, and meager rations left for the rest. The Justice Department also knows of at least $60,000 in SNAP benefits that were used to buy a John Deere tractor and a 2012 Ford F-350 pickup truck.
In February, Lyle Jeffs and 10 other leaders of the FLDS church were arrested for Welfare fraud — what they call “bleeding the beast.”
In April, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart released everyone from jail except Lyle Jeffs, labeling him a flight risk.
Judge Stewart said Jeffs had an “elaborate system to hide from law enforcement” and is “protected by armed body guards who carry concealed weapons.”
On June 9, Judge Stewart inexplicably released Jeffs from jail on the condition that he wear a GPS monitor and stay at a house near Salt Lake City. One week later, he was gone.
Good luck finding him now.
Source: NBC News