Desert Tech's profits are funneled into the Kingston Family structure for support and funding. for comment on the family's holdings, but Mr. Kingston as of press time The federal government also wants to seize the office building in South Salt Lake that law enforcement raided in 2016 seeking evidence of fraud by Washakie and other businesses. aren't sparked at dances that occur monthly or so, leaders of the group [17] That same year, Ardous Kingston Gustafson, a mother of four and founding Co-op member, was jailed on Christmas Eve when she could not produce membership lists that were to be used to target plural families for further arrest and harassment. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax Despite the numerous sources of income available to the Kingston organization, All rights reserved. Utah, and and holdings in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, California and Nevada Their mother, Rachel Ann Kingston, 64, also pleaded guilty to five counts. In her complaint, Amanda Rae Grant claims she was assigned to work in her early teens at Advance Copy, where wedding announcements and invitations were printed, because wedding pictures of little girls marrying men in incestuous or plural marriages could not be printed at Walmart. The hotel is walking distance from the station (10 minute walk) and the room we were in had a great view!" Reviewed on Jul 13, 2018. [14] Some of their secrecy might be attributed to a fear of arrest for living in plural marriages, as had happened in 19591960 when being investigated by the Davis County Grand Jury, which some members claimed was organized by LDS Apostles Mark E. Peterson and Spencer W. The Latter Day Church of Christ, is considered a Mormon fundamentalist denomination by some in the Latter Day Saint movement. even as the church publicly disavowed the practice. assets, property or loans in his name. He was a kid when the Swift raids split his family. but argued many members of the Kingston Group bore some culpability if only for not reporting what they knew about the frauds. [45] Members allege to have been targeted for audit at a rate over 9x the published IRS average for the general population, with no pattern of fraud being found outside of a couple of bad-actors. insurance fraud claim. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. works for really low wages.". "They were sick and tired of being harassed. Then, in 1997, California passed new laws regulating gambling. None of them received a paycheck, they allege. Utah farms and severely beat her for attempting to escape her arranged "With a well-thought-out plan," Hope After Polygamy explains, "she was successful; the judge granted her emancipation when she was 17 years old. Lookout, page 5). Testimony in the 2020 trial for Lev Aslan Dermen . Their Utah-based empire is huge, however, and spans at least six states. desperate attempt to flee a polygamous marriage to her uncle has put the According to a history published in the bureau complaint, cousins Joseph and Clyde Elden Kingston, along with Clydes son Ted and Josephs daughter Michelle Kingston-Knighton began the purchasing process in 1991. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Federal prosecutors have given notice they want to seize homes and businesses belonging to rank-and-file members of the polygamous Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. Its also unclear if the Lake Elsinore Casino owners are reticent to share personal and financial information due to the beliefs of Kingston Group followers. The Latter Day Church of Christ,[1] is considered a Mormon fundamentalist denomination by some in the Latter Day Saint movement. The corporation produces goods and services that are used by members, and sold or traded to other cooperatives and to the public. The extent of the clan's influence only came to light recently, when the IRS raided several Kingston-owned businessesincluding Washakie Renewable, an energy company owned by Julianna's former . She compared the government effort to seeking to take the home of someone who borrowed money from Martha Stewart after she was busted for insider trading. Value; and Little Red School house Montessori (see (Other properties likely are held under other names.). But with the right data . The background investigation for what is now Lake Elsinore Casino and its owners was completed by September 2008. Entities with ties to the Kingston polygamist clan are trying to prevent the disclosure of thousands of documents seized as part of a massive fraud case against four members of the family. Kingston are brothers. KUTV When several businesses inside the Kingston polygamist empire, including Washakie Renewable Energy, was raided by federal agents Wednesday, officials where tight lipped. [49] As part of the plea deal and restitution, the company forfeits rights to a number of assets including their bio-fuel plant in Plymouth, Utah. Donate to the newsroom now. Systems - one of the organization's accounting and book-keeping entities After the escape, the couple married and eventually had two children. Rachel and Sally Kingston, who were officers at the company, were accused of helping forge documents or launder money, too. Rachel Kingston, in her plea agreement, admitted to being tipped off about the 2016 raid. And, "We cannot and will not condone or support anyone found to be engaged in any fraudulent behaviors. Nov 29, 2019 - Explore Kingston Clan's board "Bountiful Baby Kingston owned business" on Pinterest. John Daniel Kingston has been charged with one count of child abuse, a second- degree felony. connected with 23 commercial and residential properties in Salt Lake County - could truthfully record a "0" in court papers when asked to list debts, [19] For many years, members of the Co-operative lived in poor conditions, and those in need had no legal way to apply for assistance. for supporting their families emotionally or financially," the Observer's "They recognized," Christensen said, "[pleading guilty] was better for the group, The Order, than to have all the Order teachings and everything come out at the trial.". Cooperative Society, in 1935 after having a power struggle with other fundamentalist She accuses Kingston Jr of physically overpowering and raping her to try to get her pregnant. Jacob Kingston also has been accused of using money to buy political influence in that country, and prosecutors resisted efforts to have him released pending trial for fear he would flee there. never publicly endorsed polygamy, according to historian Richard S. Van While the clan shares many of the beliefs of other polygamous groups, it stands apart in practicing incest, former members . "They're pretty clever," the source said. Jacob O. Kingston, the companys CEO, pleaded guilty Thursday to 41 charges including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and witness tampering and obstruction of justice, according to a court docket. to have more than 30 wives. D. [21][26], The Latter Day Church of Christ is based on a belief in Jesus Christ and the restoration of his gospel in these latter days. Apr 18 - Apr 19. . Get the latest business insights from Dun & Bradstreet. "Those are all my siblings," she replied. Learn More. Phone calls there went unanswered Friday. John Ortell Kingston (1919-1987): Brother to Charles Elden and son to their father Charles, John guided the church from 1948 to 1987. [27] It is not affiliated with the mainstream LDS Church. cents an hour, increasing pay to the minimum wage, the Observer's source Brothers John Daniel Kingston, the father of the girl now in state custody, The companies would create inflated invoices and other paperwork to launder the money. Ferrer asked. The casino and the city its named for sit along Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and San Diego. He died of cancer in 1948 at the age of 39. to author Max Anderson, Charles W. Kingston helped produce a pamphlet that In a lawsuit filed earlier this month, the sects ex-members allege: It is largely through illegal marriage practices that the [Kingston Group] is able to unlawfully make girls and their children religious martyrs and traffic them for sexual and labor purposes.. is half sister. As found in: Multiple sects currently claim to be true successor, however, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Factional breakdown: Mormon fundamentalist sects, "Unlikely whistleblower helps uncover alleged half-billion tax scam by secretive polygamist sect members", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", The Primer, Helping Victims of Domestic Violence and Child Abuse in Polygamous Communities, "Plural Marriage and Mormon Fundamentalism", "John Ortell Kingston (Elden's Brother) Leads 1948-87", "Patterns of Polygamy Davis County's Kingston clan - County's polygamy roots run deep", "Kingston pleads guilty to incest charge", "Incest could be behind probe of Kingston family", "2021 Utah Code:: Title 76 - Utah Criminal Code:: Chapter 7 - Offenses Against the Family:: Part 1 - Marital Violations:: Section 102 - Incest -- Definitions -- Penalty", "New allegations of abuse in the polygamous Kingston family", "Utah polygamist sect accused of indoctrination, rape and child marriage", "As trial nears end, critics of polygamous towns wonder whether verdict will matter", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Lake Elsinore Econo Lodge Casino in Lake Elsinore, California. Instead of being listed on her birth certificate, Grant says the document listed a fictitious father called Kyle Grant. became public after her father took her to one -of the family's northern The episode, "Polygamy, Power and Profits: The Case Against the Kingstons," airs Friday, May 31 at 8/7c on CBS. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sally Kingston, the wife of Jacob Kingston, leaves the federal courthouse, after a hearing for Jacob and Isaiah Kingston Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2018. Isaiah Kingston was the chief financial officer at Washakie and is accused of wiring funds from the fraud. One of Kingstons's most profitable enterprises is a bituminous coal -- including business associations with casinos, the Observer's source (Leah Hogsten | Tribune file photo) WRE or Washakie Renewable Energy employs 40 people. Five people, including four Utah family members associated with a polygamous clan, were sentenced to federal prison last week for a billion-dollar tax fraud scheme associated with their biofuel company, according to a statement released April 7. which in turn sees after families' needs. The board unanimously approved a motion to allow horse wagering at Lake Elsinore Casino. The people who bought the casino in the 1990s were descendants of the men who started the Davis County Cooperative Society. name. Prosecutors believed the properties were financed with money from a fraud where Washakie Renewable Energy owners Jacob, 43, and Isaiah Kingston, 38, mislead federal agencies in order to receive tax credits for biofuel production. The scheme included filing for $512 million in federal renewable-fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2016 through a company named Washakie Renewable Energy LLC. To help Utah achieve statehood, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a manifesto ending polygamy as a practice in 1890. Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Former sect members who reviewed the list of properties and their registered owners at the request of The Salt Lake Tribune said the homes include those belonging to wives of Paul E. Kingston, the leader of the group. Upon the creation of the LDCJC, most members of the DCCS . All went bareheaded and barefoot. [A look at some of the businesses, homes and other properties prosecutors want to seize in the Washakie Renewable Energy fraud]. West is typically estimated at 30,000, though disaffected members of such That includes the production facility in Plymouth as well as holdings in Texas, California, Turkey and Belize. "What kind of harassment did you and Mary receive?" in revenues of $ 1 million a month, according to the observer's source. firm that posted a $10,000 bond to release David 0. The Observer attempted to reach Carl E. Kingston roots - including Utah Gov. "State investigators found no wrongdoing among members of the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. concrete warehouse-line structure at 53 W. Angelo Ave. The plaintiffs complaint added those practices facilitated so-called attempts by the Kingston Group to bleed the beast a term used in polygamous communities to describe how they can benefit by defrauding the government and its taxpayers. Arrow Real Estate and Property Compliance, Fountain of Youth Health and Athletic Club. Melissa Ellis, who left the sect years ago, wanted to know more about the properties ties to the fraud before deciding whether to support the seizures. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The population of polygamist clans in the The "organization, as insiders refer to it, has maintained a remarkably The administrative law judges decision is expected to be made public in late June. The clan "So, when Mary was telling me -- this is the biggest company that the Order has, I started to immediately suspect fraud," Bryan Nelson explained. Prosecutors also have filed notice of intent to seize property from the sect's incorporated church, the Latter-Day Church of Christ. Members are encouraged to prayerfully seek guidance from their parents or through personal inspiration, but ultimately, the decision must be their own, the group said in its response to the lawsuit. According to the government, Washakie's founders, brothers Jacob and Isaiah Kingston, falsified the company's tax filings to obtain a massive $511 million worth of fraudulent tax credits. Adding to the Kingstons's coffers are farms and businesses in northern The largest biodiesel producer in Utah, Washakie Renewable Energy, held an open house in Plymouth on Thursday, September 1, 2011 to showcase its new production facility. Even though only four members of the Kingston Group have been charged with crimes, the governments motion seeks to take homes and businesses from a wider swath of followers. are more polygamists than ever, as the ranks of practitioners continue Neither Ted nor Joseph Kingston nor the pairs attorney responded to requests for comment. This practice has been attributed to "endogamous preference and the small size of the groups population" according to recent research from the University of California. for example, it's impossible to find any property records in the Kingston Chances are many Salt Lakers have unknowingly patronized the extended polygamous clans' companies, which include vending machine businesses, an ice distributor, accounting and financial firms, grocery and clothing stores, a fitness spa, and even a preschool. low profile in Utah at the same time it has built a financial empire that Carl E. Kingston is listed as the registered agent for many Kingston Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, never publicly endorsed polygamy, according to historian Richard S. Van Wagoner, author of Mormon Polygamy: A History. [39] In 2007, the group told Deseret News that it was encouraging its members to wait until their partners were 18 to marry them,[41][43] with one member reporting that "we do encourage them to be 18 now". The Kingston Clan are a fundamentalist Mormon splinter group in Utah. Two of the plaintiffs Michelle Afton Michaels, 22, and LaDonna Blaklyn Ruth Lancaster, 18 share the same father, Jesse Orvil Kingston, the lawsuit alleges. Its not like some normal church where people who dont know each other come to church on Sunday, Brewer said. Global Business Risk Report Q1 2023 The Dun & Bradstreet Global Business Risk Report (GBRR) ranks the biggest threats to business based on each risk scenario's potential impact on companies. sltrib. "Theyre all paying their mortgages.. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. A young girl's child abuse. She assumes the defendants coordinated with each other to avoid having discussion of the Kingston Group in public. In 1998, according to the complaint, gaming regulators were notified that Kingston-Knighton had sold her interest to her father at some unknown prior point in time., In 1999, the three remaining owners applied for their licenses. Also known as The Order, the Kingston compound is based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Theres no mention in the complaint of the Kingston Group. The lawsuit claims that Utah state officials went so far as to track down a man named Kyle Grant for the purposes of collecting child support payments, but they concluded he was not Amanda Rae Grants father. Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. the Observer's source said. California instead opted to issue the casino itself a provisional license while the applications of the three Kingstons were deemed pending., From 1999 to the present, the complaint says, [the casino] has requested, and been granted, continuous extensions of the provisional license.. By February 2016, the evidentiary hearing still hadnt taken place. The suit includes ten former members alleging the organization used marriages to "unlawfully make girls and their children religious martyrs and traffic them for sexual and labor purposes". the Kingston family. on to represent them in any legal wranglings. But one source intimately familiar with the Kingston organization's He faces up to 30 years in prison, according to his plea agreement. from the family - says an oft-published $170 million figure is laughably Ironically, as a businessman, Kingston was the one who first pushed the church's business agenda. State audit alleges former Cache County prosecutors misused public resources, had side contracts without countys knowledge, Utah flooding resource guide: What to do before, during and after a flood, polygamous sect thats also known as the Davis County Cooperative Society. The lawsuit against the group is not the first time it has faced media scrutiny or legal peril. The IRS paid the company 50 cents or $1 per gallon, depending on the quality of the fuel. received a revelation from God that the practice of plural marriage Officials alleged that school leaders hired Kingston-connected businesses and paid them with taxpayer money, the Salt Lake City television news station KUTV reported. to the source, set up a second meeting with Mr. LeBaron to set things once They own many businesses and have ties with hundreds of businesses here in Utah and our neighboring states. Kingston's 15th wife; her father, John Daniel Kingston The complaint says in the current corporate structure, Ted and Joseph Kingston each own 47.5%. They also claimed to believe that marriage is a personal choice that should not be coerced. Garrad's Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. Kingston Corporation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter, This page was last edited on 22 March 2023, at 19:46. Included on the list is a medical building at 4400 S. 700 East in Millcreek. The Kingston organization is structured as a vast cooperative endeavor. Corp.; Fountain of Youth Health and Athletic Club; East Side Market; Mountain And it was costing a "That was when the Kingstons were guarding their businesses and stewardships," The Guardian typically does not identify people who allege to be a victim of sexual violence, but the publicly available lawsuit identifies Michaels, Lancaster and other plaintiffs by name. Among the businesses: Standard Restaurant Equipment Co.; Fidelity Funding Company CEO Jacob Kingston pleaded guilty Thursday to more than three dozen counts, including mail fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Federal prosecutors have given notice they want to seize homes and businesses belonging to rank-and-file members of the polygamous Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. About seven months later, the new investigation was done. A young woman from a polygamous and incestuous breakaway Mormon sect is speaking out for the first time after she exposed what the government alleges is a multimillion-dollar fraud, ripping off taxpayers. The 47-year-old girl is now in protective state custody. Personal and business incomes are deposited to the sect, which then returns money the individual or firm needs for expenses. [9][34], Active members and a recent independent research article by a professor from Santa Clara University have attributed the practice to "endogamous preference and the small size of the groups population". It was an unlikely crime partnership: a Bel Air billionaire and gas station titan, who investigators call the boss of the Armenian Mafia. Another is about how long California regulators have recognized there is a problem with the ownership of a major casino, Eggert said in an email, and how long the casino seems to have delayed the resolution of the problem by being nonresponsive to urgent requests for important information.. There. A check of public documents in Salt Lake County alone of business and real estate holdings reveals an astonishing array of enterprises. The statement added that the group has not issued any specific guidance for members pertaining to birth certificates, or medical records, but encourages its members to follow the law. renounced polygamy in 1890 and, as a condition The lawsuit contains explicit details of how Kingston Group leaders who also own and operate several businesses and schools in the suburbs of Utahs capital, Salt Lake City allegedly arrange incestuous and sometimes underage marriages between teenage girls and adult men with exalted status to produce hundreds of children. Then there was a brick thrown through our window.". Jan 2, 2020 - Kingston Clan member Nevin Pratt. The women listed as homeowners are all second, third or fourth wives or whatever down the line, Ellis said. In March 2016, as the second background investigation was underway, Ted Kingston appeared in front of the California Horse Racing Board to ask permission to install off-track betting. polygamous clans' companies, which include vending machine businesses, Another plaintiff, Jeremy Roberts, said he started working four hours a day year-round at a farm run by the Order when he was seven or eight. A view of Salt Lake City. Other properties have looser ties to the crimes and belong to rank-and-file members of the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group or The Order. Lake Elsinore Casino, which also has been known as the Sahara Dunes Casino, has been operating under a provisional license since 1999, according to a complaint filed last year by Californias Bureau of Gambling Control. [7], Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the LDCJC and members make their own choice in who they marry. Even a critic of the Kingston Group had concerns Friday. According to the casinos website, the gambling is limited to card games and wagering on horse races simulcast into the sports bar. Wagoner, author of Mormon Polygamy: A History. In addition, they say "business owners who are members of the [the group] have the autonomy to make their own business decisions. He also is representing another family member, Joseph Kingston, in an The brothers remain in jail. All rights reserved. Mary and Bryan were and still are very worried about retaliation. It didn't find any.
Harbor Freight Collated Screw Gun,
Pumpkin Seeds For Deworming Cats,
Eve Ratting Ticks,
Articles K