Polygamist leader arrested after nearly a year on the run
Lyle Jeffs, a leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was arrested without incident Wednesday night in South Dakota after being on the lam for close to a year.
Jeffs, 57, was one of 11 members of the Mormon offshoot sect charged last year with felony conspiracy to defraud the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and felony conspiracy to commit money laundering. Prosecutors say the men demanded that FLDS members hand over their SNAP cards, or use them at stores controlled by the FLDS so the benefits could be converted to cash. A tipster led police to a marina in Yankton, South Dakota, where Jeffs was living out of a Ford F-150 truck, the FBI said. Earlier this week, Jeffs came into a local pawn shop and made $37 by pawning two pairs of pliers; the owner told The Associated Press that Jeffs showed his ID, went by the name Jeffs Lyle Steed, and appeared to be nervous and "acting like a freak."
Jeffs, who is being held without bond and will be sent back to Utah, is the younger brother of the FLDS's imprisoned president, Warren Jeffs, who was once on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. Warren Jeffs was also arrested while on the run, and later convicted of sexually abusing two girls he married as plural wives. He is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years in prison.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Ecuador's cloud forest has legal rights – and maybe a song credit
Under the Radar In a world first, 'rights of nature' project petitions copyright office to recognise Los Cedros forest as song co-creator
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Today's political cartoons - November 3, 2024
Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - presidential pitching, wavering convictions, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Why Man United finally lost patience with ten Hag
Talking Point After another loss United sacked ten Hag in hopes of success in the Champion's League
By The Week UK Published
-
Menendez brothers may go free in LA prosecutor plan
Speed Read Prosecutors are asking for the brothers to be resentenced for the 1989 murder of their parents
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Abercrombie ex-CEO charged with sex crimes
Speed Read Mike Jeffries ran the brand during its heyday from 1992 to 2014
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Trump criminal trial starts with rulings, reminder
Speed Read The first day of his historic trial over hush money payments was mostly focused on jury selection
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Parents of school shooter sentenced to 10-15 years
Speed Read Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first parents to be convicted in a US mass shooting
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Unlicensed dealers and black market guns
Speed Read 68,000 illegally trafficked guns were sold in a five year period, said ATF
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Bankman-Fried gets 25 years for fraud
Speed Read Former "crypto king" Sam Bankman-Fried will report to federal prison
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Feds raid Diddy homes in alleged sex trafficking case
Speed Read Homeland Security raided the properties of hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'Goon Squad' cops sentenced for torturing 2 Black men
Speed Read The former Mississippi law enforcement officers pleaded guilty last year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published