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| Will they get Montezuma's Revenge? |
| The Mancos Times |
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| Aerial overview of the FLDS' Mancos, Colorado property (May 21, 2005) shows some activity going on. |
In October 2004, another FLDS compound was discovered in southwest Colorado, near the town of Mancos, in remote Montezuma County. David Allred purchased the land in November 2003, and told the folks in Mancos, Colorado the very same story that he told the folks in Eldorado, Texas. According to Allred, he was buying the property for use as a hunting retreat. Yeah, right. Can false pretenses bring on "Montezuma's Revenge?" Below are news articles on this latest attempt of the FLDS to branch out into Colorado. These articles are listed in chronological order. | |
| Another FLDS Compound Found | |
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The Eldorado Success myeldorado.net Originally published Friday, October 22, 2004 | |
| A second compound associated with he Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) has been uncovered in southwest Colorado, near the town of Mancos. The compound is located at 15252 CR 39 in remote Montezuma County. According to officials with the Montezuma County Sheriff's Department, David Allred of Washington County, Utah, purchased a parcel of property near the town of Mancos, in November, 2003, very close to the time when he bought 1,691 acres near Eldorado, Texas. Allred, using the same tactics he implemented here in Texas, told locals in Colorado that he was buying the property for use as a hunting retreat. Then, a major construction project began. Read more | |
| Utah Polygamist Sect Buys Colorado 'Hideaway' | |
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The Associated Press CBS 4 Denver Originally aired October 25, 2004 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY (AP) An investigator for disaffected members of a polygamist sect in Utah said an agent for the group bought a 60-acre parcel of land near Mancos, Colo., to use as a "hideaway." Sam Brower, an investigator for some of the members, said the agent, David Allred, told authorities it would be a corporate hunting retreat. "There's a few houses there. I don't know what's going on," Brower said Friday, as he tried to serve amended complaints at the southwestern Colorado property he described as "tucked away." Allred also bought a 1,691-acre ranch near Eldorado, Texas, last November for a supposed hunting retreat. But a few months later, leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church acknowledged the Texas ranch was intended to be a refuge from attorneys general in Utah and Arizona who are cracking down on the sect for polygamy-related crimes. Read more | |
| Rumors swirl over FLDS purchase of Mancos land | |
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By Katharhynn Heidelberg Cortez Journal Originally published October 26, 2004 | |
| Local authorities say that though there are rumors of polygamy in the wake of a Mancos land purchase by a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, there was no proof of any wrongdoing. Additionally, they said, members' constitutional rights should not be overlooked. Others weren't so certain the purchase was innocent. "Religious tolerance is good, and I am religiously tolerant," Jon Krakauer, Boulder author of the FLDS expose` "Under the Banner of Heaven," said Monday. "But this is a really scary group. It's (as if) the Taliban has just moved into Mancos." Multiple marriage is not legal in Colorado and the traditional Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints disavowed the practice in 1890. The FLDS Church was founded by excommunicated Mormons more than 60 years ago along the Utah-Arizona border, at a settlement first called Short Creek. The polygamist community was raided to much negative publicity in 1953, but was later re-christened Colorado City (in Arizona) and Hildale (in Utah). Read more | |
| Polygamist sect lands by Mancos | |
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By Katharhynn Heidelberg, Cortez Journal and Lindsay Nelson, Herald Staff Writer Durango Herald Originally published October 26, 2004 | |
| Members of a polygamist sect living along the Arizona-Utah border have purchased land north of Mancos, but local authorities and a lawyer for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints say there's no evidence of illegal activity. Rod Parker, a Salt Lake City lawyer who represents the sect, a breakaway group of the Mormon church, said he believes members of the church are in Mancos, but he has not had contact with the church concerning the land purchase. "It's well-known that members of the church practice polygamy as part of their doctrine, but whether specific individuals are practicing it, I can't say," Parker said Monday in a telephone interview. The Montezuma County Assessor's Office confirmed Monday that David Allred, a Utah man reportedly affiliated with the fundamentalist church, bought 60 forested acres in July 2003 on County Road 39, north of Joe Moore Reservoir. Scott Davis, a deputy assessor, said Allred allowed him onto the property to conduct an evaluation, but did not allow him inside any buildings, insisting they were all part of a corporate hunting retreat to which he himself did not have access. Davis said Allred met him at a locked gate, escorted him to the building and then followed Davis out, locking the gate behind him. "I've been doing this for 10 years. Nobody's ever done anything remotely like that (locking the gate)," Davis said, although other property owners have turned him away. Read more | |
| New FLDS Compound Discovered in Colorado | |
| Eldorado Success breaks story on Internet | |
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By Jon Krakauer Exclusive for The Eldorado Success myeldorado.net Originally published October 28, 2004 | |
| MANCOS, CO -- The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) has surreptitiously established a polygamous colony in the state of Colorado. Acting on behalf of the FLDS leadership, a 33-year-old Mormon Fundamentalist named David Steed Allred paid $1,394,000 for two 60-acre parcels of land six miles north of Mancos, a small community in Colorado's southwest corner. Allred, moreover, is presently maneuvering to purchase a third 60-acre parcel lying between the other properties, which would give the FLDS Church a private inholding of 180 contiguous acres entirely surrounded by publicly owned National Forest. The leader of the exceedingly secretive polygamist sect is a furtive man named Warren Steed Jeffs. A self-proclaimed prophet, Jeffs claims to be God's mouthpiece on earth and is married to more than 70 women. He demands absolute, unquestioning obedience from his estimated 10,000 followers, whom he forbids to have any unnecessary contact with outsiders. Jeffs has repeatedly prophesied that the Lord will soon unleash a scourge of "pestilence, hail, famine, and earthquake" upon the earth, destroying all of humankind except the most zealous of his true believers. Read more | |
| FLDS buys another 60-acre parcel in Mancos | |
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By Katharhynn Heidelberg Cortez Journal Originally published October 30, 2004 | |
| A man with ties to a fundamentalist Christian sect this month purchased additional property in Mancos, the Cortez Journal and Mancos Times learned recently. David Allred, thought to be a member and agent of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, purchased a 60-acre parcel at 15252 County Road 39 in Mancos last year for a corporate hunting retreat. According to records examined Thursday at the Montezuma County Assessor's office, a nearby 60 acres was sold to Sherwood Management Group, Inc., Oct. 8. A deed of trust for that property, at 15976 County Road 39, is signed by David Allred and also lists him as the president of Sherwood Management, with a postal box address in Mesquite, Nev. Allred's initial purchase came to local attention when he declined to let Deputy Assessor Scott Davis into buildings at the 15252 address. Doing so is not illegal, but Davis said that, along with Allred's demeanor, prompted his suspicion. The Sherwood Management property in Mancos went for considerably above market value - $725,000 for agricultural property situated next to public lands. Its assessed valuation, for tax purposes, was $156,900, with a possible market value of $200,000, Davis said Friday. Read more | |
| Fundamentalist LDS Church Moving East? | |
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KCSG Channel 6 - St. George KCSG.com Originally broadcast November 9, 2004 | |
| You may not have heard of a little town in southwestern Colorado called Mancos. But the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has, and a reported member of the church has purchased 60 acres of land there. David Allred is thought to be a member and an agent of the church, and his signature is on a deed of trust for the purchased property. In a story from the Cortez Journal, Montezuma County records indicate that the purchase occurred on October 8th. Since that time, a hay shed on the property has purportedly been remodeled, and now includes four bedrooms and four bathrooms. There is also a three bedroom home on the property, according to reports. Critics of the FLDS church have voiced concerns that Mancos could become a refuge for members leaving the FLDS communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona due to recent legal pressures put on the church. | |
| Polygamists Selling Utah-Arizona Parcel To Help Buy Colorado Land | |
| Mormon Church Excommunicates Those Who Advocate Polygamy | |
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The Associated Press TheDenverChannel.com Originally published November 10, 2004 | |
| SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border is selling 1,300 acres of surplus land to finance other purchases in Colorado and Texas. "It doesn't really fit in well with their community," Rodney Parker, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' attorney, said Tuesday. "They can use that money for these other projects." An agent for the church, David Allred, purchased a 60-acre parcel of land near Mancos, Colo. Allred also bought a 1,691-acre ranch near Eldorado, Texas, a year ago for a supposed hunting retreat. But a few months later, FLDS leaders acknowledged to Texas authorities that ranch was intended as refuge from pressure from officials in Utah and Arizona because of the church's tenet of polygamy. The Texas compound has since grown to a dozen buildings. About the same time as the Texas purchase, Allred bought the 60 acres of land in Colorado midway between Cortez and Durango, also supposedly for a hunting retreat. The two Colorado parcels each had a few existing buildings, one of which has been remodeled into a four-bedroom, four-bath home, and a couple of new structures have been added. The Arizona Strip parcel for sale doesn't border the church's base in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where an estimated 10,000 members live. It's listed for $4.6 million. Read more | |
| Polygamist sect buys property in Colorado | |
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By Deborah Frazier Rocky Mountain News Originally published November 12, 2004 | |
| A polygamist sect ousted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has bought 120 acres near Mancos, a southwestern Colorado town that prides itself on tolerance, up to a point. "We've got a lot of folks around here who aren't in legally sanctioned relationships, but child brides would be an issue of concern," said Tom Vaughan, editor of the weekly Mancos Times. The Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-day Saints (FDLS) was founded in the 1950s by excommunicated Mormons living with multiple wives on the Utah-Arizona border. The FDLS, with about 10,000 members, began selling their land near Colorado City, Ariz., last year, and buying parcels in Texas, Colorado and Canada. Prosecutors in Arizona and Utah are investigating the FDLS for child sexual abuse, welfare fraud, tax evasion and other felony violations. "If we found out, as it's alleged in Colorado City, that they packed the welfare system, that would get our attention," said Vaughan. Read more | |
| FLDS purchases land in Mancos | |
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By John R. Crane Cortez Journal Originally published January 1, 2005 | |
| In October, the Journal learned that a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought two swaths of land in Mancos, prompting rumors of polygamy and warnings from a well-known author of a book about the radical Mormon sect. The Montezuma County Assessor's office confirmed in late October that David Allred of Utah purchased 60 acres of land on block 15252 of County Road 39 in July 2003, several miles north of Joe Moore Reservoir. But a few days later, an additional 60 acres were confirmed to have been purchased Oct. 8 by Sherwood Management Group Inc., of which Allred is president. A deed of trust for the property at 15976 County Road 39 is signed by Allred. Though Scott Davis, county deputy assessor, was not allowed inside any buildings on the property, Montezuma County Sheriff Joey Chavez said there was no reason to investigate the owner for criminal activity. But Jon Krakauer, author of the FLDS expose´ "Under the Banner of Heaven," compared the sect's "prophet," Warren Jeffs, to a ruthless monarch and said he was a force to be reckoned with. "He's like Richard III, like something out of a Shakespeare play," Krakauer told the Journal in October . "You guys down there should be worried ... He has thousands of followers who would die for him. He would never deign to be brought before a Gentile judge." The FLDS Church was founded more than 60 years ago along the Utah-Arizona border, and also has land in Bountiful, Canada, near the Idaho border, and owns a 1,691-acre ranch near Eldorado, Texas, where another community is being built. | |
| FLDS action is everywhere but here | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published January 11, 2005 | |
| Warren Jeffs can be excused if he feels he is beset on all sides by critics - he is. The 49-year-old self-appointed prophet of perhaps 10,000 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is said to have total control over both the lives and the assets of his flock. That includes resident communities in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah; a community in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada; a fast-growing compound outside Eldorado, Texas - and land in the Mancos Valley. Despite the conjecture by some FLDS-watchers that the land north of Mancos was purchased as a potential hideout for Jeffs, there is no evidence that this has become a reality. In fact, there are few clues as to what the plans are for the property. The Montezuma County Sheriff's Office has repeatedly stated that no allegations of law-breaking have been made and no investigations are under way regarding the CR 39 properties. Read more | |
| Polygamists putting Mancos on the map | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published January 25, 2005 | |
| Like it or not, the quiet purchase of two 60-acre Mancos Valley parcels by an agent of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is drawing attention to Mancos from as far away as British Columbia, Canada. Just last week, the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona jointly published "The Primer: Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities." The 50-page document (available to download at http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/polygamy.html) is intended to "assist human services professionals, law enforcement officers and others in helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse from polygamous communities in Arizona and Utah." Following the introductory material, the handbook includes a brief history of polygamy, a glossary and seven pages on fundamentalist groups, followed by chapters on typical practices and the special problems of dealing with victims of domestic violence and child abuse who are members of fundamentalist, polygamous groups. The first three pages of the listing of groups is taken up by the FLDS and its offshoots. Mancos appears in the second paragraph: "The FLDS Church claims 8,000 to 10,000 members residing in the sister cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona; Eldorado, Texas; Mancos, Colorado and Creston and Bountiful, British Columbia. Read more | |
| Mancos properties are question mark in polygamous sect accounting | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published March 2, 2005 | |
| The Mancos Valley continues to play a small part in an international legal struggle over the assets of a polygamous religious sect. Warren Jeffs, leader and self-proclaimed Prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamous sect that bought two 60-acre parcels in the Mancos Valley in July 2003 and October 2004, has failed to respond to notifications that he is a defendant in two civil suits filed in Utah state courts. On Thursday, Feb. 17, attorneys for the plaintiffs in those suits filed a memorandum requesting the court to appoint a receiver and a substitute board of trustees to oversee the assets of the United Effort Plan trust, the fiscal arm of the FLDS. The FLDS properties in Mancos and in Schleicher County, Texas, may be among the factors weighed in the upcoming battle for control of UEP assets; both represent large FLDS investments that are not carried in the name of the UEP and may represent illegal conversion of trust assets by Jeffs. Complicating the process is the fact that Jeffs is presently without legal representation. His long-time attorney, Rodney R. Parker of Snow, Christensen & Martineau, Salt Lake City, Utah, filed a request in Utah state court in December, asking to be allowed to withdraw as FLDS counsel in the Brent Jeffs and "Lost Boys" suits (Brent Jeffs has accused Warren Jeffs and others of sexually molesting him; six young men — the Lost Boys — claim in a separate suit that Warren Jeffs and others caused them to be excommunicated from the FLDS in order to "perpetuate Warren Jeffs' and the FLDS Church’s increasingly abusive and illegal practice of polygamy, which requires women to outnumber men," as stated in the Feb. 17 memorandum). In his request, Parker cited fundamental differences in strategy, as well as indicating that Jeffs had already fired his firm. Read more | |
| FLDS move to Texas said to be gaining momentum; ‘Uncle’ Fred Jessop dies | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published March 23, 2005 | |
| Recent news stories in Arizona and Texas have heightened the speculation that Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed Prophet and leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is relocating his most faithful followers from their homes in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah (a community known as Short Creek, with a state line running through it) to his fast-growing compound in Schleicher County, Texas. The FLDS congregation that follows Jeffs is one of a number of polygamous groups that broke away from the LDS Church when it suspended the practice of polygamy in 1890 and banned it in 1904. The Jeffs group is estimated to number anywhere from 6,000 to 10,000 adherents, mainly concentrated in Short Creek, with other settlements near Creston, British Columbia; Beryl, Utah, and now the YFZ compound near Eldorado, Texas (YFZ is thought to be the initials of a song written by Jeffs, "Yearn for Zion"). Two 60-acre parcels several miles north of Mancos have been bought by Jeffs’ son-in-law, David Allred, and the group is thought to have holdings in Mexico, as do other polygamous groups. The Allred purchase of the first Mancos parcel in July 2003, followed several months later by his purchase of the 1,691-acre property in Texas, set off a flurry of construction in both locations. In a few short months, working round-the-clock, workers at the 15252 CR 39 parcel north of Joe Moore Reservoir remodeled a barn and added two additional residences to the one on the property at time of purchase. They increased the lodging capacity from two bedrooms, two baths to 16 of each, increasing the assessed value of the property tenfold in the process. Read more | |
| What will today mean for the FLDS? | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published April 6, 2005 | |
| Today is the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. On this day in 1830, six men met in the Seneca County, N.Y., home of Peter Whitmer and formed what they at first called the "Church of Christ." Those men were Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Joseph Smith, Samuel H. Smith, David Whitmer and Peter Whitmer. The LDS faith has persevered, adapted, fragmented and spread to become a significant denomination in the United States and worldwide. The founding date is significant to all branches that trace lineage to that 1830 meeting, but that may be all some of them have in common. In particular, after the LDS church officially stopped performing plural marriages in 1890 and banned the practice in 1904, there have been numerous groups, some as small as a single family, that have continued to be polygamists. One of those groups, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has grown to an estimated 10,000 adherents, give or take a few thousand. The uncertainty as to the true size of the FLDS is a function both of the secrecy surrounding the sect’s activities and membership and the proclivity of its authoritarian leader, Warren Jeffs, to expel people from the group. Those two factors have also focused the attention of media and law enforcement today on the little town of Eldorado, in Schleicher County, Texas. There, the question is what, if anything, will happen on this date at a nearby 1,691-acre spread where Jeffs is thought to be hiding to evade lawsuits in Utah. Read more | |
| 'Business as usual' on April 6 | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published April 13, 2005 | |
| The earth didn’t end on April 6, nor did members of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now based near Eldorado, Texas, engage in mass acts of self-immolation or other violence. According to Eldorado Success Editor Randy Mankin, it was quite a zoo in Eldorado, as media representatives came to Schleicher County from all over the United States and several foreign countries, including Sweden. Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran entered the FLDS compound with two Texas rangers Wednesday and reported "It’s business as usual," according to Pamela Manson’s report in the Salt Lake Tribune. The Success reported Doran’s estimate that 80-150 people were living in the compound. Regarding the anticipated convocation to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Mormon Church, Doran told the Times "there was speculation that it was being held elsewhere, but (the location was) never disclosed." Regarding the whereabouts of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, Doran added that there "has never been any evidence of him being here, other than hearsay and some of his family members are here." Stories in The Spectrum, published in St. George, Utah, also described the media impact on the twin towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, as well as in Eldorado. Patrice St. Germain quoted Hildale Mayor David Zitting’s description of it as a "circus," and Rachel Olsen, reporting from Eldorado, said the main economic impact of the FLDS there was the money spent in the town by the media representatives. Read more | |
| Polygamists under pressure, establish new colony in Colorado | |
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By Andrew Resnik KUSA 9 News Denver Originally broadcast April 30, 2005 | |
| MANCOS, Colo. - Scott Davis understands that when he shows up on somebody's doorstep, he's likely to get a bleak response. Davis is the deputy county assessor for Montezuma County, Colo. But when he approached a plot of land about five miles north of Mancos that had recently been purchased by David Allred, he got the type of reception he'd never received. "He did not act like a typical person does when I come out to evaluate the property," said Davis. The property consists of two 60-acre plots, with a barn, a few houses and several outbuildings. Davis said he was not permitted inside any of the buildings, which he described as unusual, but not illegal. At first, Davis suspected Allred was hiding a methamphetamine lab, which Davis says is not uncommon in the area. But then he did some research on the purchaser. "After that, to me, we were thinking about a cult," said Davis. Allred's name led Davis to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a spinoff sect that broke off from the mainstream Mormon Church more than a century ago. The fundamentalists openly practice polygamy, touting the practice as the true path to Heaven. Read more | |
| Mancos is on the map - the wrong one | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published May 10, 2005 | |
| Mancos is in the news more and more often lately, but it's a notoriety many residents could do without. On May 1, the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center released its latest map of "Active U.S. Hate Groups in 2004" (www.splcenter.org/intel/map/hate.jsp). There, in the southwest corner of the Colorado map, is a pin marking the location of Mancos. The reason Mancos made the hate map is because the SPLC has designated the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a hate group, based on derogatory remarks about African-Americans in tape-recorded speeches by FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. And, in July 2003, David Allred, an FLDS member and son-in-law of Jeffs, bought 60 acres off CR 39 in the north end of the Mancos Valley. Last fall, Allred bought another 60 acres nearby. So, all of the outposts of the Jeffs faction of the FLDS have been identified as hate group sites on the map - Eldorado, Texas; Hildale, Utah; Colorado City, Ariz., and Mancos. Though there was a flurry of round-the-clock building activity for several months after Allred purchased the first 60-acre parcel, expanding the residential capacity of the place from three bedrooms and two baths to 10 bedrooms and 10 baths, for at least six months there has been little indication that there is anyone but a caretaker living there. Read more | |
| Officials keep eye on sect's property | |
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By Jim Hughes Denver Post Originally published June 19, 2005 | |
| Law enforcement officials across the Southwest anticipate a lengthy search for the leader of a rebel Mormon polygamist sect who recently was indicted on accusations of arranging a teen's marriage to a man. Warren Jeffs, through his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, is known to own property in Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Texas. But the controversial church leader has been keeping out of sight. "Nobody has seen him in six months," said Andrea Esquer, spokeswoman for the Arizona attorney general's office. Authorities are keeping tabs on known FLDS properties in the U.S., but there could be others here and abroad, said Gary Engels, an investigator in Arizona's Mohave County. "I firmly believe he has places we don't know about," he said. Engels, who has been investigating the church for nine months, said he is seeking evidence for additional indictments in the FLDS enclaves of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. In Colorado, local law enforcement officials continue to monitor church property in the high country north of Mancos, which they say has seen little use by anyone other than caretakers. On Thursday, Montezuma County Undersheriff David Hart saw a couple of cars parked in the driveway but no sign of activity, he said. Read more | |
| Problems pile up for polygamist prophet | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published July 6, 2005 | |
| Other than the plants growing in the neatly fenced gardens on his property at 15252 CR 39 north of Mancos, nothing seems to be going right for Warren Jeffs, self-proclaimed prophet of the polygamous sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeffs himself is on the run or holed up evading arrest on a criminal warrant for illegally marrying a 16-year-old girl in Arizona to an already-married 28-year-old man. The FLDS leader has not definitely been seen in public in more than a year, and he has failed to respond or to engage counsel to defend him against three civil suits in Utah. Winston Blackmore, leader of an FLDS community in British Columbia who was ousted by Warren Jeffs’ father, Rulon Jeffs, while he ruled as Prophet, says in his Share The Light blog (www.sharethelight.ca/b2/?m=200505), "I really think he is in Canada. I’ll bet they have a nice little private location right here in Canada. If he was trying not to get caught, he would just stay here." Meanwhile, back at the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, Texas, the place where Jeffs has had his followers work day and night for 20 months building 20,000-square-foot residences and a huge temple building on a 1,691-acre parcel purchased as a "hunting ranch," the Eldorado Success reported last week that drillers have found oil on an adjacent ranch. Since Jeffs’ son-in-law, David Allred, did not acquire the mineral rights when he purchased the YFZ Ranch for the FLDS, the secretive sect may be forced by Texas law to allow wildcatters to drill for oil in their compound. Read more | |
| FLDS pays Montezuma County taxes | |
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By Tom Vaughan The Mancos Times Originally published July 13, 2005 | |
| In last week’s story on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Mancos Times reported tax delinquency on the properties owned by representatives of the polygamous sect in the Mancos Valley. That situation has been corrected. According to the county treasurer’s office, David Allred — the 2003 purchaser of record of 60 acres at 15252 CR 39, and son-in-law of FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs — paid the taxes on that parcel on April 28 with a check that was returned for insufficient funds. On June 27, Allred sent a cashier’s check for the $6,389.77 tax bill, plus $127.80 in interest accrued while the bill was delinquent. Allred is also president of Sherwood Management Group, Inc., the firm with a Mesquite, Nevada, postal box address that purchased another 60-acre parcel at 15976 CR 39 in 2004. The $824.42 county tax bill on that property was paid by money order on April 28. In the meantime, legal actions beset the FLDS leaders on two fronts. A Utah court is scheduled on July 21 to name new trustees to manage the United Effort Plan Trust, a charitable trust that holds assets in Utah, Arizona and British Columbia estimated to be worth millions of dollars. The UEP has appeared to be under the sole control of Jeffs for more than two years, and the attorney generals of Utah and Arizona have gone to court to stop his alleged looting of the trust. Read more | |
| Secrets behind the gate | |
| As work continues on a secluded compound in southwestern Colorado, authorities and neighbors worry what the nations largest polygamist group is really doing inside its guarded fences. | |
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By Deborah Frazier & Gwen Florio Rocky Mountain News Originally published July 16, 2005 | |
| MANCOS - The mystery begins 10 miles north of town, up a twisted dirt road, past the turn for Joe Moore Reservoir and the San Juan Bible Camp. Shielded by a barbed-wire fence, screened by trees, the nation's largest polygamist sect is stepping up its construction in Colorado this summer. A cacophony of hammers and power saws rings from the site as workers erect log-style lodges for a woodland retreat started two years ago for a man said to have 75 wives and 100 children. Not that all of them would be here at the same time, presumably. But even that is uncertain. Warren Jeffs, the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is facing felony child sex abuse charges in Arizona for his role in arranging a marriage between a teenage girl and a 28-year-old married man. He has not been seen publicly in the United States since January. His outriders in Colorado, including a skinny guy named Ben who patrols the fenceline here on an ATV, do not speak his name. Not to strangers. Read more | |
| Mormon fugitive's brother arrested | |
| Jeffs allegedly harbors polygamist leader | |
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Staff and wire report Cortez Journal Originally published Saturday, November 5th 2005 | |
| A federal judge ruled Thursday that there is enough evidence to pursue charges against Seth Steed Jeffs, who's accused of harboring his brother and fugitive polygamist leader, Warren Jeffs. The brothers have ties to Mancos through the Leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Formal charges came a week after police arrested Seth Jeffs, 32, of Hildale, Utah, during a traffic stop in Colorado and seized $142,000 in cash, thousands of dollars in prepaid debit cards and his older brother’s personal records and correspondence. The younger Jeffs and a man in the SUV with him were arrested in Pueblo on Oct. 28 on charges of prostitution and solicitation for prostitution. Jeffs will be arraigned Nov. 17. The U.S. attorney’s office will pursue a federal indictment against him. Read more | |
| Cult leader placed on FBI’s Most Wanted list | |
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By Reed Upton KOB-TV Channel 4 - Albuquerque, New Mexico Originally broadcast May 8, 2006 | |
| A polygamist cult leader with ties to the Four Corners area has been included in the FBI’s list of the ten most wanted fugitives in the country. When Warren Jeffs was placed on the top ten list, the federal reward for information leading to his capture went up to $100,000. And that’s in addition to the $10,000 being offered by the states of Utah and Arizona where he faces state sex charges. "It puts him in some extraordinary company, including people like Osama bin Laden," said Paul Charlton, an attorney for the State of Arizona. Jeffs is charged with commanding polygamous marriages and directing sexual intercourse between underage girls and married men. Jeffs’ fundamentalist sect of the LDS church broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church. The mainstream church discontinued polygamy in the 19th century. Jeffs' followers have built a new temple in west Texas and the sect has a compound in Mancos, Colorado, about an hour from Farmington. "We have no information that he is at that location," said FBI Special Agent Keith Bennett. "If we had that information then we could take appropriate steps. At this time we believe he is in transit between several different locations." Jeffs’ brother, Seth, pleaded guilty last week to helping his brother elude capture. Seth, though, told federal agents that he does not know where his brother is. Officials consider Jeffs to be very dangerous and have received reports that he travels with armed bodyguards. | |
| FBI searches Lakewood home for polygamist | |
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By Jim Kirksey Denver Post Originally published May 10, 2006 | |
| Warren Jeffs, the polygamous leader wanted by authorities, apparently wasn't home when federal agents came knocking at the door of a small ranch home in a modest Lakewood neighborhood Tuesday morning. Jeffs, 50, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is wanted in Utah and Arizona on charges that he arranged polygamist marriages for underage girls. Federal charges of unlawful flight have recently been added against him. He has not been seen publicly in nearly two years. This past weekend, the FBI added Jeffs to its list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, and he was also profiled on the "America's Most Wanted" television program. A tip from out of town was called in to local authorities Tuesday morning that Jeffs was seen at a Lakewood home in the 2600 block of South Flower Street, 9News was told. Read more | |
| Most Wanted | |
| FBI hunts polygamist with Mancos ties | |
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By Tom Vaughan - Mancos Times Editor Cortez Journal Originally published Thursday, May 11, 2006 | |
| Every major network news program Monday was exploring the FBI's Saturday elevation of Warren Steed Jeffs from the agency's Most Wanted list to a place on the Top 10 list. Jeffs may be almost as unusual a Most Wanted fugitive as Osama bin Laden, a companion on the Top 10 list. He’s not a mad bomber, bank robber or serial killer; he’s the self-styled "prophet" who rules the Fundamental ist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — a polygamous sect estimated at about 10,000 souls — with an iron hand. His elevation to the Top 10 puts a larger price on the head of Jeffs. He’s now worth $100,000 to whoever provides the information leading to his arrest and conviction. He is a fugitive from Arizona with indictments for his role in arranging illegal marriages of underage women to be the plural wives of men two or three times their age. He has also abandoned his defense in civil suits in Utah that accuse him of sexually molesting a young nephew in Sunday School, of casting young men out of the FLDS to reduce competition for young brides and of firing and blacklisting an employee of an FLDS-owned company for his apostasy. In a broader — and largely noncriminal — context, Jeffs is accused of demanding such allegiance to his interpretation of religious beliefs that his followers live in walled-off compounds that are virtual police states. Read more | |
| Jeffs gets probation for FLDS harboring | |
| Brothers share Mancos ties through church | |
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Staff Report Cortez Journal Originally published July 15, 2006 | |
| A U.S. District Court judge in Denver sentenced Seth Steed Jeffs, the man accused of harboring his brother and fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, to three years of supervised probation Friday. Judge Robert E. Blackburn also ordered Seth Jeffs, 33, of Hildale, Utah, to pay a $2,500 fine, as well as a $100 special assessment to a victims-of-crime fund for harboring and aiding and abetting the harboring of his brother. The brothers have ties to Mancos through the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. According to the original affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, as well as the subsequent stipulated facts outlined in the plea agreement, on Oct. 28, 2005 at approximately 3 a.m., the Pueblo County Colorado Sheriff's Office received a citizen report about a suspected intoxicated driver on Interstate 25 near U.S. Highway 50 in southern Colorado. A Pueblo County Sheriff's Deputy located and stopped the suspicious vehicle. The driver of the vehicle, Nathaniel Steed Allred, and the passenger, Seth Jeffs, gave the deputy inconsistent answers to questions regarding their travel plans and where they were earlier that evening. Read more | |
| Warren Jeff's Nephew Jailed For Contempt | |
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By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press KUTV Channel 2 Originally published July 28, 2006 | |
| A nephew of fugitive Warren Jeffs has been jailed on contempt charges in Arizona – the sixth person connected to the exiled polygamist church leader to refuse to answer questions before a federal grand jury investigating Jeffs. Benjamin Jeffs Nielsen, 25, was booked into the Central Arizona Detention Facility in Florence on July 14 by the U.S. Marshal's Service of Phoenix, prison officials confirmed Thursday. Patrick Schneider, chief of the criminal investigations division for the U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix could not confirm that Nielsen was among those subpoenaed by federal authorities over the past seven months. "We don't discuss any ongoing investigation and anything related to a grand jury is not a matter of public record," Schneider said. It could not be immediately determined if Nielsen has an attorney. Read more | |
| One dead in roll-over wreck | |
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By Jennifer Denevan The Mountain Mail - Salida, Colorado Originally published January 14, 2008 | |
| A 10-year-old girl died and a 5-year-old was seriously injured in a single vehicle roll-over wreck on U.S. 50 Monarch Pass Thursday morning. Both were from Las Vegas, Nev. Master Sgt. David Long of the Colorado State Patrol reported Wayne Fischer, 38, of Las Vegas, was driving westbound about 11 a.m. when he lost control of his 2007 pickup on the icy, uphill road, about 13 miles west of Salida. It slid off the south side of the road and down a steep embankment rolling onto its side and hitting a large rock. Long reported the four-door pickup cab held nine occupants. In addition, six children, including the two victims, were riding in the camper shell-covered bed. Private citizens and Chaffee County Emergency Medical Services personnel transported all vehicle occupants except the driver, to Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Salida. Doctors pronounced the 10-year-old girl dead at the hospital. The seriously injured 5-year-old was later flown by fixed-wing aircraft to Children's Hospital in Denver. The nature of her injuries were unreported. Chaffee County Emergency Services, Chaffee County Fire Protection District, Chaffee County Sheriff's Deputies, 11th Judicial District Attorney's Office, Chaffee County Health and Human Services, Salida Police Department and Chaffee County Victim's Assistance Unit responded. Although investigation continues, officers said drugs or alcohol aren't a factor in the crash. | |
| Girl's death in crash sparks abuse probe | |
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By Julie Poppen Rocky Mountain News Originally published Wednesday, January 16, 2008 | |
| Chaffee County child abuse investigators are looking into the death of a 10-year-old girl who was riding in the back of a pickup carrying 14 other people, a Colorado State Patrol sergeant said Tuesday. The State Patrol referred the case to the Chaffee County Health and Human Services Department after officers learned that six children were in sleeping bags beneath a camper shell in the bed of the truck when the crash occurred Thursday morning on Monarch Pass. There were nine other people - including more children and the driver, 38-year-old Wayne Fischer, of Las Vegas - in the cab of the 2008 four-door Chevrolet pickup when it slid off the road and landed on its side. State Patrol Sgt. David Long said Fischer was driving west on an ice-slicked U.S. 50, 13 miles west of Salida, when he lost control. Veronica Fischer, of Las Vegas, died at a hospital. poppenj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5176 | |
| Driver in court after crashing truck with 15 people inside | |
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By Jeffrey Wolf KUSA TV 9 News - Denver Originally broadcast Wednesday, January 23, 2008 | |
| SALIDA – A 38-year-old man from Las Vegas who was driving a pickup truck with 15 people in it when it slid off an icy mountain pass appeared in court on Wednesday. Wayne Fischer's 10-year-old daughter was killed in the Jan. 10 accident. His truck crashed on Monarch Pass on Highway 50 about 13 miles west of Salida. Chaffee County investigators say Fischer was driving with family when the truck crashed, including two women and 12 children. According to the arrest affidavit, nine people were in the cab of the Chevy pickup and six children were in sleeping bags in the truck bed, which was covered by a camper shell. None of the children were in seat belts or child seats. Fischer was advised of his rights on Wednesday, but Chaffee County prosecutors say they are waiting to file charges against him until the investigation is complete. "It's inappropriate for me to discuss any issues related to what charges may be filed until I have all the reports and information on hand," said Chafee County Deputy District Attorney Rex Kindall. Read more | |
| Driver of pickup truck arraigned in court | |
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By Jennifer Denevan The Mountain Mail - Salida, Colorado Originally published January 24, 2008 | |
| Wayne Fischer, 38 of Las Vegas, Nev., was arraigned in Chaffee County Court Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 10 traffic death of a 10-year-old girl and injury to others. In addition, a 5-year-old girl, one of 15 people in the pickup truck driven by Fischer when it rolled on Monarch Pass, was seriously injured and two others received minor injuries requiring treatment at Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center in Salida. Chaffee County Judge William Alderton continued the case to March 12 for a status conference to allow Rex Kindall, deputy 11th Judicial District Attorney, time to complete his report against Fischer. During the appearance Wednesday, Fischer, free on $1,000 bail, received official notification of 15 criminal charges stemming from the vehicle crash. Charges include one count of careless driving causing death and two counts of careless driving causing bodily injury. In addition, there are four counts of failure to provide or properly use child restraint systems and eight counts of failure to provide or properly use seatbelts for 6- to 17-year-olds. Read more | |
| Driver in fatal wreck pleads no contest | |
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By Jennifer Denevan The Mountain Mail - Salida, Colorado Originally published March 13, 2008 | |
| Wayne Fischer, 38 of Las Vegas, Nev., pleaded no contest to 15 traffic charges when he appeared in Chaffee County Court Wednesday in connection with the Jan. 10 death of a 10-year-old girl. Chaffee County Judge William Alderton conducted the status conference and accepted the list of complaints filed by Deputy 11th Judicial District Attorney Rex Kindall. Fischer represented himself. Fischer faced one count of careless driving resulting in death and two counts of careless driving resulting in injury. Other charges were three counts of no child restraint for children younger than 4 years old and nine counts of no child restraint for 6- to 17-year-old children. Alderton set sentencing for 3 p.m. May 7 in Chaffee County Court. Kindall said Fischer may face a sentence of as many as 30 days in jail and a two-year probation. How and where probation would occur was discussed, but won't be determined until the sentencing hearing. Fischer was driving a 2007 pickup on U.S. 50 Monarch Pass with a total of 15 passengers in the cabin and camper shell-covered bed of the vehicle when he lost control and went off the road. The pickup rolled onto its side against a large boulder, crushing the shell. Read more | |
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