Lyle Jeffs To Remain In Custody Pending Salt Lake City Trial

FLDS Food Stamp
Lyle Steed Jeffs is one of 11 FLDS Church members and officials charged with fraud. Photo Courtesy: Davis County Sheriff

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, April 7, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Fundamentalist LDS Church bishop Lyle Jeffs has been ordered to remain in jail while he waits for his trial, according to court documents released Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart heard several hours of arguments at a Wednesday hearing in which Jeffs’ attorneys requested their client be released until his trial. The judge did not issue a decision.

On Thursday, the judge ruled that Jeffs, 56, would remain in jail, citing concerns that Jeffs might flee or try to intimidate witnesses in the case against him.

Lyle Jeffs and 10 other high-ranking members of the Fundamentalist Church of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are facing federal charges in connection with food stamp fraud and money laundering. Three defendants, including Jeff’s brother Seth, have been released until trial.

The FLDS officials and members chargedĀ are accused of cheating the government and taxpayers out of more than $12 million by getting church members to hand over food stamps to church leaders for use in unauthorized ways.

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