Add Category
Lyle Jeffs leaves the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City in January 2015. Picture: AP
POLYGAMOUS sect leader Lyle Jeffs, who has been on the run for nearly a year, has been arrested over a multi-million dollar fraud.
Jeffs, a leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was captured by the FBI on Wednesday night at about 8.30pm (10:30am Thursday morning AEDT).
Polygamist leader Lyle Jeffs, a leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
The 57-year-old slipped off a GPS ankle monitor on June 18 last year and fled home confinement in Salt Lake City where he was awaiting trial on fraud charges.
He is among 11 members of the sect charged in a multi-million dollar fraud and money laundering scheme in which they are accused of converting benefits from a food stamp program into cash.
Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints wait their turn to testify in the grand jury proceedings against Lyle’s brother, Warren Jeffs. Picture: APSource:Supplied
Nine of those people have taken plea deals, suggesting evidence is being gathered for the prosecution of Jeffs.
Prosecutors allege that Jeffs and other sect leaders were instructing followers to buy items with their food stamp cards and give them to a church warehouse.
They say food stamps were also cashed at sect-owned stores without the users getting anything in return and thousands of dollars used to buy items like a tractor and truck.
Warren Jeffs’ FBI Most Wanted poster. Picture: SuppliedSource:AFP
The FBI issued a warrant for his arrest shortly after he disappeared and issued a $US50,000 ($66,000) reward.
Jeffs is the brother of the sect’s highest leader Warren Jeffs. The 60-year-old is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted of sexually assaulting a girl he considered to be his brides.
Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven.
The group is an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.
Warren Jeffs in his mugshot. Picture: SuppliedSource:Supplied
Warren Jeffs in court in Salt Lake City. Picture: APSource:AP