Did FLDS 'cook the books'?
Just days after Jeffs was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, Utah's attorney general confirmed to the Deseret Morning News that his office has been quietly conducting an organized crime investigation into Jeffs and the Fundamentalist LDS Church.
"I believe Warren Jeffs ran the FLDS Church and the UEP as an organized crime-type setup," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said Monday. "We just have to get the evidence to prove it."
The attorney general said Jeffs and the FLDS Church are being looked at for "double books, cooking books, offshore accounts and fraud." In 2005, the Utah Attorney General's Office petitioned the courts to take control of the United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust, which controls homes, businesses and property in the polygamous border towns of Hildale and Colorado City.
A judge appointed a special fiduciary to oversee the $110 million financial arm of the FLDS Church. It is those records that Shurtleff said his office is examining in the organized-crime investigation.
"We've been following closely what the special fiduciary is uncovering from records and so forth," he said. "It has been very informative, we'll say."
Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for special fiduciary Bruce Wisan, said any records are being shared because the Utah Attorney General's Office is a party to the UEP case. "Generally, we're sharing, not just with the attorney general but with the public," Shields said Monday.
Shields said the UEP did not keep much in the way of books or records, but what is being gleaned is being passed back and forth between many entities involved in the case.
Asked if investigators had uncovered anything criminal, Shurtleff said, "I can't say."
On Saturday, Warren Jeffs was named to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list, putting him in the company of serial murderers, child murderers and terrorist leader Osama bin Laden. A $100,000 reward is being offered for information leading to his capture.
Publicity surrounding Jeffs' name on the most-wanted list has gone global, with his picture being publicized in newspapers, TV and the Internet.
Finding the fugitive prophet could be difficult.
Jeffs has been on the run for years, supported by money and resources from his devoted followers within the FLDS Church. Authorities are investigating rumors that Jeffs was in the Hildale/Colorado City area within the past few weeks. Some believe he has been at the FLDS Church's temple site in Eldorado, Texas.
"He's got everything he needs there," said Sam Brower, a private investigator who has been tracking the FLDS Church for ex-members who are suing the group. "He's got money, vehicles, wives. People go there to worship him."
Comments
- Many-splendored container garden 3:29 p.m.
- California's $26B deficit 3:25 p.m.
- Eat your squash and blossoms 3:21 p.m.
- Searchers shovel seeking giant worm 3:18 p.m.
- Canal breaks, causes landslide in Logan 3:16 p.m.
- Crash kills Arizona woman 3:13 p.m.
- Lost crab pots 2:56 p.m.
- Lightning delays shuttle launch 2:54 p.m.
- Sweating can be big stuff 2:53 p.m.
- Exhumation finds 1 body in grave 2:41 p.m.
- Jazz brass debate Millsap match
- LDS seminary principal arrested
- 2 men cited on LDS plaza
- Jazz finances not quite so bleak
- Reactions on Boozer speculation
- Utahns among Texans' investors
- HBO defends U. logo use in 'Love'
- Cash for Clunkers to get rolling soon
- 10 years after the flood
- Jazz rookies quiet Thunder youngsters
- LDS seminary principal arrested
281 - Jazz brass debate Millsap match
181 - 2 men cited on LDS plaza
142 - Bronco collecting a galaxy of recruits
141 - Jazz talking Boozer trade?
140 - Blazers may offer Millsap a contract
124 - Stadium of Fire flag burning was fake
99 - Fairness of BCS debated
82 - Letters: Single-payer system best
76 - Services bids farewell to Jackson
70
As more and more dads are put out of work in this economy, I've been...
The photographs are mysterious, brooding, dark. They show dimples and...
But I am very disappointed in the way this is being handled. For his...
BYU is clearly the better team of the two, they have proven that for the past...
Private property is private property. If you don't follow the wishes of the...
Looks like Portland is in the process of putting one over on the Jazz! We...
Whoa! This is another insane idea from this administration.
Big deal. 17 goals in 81 games is crap. He won't play in Europe so the...
I must have missed the accusation that President Clinton fondled a 16 year...
This is an absolute embarrassment and shame to the educational church...
Watching porn doesn't MAKE or turn someone into a pedophile. If that were...
While I see the point you are trying to prove here, it isn't anything like...



You can be the first to comment on this story.