SALT LAKE CITY — The brother of imprisoned polygamist leader Warren Jeffs may get served during a hearing in federal court tomorrow.
A federal magistrate judge approved serving Fundamentalist LDS Church bishop Lyle Jeffs with papers in an ongoing child labor case. Lyle Jeffs would get served on behalf of the Utah-based polygamous church by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Lyle Jeffs – Davis County Jail
Lyle Jeffs is scheduled to appear in court on Monday for a detention hearing. He was recently arrested in a massive fraud case leveled by the U.S. Justice Department, accusing 11 members of the FLDS Church of food stamp fraud and money laundering. Lyle Jeffs and other leaders are accused of ordering members on government benefits to hand over their welfare cards to the church’s “united order” to do as they saw fit.
Federal prosecutors allege taxpayers were bilked more than $12 million in the scheme. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah is asking a judge to order FLDS leaders to remain in jail until trial, pointing to a network of safe houses and the use of aliases and disguises to keep Warren Jeffs on the run for years.
The U.S. Labor Department has been going after FLDS leaders for civil penalties for years, accusing them of ordering children to work on a southern Utah farm without any compensation.
Read the magistrate judge’s order here:
