Lyle Jeffs, who leads a polygamous church on the Utah-Arizona border, and 10 other men are accused of misusing tens of thousands of dollars. Jeffs was arrested Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Lyle Jeffs, center, and his brother Nephi Jeffs, left, leave a federal courthouse in Salt Lake City on Jan. 21, 2015.
Rick Bowmer / AP
A group of high ranking officials from a polygamous church based on the Utah-Arizona border have been arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly misusing food stamp funds.
Lyle Jeffs and 10 other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are accused of transferring Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) funds — commonly known as food stamps — to stores controlled by their church, the Department of Justice confirmed to BuzzFeed News.
Jeffs and one other man, John Clifton Wayman, were arrested Tuesday morning in Salt Lake City, officials said.
The Department of Justice also revealed that arrest warrants were executed Tuesday in the Short Creek community, a bastion of the FLDS community on the Utah-Arizona border, and in Custer County, South Dakota.
Arrest warrants were issued for all the defendants in the case.
According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Jeffs was arrested Tuesday.
The statement lists several incidents in which FLDS church members allegedly misused food stamp funds totaling tens of thousands of dollars.
The case prompted a law enforcement raid in Short Creek Tuesday, with images from the scene showing at several prominent FLDS facilities.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/24nObVu
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