This is the moment that women from Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect were caught in an FBI sting playing their part in a $11 million food stamps fraud scheme.
The women, wearing the old fashioned, long dress favored by members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, were caught on undercover surveillance footage, shopping at Meadowayne Dairy in Hildale, Utah.
One member handed a list over to the clerk, and used her Electronic Benefits Card, EBT.
Once her food stamps were all used up, she was seen in the video, obtained by Fox 13, leaving the store with a small bag and climbing in her car.
This is the moment that women from Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect were caught in an FBI sting playing their part in a $11 million food stamps fraud scheme
One of the women, wearing the old fashioned, long dress favored by members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, was caught on undercover surveillance footage, shopping at Meadowayne Dairy in Hildale, Utah (pictured left and right)
A drone followed her as she drove from the store to a Bishop’s Storehouse run by the Morman sect. She was then seen giving the goods to another church member who loaded them into a shipping container.
The FBI recorded hundreds of hours worth of footage from hidden cameras smuggled into FLDS stores and drones, in the investigation and also spoke with former members.
Former polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs was sentenced in Utah to nearly five years in prison for running the elaborate food stamp fraud scheme – and then going on the run while awaiting trial.
US District Judge Ted Stewart said during a hearing in Salt Lake City last week, that Jeffs deserved the 57-month prison sentence, followed by three years of probation, because his behavior showed he doesn’t respect US laws and puts his allegiance to his brother and the sect’s imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs, above everything else.
Stewart said Lyle Jeffs’ religious beliefs provide context for his decision to follow his brother’s orders, but don’t justify the fact that he ‘cheated’ taxpayers out of government funds.
One member paid for her items using food stamps, then was seen in the video leaving the store in a drone video
In another clip she was seen giving the goods to other church members who loaded them into a shipping container
The FBI recorded hundreds of hours worth of footage from hidden cameras smuggled into FLDS stores and drones
Lyle Jeffs, 57, is lifelong member of the Mormon offshoot group based on the Utah-Arizona border known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.
‘Mr. Jeffs is an adult. He knows right from wrong,’ Stewart said.
Prosecutors accused Lyle Jeffs of running a scheme to divert some $11million in food-stamp benefits to a communal storehouse and front companies. The defense disputed that figure, arguing that Jeffs had swindled under $2million, and the judge agreed with the lower estimate, reported Salt Lake Tribune.
Former members of the sect have claimed that FLDS leaders like Jeffs lived on ‘shrimp and lobster’ thanks to the multimillion-dollar scam, while the rest of the community starved.
Prosecutor Robert Lund asked for the maximum five-year sentence to send a message to Lyle Jeffs and other sect leaders that a ‘culture of corruption’ in recent years won’t be tolerated.
Lyle Jeffs was also ordered to pay $1million in restitution. He had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit benefits fraud and failure to appear.
Former polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs was arrested (pictured) and sentenced in Utah to nearly five years in prison for running the elaborate food stamp fraud scheme – and then going on the run while awaiting trial
Punishment: Lyle Jeff, former leader of the polygamous sect FLDS, was sentenced Wednesday to nearly five years for carrying out an elaborate food stamp fraud scheme (pictured above in 2015)
This 2017 file booking photo provided by the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office shows Lyle Jeffs. He was captured ths past summer after escaping house arrest
Jeffs spoke briefly and said he accepted responsibility for his mistakes and that he erred in not properly researching food stamp fraud laws.
Jeffs spoke briefly and said he accepted responsibility for his mistakes and that he erred in not properly researching food stamp fraud laws.
‘I do, your honor, humbly and respectfully say that I acknowledge my mistakes and decision-making,’ said Lyle Jeffs, his hands and ankles shackled. ‘I do humbly accept my responsibly for my actions. I don’t blame anyone.’
His attorney Kathryn Nester said the scheme wasn’t malicious but meant to ensure everyone in the group had food to eat as part of the group’s religious beliefs in communal living.
She said Lyle Jeffs has already suffered tremendously because he’s been banned from the sect by his brother Warren Jeffs. That means he’s lost his family, his job and his faith.
Pedophile: Lyle Jeff’s brother and the sect’s imprisoned prophet, Warren Jeffs (pictured), is serving a life sentence plus 20 years in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he considered wives
‘If you’re looking to humble him, I think we’re there,’ Nester said.
Jeffs is among the eleven FLDS members and leaders charged after a raid in the border towns. Almost all of them took plea deals.
‘Along with fraud and along with many areas of imposition financially on the people, there was also a lot of internal, personal family conflicts created damaging beyond repair,’ said Dowayne Barlow, an ex-FLDS member who was also a witness in the case.
‘I think that Lyle was a pivotal individual. The corruption of the Jeffs’ in that community was unbelievable,’ he added. ‘Lyle could have turned the tide on that. I think everybody gets where Warren stands, that he was out of control and not personally clean or moral. Lyle perpetuated this issue.’
Lyle Jeffs was first charged in February 2016 along with 10 other members of the sect in the fraud scheme. Cases against the others ended in plea deals without prison time or dismissed charges.
Lyle Jeffs compounded his legal problems when he became a fugitive after he slipped off an ankle monitoring device in in June of that year while out on supervised release.
He was caught in South Dakota this summer after pawning two pairs of pliers while apparently living out of his pickup truck.
Pawn-shop workers tipped off the FBI, and he was arrested in a lakeside area near the South Dakota-Nebraska border. He pleaded guilty to committing fraud and failure to appear in September.
His brother Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence plus 20 years in Texas for sexually assaulting two girls he considered wives.
Lyle Jeffs’ legal wife divorced him in 2015, but he is believed to still have eight ‘spiritual wives’ and 60 children.
His son Thomas, who broke with the sect years ago, said outside court that he was satisfied with his father’s sentence, and expressed hope that spending time behind bars would make him ‘think about things.’
Other relatives of the defendant, including his brother, told Fox13Now they thought the 57-month sentence was too lenient.