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SALT LAKE CITY — A federal judge has denied release for Seth Jeffs, the brother of incarcerated Fundamentalist LDS leader Warren Jeffs, and ordered him transferred to St. George to face allegations of food stamp fraud.
Seth Jeffs, 42, is one of 11 leaders and members of the Utah-based FLDS Church accused of diverting food stamp proceeds from authorized beneficiaries to leaders of the church to use as they saw fit, amounting to millions of dollars in fraud, according to a two-count indictment unsealed last week.
At a detention hearing for Jeffs Monday in Rapid City, South Dakota, U.S. Magistrate Judge Danetta Wollman found there is "a serious risk that the defendant will not appear," according to a court order.
In conjunction with the indictment and an FBI raid on FLDS communities along the Utah-Arizona border, the U.S. Attorney's Office filed a motion and more than 180 pages of exhibits arguing that an elaborate system of concealment and ways to avoid detection across several countries developed by FLDS leaders make the defendants extreme flight risks should they be released from custody.
The system to avoid being caught was established originally to protect Warren Jeffs, the church's prophet, during his 2006 run from the law, according to prosecutors.
Rulon Mormon Barlow, 45, surrendered to authorities on Saturday and was booked into the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County. He was expected to appear in court Monday.
Another brother of Warren Jeffs, 56-year-old Lyle Jeffs, remains in custody awaiting a detention hearing. Also awaiting hearings are John Clifton Wayman, 56, a former bishop of the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, and Nephi Steed Allred, who federal prosecutors called a courier and gifted accountant for the church.
Five people have been released from custody and ordered to comply with GPS monitoring: Winford Johnson Barlow, 50; Kristal Meldrum Dutson, 55; Ruth Peine Barlow, 41; Hyrum Bygnal Dutson, 55; and Preston Yates Barlow, 41.
One man accused in the scheme, Kimball Dee Barlow, 51, remained at large Monday.
A status conference for all defendants in the case has been scheduled for March 22 in St. George's U.S. District Court.
