Jeffs gets probation for FLDS harboring
 Brothers share Mancos ties through church
 
Staff Report
Cortez Journal
 
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.

Formal charges came a week after police arrested Jeffs during the traffic stop and seized $142,000 in cash, thousands of dollars in prepaid debit cards and his older brother's personal records and correspondence.

The FLDS church owns two parcels of land in Montezuma County near Mancos. One is a 60-acre tract at 15976 County Road 39, which was purchased in October 2004. The other piece of land was bought in July 2003 and is situated at 15252 County Road 39.

Both FLDS properties near Mancos are listed under Sherwood Management Group Inc. with a postal box address in Mesquite.

David Allred, who is believed to be a member and agent of the church, has his signature on the deed of trust for the land. He is also listed as the president of Sherwood Management.

Prosecutors argued that it was clear that the items seized from the SUV, including debit cards worth about $7,000, were intended for Warren Jeffs and were meant to help the FLDS leader maintain church business and receive money while on the run from the FBI.

Warren Jeffs, 49, has been a fugitive since his June indictment in Arizona on charges of arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a man who was already married.
 
CortezJournal.com
Originally published July 15, 2006
 
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