FLDS man in food stamp fraud case sentenced to $25 fee, training

FLDS man in food stamp fraud case sentenced to $25 fee, training


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SALT LAKE CITY — Another suspect accepted a plea deal Friday in a food stamp fraud case brought against 11 polygamists on the Utah-Arizona border that marked a major government effort to try to crack down on the sect that has sparked criticism now that all but one of the suspects has avoided prison time.

Preston Barlow pleaded guilty to a food stamp fraud charge during a brief hearing in Salt Lake City. The agreement dismisses money laundering and conspiracy charges and allows Barlow to avoid prison time.

Barlow was ordered to pay a $25 administrative fee and attend a food stamp training session next month.

Nine of the 11 people charged in the high-profile bust of February 2016 have taken plea deals, while one person had his charges dismissed.

The one lingering case is that of fugitive Lyle Jeffs, the highest-ranking leader ensnared in the bust. Jeffs slipped out of his GPS ankle monitor and escaped home confinement in Salt Lake City in June after a judge let him out of jail despite prosecutor's concerns that he was a flight risk.

The FBI has a $50,000 reward for information leading to his arrest. He is the brother of Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

Prosecutors insist justice was served, noting that two of the suspects pleaded guilty to felonies and spent several months in jail while awaiting trial. The others pleaded guilty to misdemeanors.

"We're satisfied putting criminal convictions on all these defendants," said prosecutor Robert Lund outside court Friday.

But critics of the FLDS Church are livid that prosecutors caved in and didn't go to trial and seek the maximum punishments. The defendants faced up to five years in prison on food stamp fraud charges and 20 years in prison for money laundering.

"This has set us back years as far as holding this criminal organization accountable for their actions," said Sam Brower, a private investigator who has researched the sect for years. "They're going to get more polished at what they do."

The suspects were accused of knowingly breaking the law by not only donating food bought with food stamps to a communal storehouse but diverting funds to front companies to pay for a tractor, truck and other items. Authorities said sect leaders lived lavishly while low-ranking followers suffered.

During a multiyear investigation led by the FBI, Investigators took aerial videos by plane and installed surveillance cameras at a polygamous town's general store to gather evidence.

Defense attorney Scott Williams, representing Barlow, said his client didn't "get off" but took responsibility for his actions and suffered through the criminal justice process.

Barlow declined comment.

The food stamp fraud case was the government's latest move targeting the sect, coinciding with legal battles in two states over child labor and discrimination against nonbelievers. A federal judge in Arizona is considering whether to disband the police department as punishment for the towns being found guilty by a jury of discriminating against people who aren't members of the religion.

The polygamous group's leader is Warren Jeffs, who is considered a prophet by his followers. He is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides.

A turning point in the food stamp case came in November when U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart denied a request by prosecutors and said he would allow defense attorneys at trial to argue that FLDS members had a religious right to share the products purchased with their food stamps.

That ruling was one of several liabilities prosecutors would have faced in taking the cases to trial, said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah. She added that it shouldn't be surprising the cases were settled because the vast majority of federal cases end with plea deals.

"There are people that hoped this prosecution would vindicate every wrong that had ever been committed at any time by anyone by either members or former members of the FLDS Church," Lund said. "That was never the intention of the case."

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BRADY McCOMBS - Associated Press

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