SALT LAKE CITY – A judge rejected a request from high-ranking polygamous leader Lyle Jeffs to be released from jail pending trial on accusations he helped orchestrate a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart issued a written ruling Thursday that makes Jeffs the only defendant still behind bars among 11 people indicted on charges of diverting at least $12 million worth of federal benefits.
Jeffs runs the day-to-day operations of the secretive sect on the Utah-Arizona border, prosecutors say. His attorney argued that he was being treated unfairly due to his religious beliefs.
Stewart sided with prosecutors, saying he did not think any conditions of release would assure Jeffs would appear at future court hearings because he follows the orders of his brother, imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs.
The judge said there is evidence Lyle Jeffs has used aliases and kept his location hidden to avoid law enforcement. He travels with armed guards who are "willing to take extreme efforts to protect him," Stewart wrote.
Stewart also said he takes seriously prosecutors' warnings that witnesses may clam up if Jeffs is released and allowed to govern the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, known collectively as Short Creek.
"Several witnesses have stated that defendant exercises considerable control over the people and businesses in Short Creek and that there are serious consequences for those that disobey him," Stewart said. "The court is gravely concerned that defendant would use this influence to intimidate witnesses and obstruct justice."
The judge ruled after a hearing Wednesday in Salt Lake City that drew about two dozen members of the sect, including women in prairie dresses and traditional updos.
Federal public defender Kathryn Nester said Lyle Jeffs was willing to accept conditions of supervised release, including living in a house in Provo that is some 275 miles north of the polygamous community to squash any worries that he would influence witness testimony.
Nester criticized federal prosecutors for using stale evidence and hearsay to suggest Jeffs would interfere with witnesses and skip future hearings. Anybody else charged with fraud and money laundering would be allowed out, she said.
Federal prosecutor Robert Lund said Jeffs openly defies the law by practicing polygamy and will follow commands from his brother, considered the religion's prophet, over civil rule.
In the food stamp scheme, sect leaders instructed followers to buy items and give them to a church warehouse or use food stamps in sect-owned stores without getting anything in return, prosecutors say.
The volume of food stamp purchases at two small convenience stores was so large that it rivaled retailers the size of Wal-Mart and Costco, prosecutors say.
The same judge recently granted supervised release to three others accused of being ringleaders of the operation, reversing previous decisions by different judges.
The food stamp crackdown marked the government's latest move against the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, coinciding with legal battles in two states over child labor and discrimination against nonbelievers.
Last month, a jury in Phoenix decided the towns violated the constitutional rights of nonbelievers by denying them basic services such as police protection, building permits and water hookups.
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