alt Lake City —
SALT LAKE CITY — Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering — marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years.
The charges are the 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 accuse church leaders of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.
One common tactic was buying groceries with the food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to choose how to divvy up. Other times, members would give their cards to others who weren't supposed to use them, prosecutors said.
They also would swipe the cards at church-run stores without walking away with foods or goods, leaving the money to the store owners. Some of those funds were then used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.
Leaders of polygamous sect arrested in Utah food stamp fraud
SALT LAKE CITY — Several top leaders from Warren Jeffs' polygamous sect were arrested Tuesday on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering — marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in years.
The charges are the 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 accuse church leaders of orchestrating a yearslong fraud scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah.
One common tactic was buying groceries with the food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to choose how to divvy up. Other times, members would give their cards to others who weren't supposed to use them, prosecutors said.
They also would swipe the cards at church-run stores without walking away with foods or goods, leaving the money to the store owners. Some of those funds were then used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.
Leaders of polygamous sect arrested in Utah food stamp fraud
