SALT LAKE CITY — Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on U.S. federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering — marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years.
The charges are the American government’s latest move targeting the sect based on the Utah-Arizona border, coinciding with legal battles in two states over child labor and discrimination against nonbelievers.
Prosecutors say church leaders diverted funds from Utah’s nutrition assistance program for inappropriate use, including forcing members to put food into a communal storehouse so leaders could divvy it up.
The group, which believes polygamy brings exaltation in heaven, also used the funds to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, according to indictments from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Utah.
Eleven people were charged in the scheme, including Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, top-ranking leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and brothers of imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs.
Lyle Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations in the polygamous community of Hildale, while Seth Jeffs leads a branch of the group in South Dakota. Their brother is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting his 12- and 15-year-old brides at a secretive church compound in that state.
“This indictment is not about religion. This indictment is about fraud,” U.S. Attorney John Huber said in a statement.
The bust goes well beyond fraud — putting in doubt who will lead the group and how members will respond to a decisive message from government officials they have historically despised, said Amos Guiora, a University of Utah law professor who has studied the church.
“This is a clear drawing of that magical line in that sand that government will not tolerate crimes committed in the name of religion,” Guiora said. “That is seriously important.”
The sect does not have a spokesman or a phone listing where leaders can be contacted. The Associated Press could not verify if the defendants had attorneys yet.
READ MORE: Child labour case involving polygamous Utah sect before U.S. court
The arrests come amid a civil rights trial in Phoenix against the twin polygamous towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Arizona, in which prosecutors say the communities discriminated against non-members by denying them housing, water services and police protection.
Federal labor lawyers also are going after the group on allegations that leaders ordered parents to put their kids to work for long hours for little pay on a southern Utah pecan farm.
The communities deny the allegations.
The actions don’t appear to be coordinated, but authorities have gotten help from the large numbers of people who have been kicked out or left amid a series of increasingly bizarre orders from Jeffs and leaders loyal to him, said private investigator Sam Brower, who has spent years investigating the group.
“This is huge blow,” Brower said. “Combined with everything else, it’s incredible.”
Federal, state and local police served search warrants and made arrests Tuesday in Salt Lake City; Custer County, South Dakota; and Hildale and Colorado City.
The raids caused a stir in the sister cities of 7,700, with residents snapping pictures. Blake Hamilton, an attorney representing Hildale, said none of those indicted was serving in a government position.
“It has nothing do to with Hildale,” he said.
Resident Andrew Chatwin, a former member of the group, said officers went into five businesses, including a dairy store, produce store and a contractor. He saw hundreds of agents and at least one woman being led out in handcuffs.
“I’m watching them break in doors,” Chatwin said.
Allegations of fraud connected with government assistance have dogged the group for years, but Brower says it’s become more organized and widespread in recent years under Lyle Jeffs’ leadership.
The indictment accuses several sect leaders of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme in which church members were told to divert food-stamp benefits to the church’s storehouse. The leaders are accused of holding meetings in which they told members how to carry out the scheme and how to avoid getting caught by authorities.
Guiora said group members refer to the practice as “bleeding the beast,” taking money from a government they disdain and using as they see fit.
Most of the defendants are expected to make initial court appearances Wednesday. They face up to five years in prison for the food stamp fraud and up to 20 years for money laundering, prosecutors said.
If the leaders remain jailed and get convicted, “there are clear questions about who is going to lead a flock that is very leadership dependent,” Guiora said.