New FLDS Outpost Found in South Dakota (Warren Jeffs cult)

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

From the Salt Lake Tribune:

A third outpost created by followers of fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs has been discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

The South Dakota site appears to be on par with an FLDS development in Mancos, Colo., said author Jon Krakauer, who has visited the tiny town twice to document the new holding. A building permit lists costs of materials at $450,000 - but nothing for labor.

"By the amount of money being put into it, it is an important property," Krakauer said. "The lengths they've gone to to keep it secret are extraordinary." Krakauer said Mohave County authorities received an anonymous tip about the development last summer but had too little information to trace the property.

Krakauer, author of Under The Banner of Heaven, has devoted his efforts to tracking Jeffs' activities. The 50-year-old Jeffs is wanted by the FBI on an Arizona charge of arranging an underage marriage.

http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3582293
If link doesn't work, try: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=173521
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From the Eldorado Success, the newspaper in Eldorado TX (where a similar FLDS settlement has been established) that investigated and broke this story:
(snip)
Allred is the man who fronted the purchase of the YFZ Ranch here in Schleicher County. It was also he who claimed the property was intended for use as a corporate hunting retreat. Allred later came forward to face Schleicher County officials and admit he had lied about the purpose of the YFZ Ranch.

Other things sounded familiar, too. Things like strangers driving cars and trucks with out-of-state license plates, women wearing pioneer-syle dresses, large log cabin-style homes being erected, and guards on 4-wheelers who challenge anyone approaching the property line.

All that, combined with one last piece of information, was enough to convince Success editor Randy Mankin that the tip was legitimate. The final tidbit of information involved trucks bearing the company name Z-Trans coming and going from the South Dakota property.

Z-Trans, Inc. is a corporation registered in St. George, Utah. The company’s director and registered agent is Robert Dockstader Allred, another of Warren Jeffs’ loyal followers.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/13878
---------------------

"The Prophet" Warren Jeffs, is the absolute head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the largest polygamy cult in the country. Jeffs is wanted by the FBI on charges of child sexual abuse for having sanctified a marriage between a 16-year-old female and a 28-year-old, already-married male. All females in his highly secretive cult reside in utter submission to males. All children are home-schooled. No outside influence is permitted. All males turn over their paychecks to Jeffs or they are denied wives. Even with their leader on the lam, the FLDS continues to grow and spread, with enclaves in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Mexico and British Columbia.


Here is a great resource with links to many articles about Jeffs and the FLDS cult.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy186.html

Warren Jeffs - woof, whatta man!


His dad (and cult founder) Rulon Jeffs with two of his estimated 75 wives, now widows


The FLDS concrete bunker, er, temple in Eldorado


Jeffs' loyal minions should be commended for thinking ahead of the curve by establishing camp in South Dakota...

[The Straight Story]

1. Ah heck, leave em all alone

Freedom of choice, freedom to marry as much as you want to as many as you want, etc and so on.

We need to stay out of people's bedrooms and all that. Unless they are fundies of course....

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

4. You think this is a "bedroom" issue?

Jeffs tells women - and underage girls - who they'll marry. The men get wives based on how much money and loyalty they pay to Jeffs. Show me the freedom and choice.

I am not concerned if people freely choose to enter into polygamous relationships. I am very concerned about any religious cult that is spreading its reach and influence to degrade and destroy the lives of more and more people.

Read the February 06 AP story about the rise of a rare birth defect among the offspring of these cultists that causes "severe mental retardation, epileptic seizures and other effects that often leaves children unable to take care of themselves."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy417.html

Read this month's ABC Primetime report about a woman who escaped the cult after being taken by force three times to a mental institution for disobeying her husband.

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy419.html

Maybe we should just ignore the FLDS till it stops spending its money on compounds and starts buying lobbyists instead.

[gonefishing]

9. You need to get the "Straight Story" before you make a ...

comment like that. What these people do and continue to do to under aged girls is absolutely disgusting. Here are some links:

http://helpthechildbrides.com/

http://www.polygamy.org/

After seeing those sites and you if you are as outraged as I was then read:

Under the Banner of Heaven : A Story of Violent Faith
by Jon Krakauer

In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith
by Todd Compton

Roughing It, by Mark Twain

[LostinVA]

13. Do you not have any idea about these criminals???

Incest, "exchanging" wives from one man to another when he falls out of favor, forcing girls as Yong as 12 to be "married" to a man (sometimes RELATIVES, even stepfathers!), throwing the young boys out of town, etc.

Child rape and female subjugation.

This isn't some free love commune.

They are sick fucks.

[jwirr]

21. These people are fundies when it comes to voting repug.

[meganmonkey]

26. Freedom for a 14 year old girl to be forced into marriage with a 50 year

old perve.

That's nobody's business but his, right?

Do a little research. Here's a few hundred articles about this sick group to get you started.

http://www.rickross.com/groups/polygamy.html

[kestrel91316]

34. So you think it's ok to imprison women their entire lives and

forcibly marry them off at age 13 to some abusive pedophilic 50-yr-old with 30 other "wives"? You think it's ok for them to cheat the state out of millions of dollars in welfare?

Sorry. We have laws against this sort of nonsense, and those CHILDREN need to be protected from this rampant sexual and emotional abuse.

You like it, go live in Saudi Arabia or a Taliban enclave in Afghanistan.

[wakeme2008]

2. I guess I do not understand how

there are men with so many "wifes". With a basic 50/50 male to female ratio, it sounds like a lot of males never get even one wife.

And then where does all the money come from ....

just early morning questions :)

[Nostradammit]

3. And why would you WANT more than one wife?

These men are insane.

:P

[wakeme2008]

5. Why would men want even one wife

..I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking......I am Thinking....

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

7. Why? Because they need three wives to get into heaven

That's what the Prophet teaches.

Where do the women come from? This cult splintered from the Mormons almost a century ago, and the women produce many children. But there is a shortage of women, which leads to child marriages, incest and child abuse.

The Prophet awards men with wives based on their "worthiness." Men can also become unworthy; then the Prophet forces the women to leave and take the children. Teenaged boys are regularly excommunicated and cast out of their homes and communities, allegedly because of the competition with older men that they represent.

Where does the money come from? It is estimated that a third of the membership receives state and federal aid, though no one reports being employed. The Church owns everything - the property and the labor of its members. The members own nothing. There are many allegations of tax and welfare fraud, not to mention abuse of every kind. There is also a large hay farm operated by FLDS zealots in Nevada.

The problem isn't polygamy. I know educated, liberal people who are polygamists by their own free choice. The problem is a Taliban-like cult led by a thief, cheat, and child abuser/molester who destroys lives, preaches racism and is suspected of practicing "blood atonement" - absolution of sin through death - all in the name of Jesus, right here in the good ol' USA.

[aquart]

10. So they're communists?

[jwirr]

22. I had to laugh - they would have a fit being called that!

[LostinVA]

14. That;'s because the majority of boys and young men are driven out of town

Young teenage boys are taken from their families and thrown onto the streets... because there aren't enough women for the "loyal" men -- and the more wives they have to rape and control, the better chance they will go to heaven and become gods themselves.

[MissB]

28. I read an article in a magazine recently

about how the young teen males were being forced out for the smallest offense (listening to rock music, dancing). I suppose if you toss them on the street you no longer have to compete with them.

[kestrel91316]

35. The young men are literally thrown out of the compound when

they hit about age 16. And with those WONDERFUL social skills and the GREAT education they receive there, you can imagine their fate in open society..............

Another of the RLDS's dirty little secrets.

They also tend to take over local government and run their own little theocratic fiefdom, and all the normal people flee the community for their lives!

[Up2Late]

6. So does this mean West Texas is out? NPR did some good reporting on...

...this *ssh*le back in May, here are some links:

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4629743>

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4627871>

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4699769>

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4673951>

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

8. Nope, this is in addition to West Texas

They have communities in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Mexico and British Columbia, and now South Dakota. Thanks for those links - I looked at the NPR story when I wrote up the OP. :)

[LostinVA]

11. %Then the new law is PERFECT for them:

Especially since they already indulge in rape and incest.

Sickening.

Hey, South Dakota! How about using all of this energy and money to help the Lakota on Pine Ridge and the other third-world reservations? Huh?

[LostinVA]

12. To make it worse: in the Sacred Black Hills that the Lakota legally OWN

per US treaty, but which the US government REFUSES to adhere to -- even though they have been judged that they have to.

[kestrel91316]

36. Well, maybe we should drop a hint to the Lakota to do

a little local cleanup of the mess..........I betcha they could do a real number on Jeff's lunatics.

Oops, my bad. The Lakota don't get to run things on all of their OWN LAND.

The only good thing is, these people are in SD. Let them stay there. The state is a disgrace anyway.

[Ian David]

15. Any chance of tying Romney to this guy? n/t

[QuettaKid]

16. There are a TON of photos here

of the Texas compound.

http://web.sccn2.net/flds/

[saigon68]

29. Warren Jeffs

http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/fugitive/feb2006/febjeffs.htm

[Media_Lies_Daily]

17. Why is this an LBN story? In comparison to all of the other news.....

...today, where does this story rank in relative importance?

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

18. Where does it rank in relative importance to you?

The OP is based on news reports less than 24 hours old regarding a suspected hideout for a fugitive on the FBI's Most Wanted list. It's an ongoing story that has received wide media coverage since Warren Jeffs' flight from justice last summer.

So what makes it unqualified for LBN? The polygamy angle? Polygamy is funny, innit? Who wants more than one wife anyway? Or maybe because the polygamy angle brings in white Christian females, like the Natalee Holloway story, and white females in peril don't get much respect on DU. Or maybe because a cult is something that someone can simply choose to walk away from - even though many can't, especially when their families have been part of one for over 100 years.

But consider that the FLDS is a highly secretive, 10,000-member cult that sanctions incest, child abuse, sexual abuse, and is suspected of tax and welfare fraud. It is listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. And now it is spreading from Utah, whose politicians and law enforcement officials have long ignored it rather than stir up anger among Mormon voters, to other parts of the country.

The FLDS is, by dint of its totalitarian fundamentalism and disregard for US law, an anti-government group. It's far bigger than Posse Comatitus or the Branch Davidians, with whom it shares a number of similarities. That's why, white women and polygamy aside, it's well worth keeping an eye on the FLDS and its fugitive leader.

I wasn't aware that members are required to gauge a story's importance against all current threads before posting in LBN. This story is at least equal in relevance to those about furry crustaceans, Ambien sleep-driving and Congressional interest in Hollywood sex scenes - none of which have earned any posts questioning their place in LBN. I urge anyone who disagrees to alert the moderators.

[snooper2]

19. Thanks for posting..

I didn't know these crazy bastards are so close to me (I'm in Dallas)

Time to take a little drive I think...

[gonefishing]

20. Great post, Great work

It's ridiculous that you had to defend that post. The crimes that these men commit against young girls is hideous. I had no idea what the "FLDS" was all about until I read Jon Krakuaer's Under the Banner of Heaven. Now I go nuts when ever I hear the acronym.

Did you see the Prime Time interview w/the father who said he felt his daughters were the equivalent of farm animals and he touch them any where he wanted? Trust me folks, that was not an isolated incident.

I didn't know Krakuaer is still active in this. I love his books and I really admire him. I also admire you for all your posts.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

24. Gracias

Your kind words are appreciated. :hi:

The Church of the Latter Day Saints disowns them. The law ignores them. The locals don't like them but, as conservative Christians themselves, are reluctant to interfere in what they see as an issue of faith. So why should we care about dumb cracker fundies out in the middle of nowhere, who have money, guns and a leader on the run? If the story involved Muslims in the Middle East, maybe more people would.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

27. I was glad to see the story posted

I try and keep up with the movement of such groups. Frankly I fear they are potentially dangerous in more ways than the obvious child and sexual abuse. I feel we should never turn a blind eye on groups such as these, lest we some day regret it.

[The Magistrate]

30. Well Said, Ma'am!

It is a stroy of considerable importance, in my view.

[formercia]

23. Sounds like Saudi Arabia, christian cult style

same mentality.

[meganmonkey]

25. This website has a great list of articles about this cult leader

And it seems to updated pretty regularly.

http://www.rickross.com/groups/polygamy.html

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

31. That is an excellent resource

I read a number of those articles and look forward to exploring the whole site. As someone with a close family member who was part of a cult for many years, I am keenly aware of the destructive power of cults and interested in any group that uses religious faith to manipulate and subjugate its members.

[meganmonkey]

32. Yeah, I spent about 3 days once reading articles from there

I, like many others, like to stay out of the bedrooms of others, but this cult in particular opened my eyes to the ugly reality of many polygamous communities.

And for the record, I noticed this same link was already in the OP :blush: but it was way past the editing time for my post to mention that. But if my duplicate brings this link to a set of eyes that missed it in the OP like me, that is a good thing.

I am sorry for what you and your family must have gone through. :hug:

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

33. No problem - I agree, the more links the better

Thank you for your kind thoughts. :hug:

He came out of it okay. He had been such a rational and logical child that it was surprising he ever joined, but they got to him as a teen when people are so susceptible. But he returned to us, married and raised a beautiful family, and by all standards is pretty normal...whatever that is. ;)