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FLDS leaders arrested, accused of violating pre-trial release

Posted at 4:43 PM, Aug 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-01 22:13:12-04

SALT LAKE CITY — Two leaders of the Fundamentalist LDS Church have been arrested, accused of violating their supervised release.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah confirmed late Monday that FLDS bishops Seth Jeffs and John Wayman were arrested for violating the terms of their supervised release. It would not release any details about their arrest, or what violation they may have committed.

Records show both men were booked into the Purgatory Jail without bail. Jeffs and Wayman are scheduled to appear before a federal magistrate judge in St. George on Tuesday.

FLDS leaders John Wayman (left) and Seth Jeffs (right) in booking mugshots released by the Purgatory Jail.

FLDS leaders John Wayman (left) and Seth Jeffs (right) in booking mugshots released by the Purgatory Jail.

Both men faced a list of conditions for being released from jail after their February arrest. It included wearing GPS monitoring devices, and having no contact with witnesses or victims.

Jeffs, the brother of FLDS leaders Warren Jeffs and Lyle Jeffs, had been granted permission to travel to South Dakota, where the polygamous church maintains a compound. He and Wayman are among 11 people facing food stamp fraud and money laundering charges, accused of ordering members of the FLDS Church to hand over Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program benefits to leaders.

FLDS leader Lyle Jeffs recently disappeared from home confinement. The FBI disclosed to FOX 13 that he used a substance that could have been olive oil to slip his ankle out of a GPS monitoring device. He remains at large.