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SALT LAKE CITY — Prosecutors say it's for the court to decide whether federal food stamp laws violate religious freedom rights of Fundamentalist LDS Church members.
And if the government wins on that issue, it wants the judge in the case to tell the jury that Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP benefits must be used to buy food for an authorized recipient's household and that they can't be donated to another organization.
The Utah U.S. Attorney's Office filed court papers Wednesday arguing against FLDS Church members' motion to drop the criminal charges against them. Eleven members of the polygamous sect were indicted in February on charges of food stamp fraud. They have pleaded not guilty.
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the First Amendment allow church members to share food stamp benefits as part of their communal living, their attorneys argued in court documents.
Like Amish who don't send their children to public high school, FLDS members believe not donating their food stamp benefits would go against their religious beliefs and "endanger their own salvation," attorneys wrote.
Prosecutors say FLDS leaders instructed followers to buy items with their food stamp cards and give them to a church warehouse, where leaders decided how to distribute the products.
They say food stamps were also cashed at FLDS-owned stores without the users getting anything in return. As much as $12 million in benefits were diverted to front companies and were used to pay thousands for a tractor, truck and other items, prosecutors say.
Two FLDS leaders charged in the case, Seth Jeffs and John Wayman, are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22 for allegedly violating the conditions of their release from jail pending trial.
Another leader, Lyle Jeffs, slipped off his GPS ankle monitor and fled a Salt Lake home after the judge freed him from jail. He remains a fugitive.
