Fugitive's brother to be set free on bail
 
By Karen Abbott
Rocky Mountain News
 
A man accused of hiding his brother, the fugitive leader of a polygamist sect, from authorities will be set free tomorrow if he posts a bond secured by property, a federal magistrate ruled this afternoon.

Ed Pluss, attorney for Seth Jeffs, said that the bond likely will be posted tomorrow, after he consulted with Jeffs' brother. That brother, Lyle Jeffs, declined to comment after the hearing.

Seth Jeffs, 32, is accused of hiding his older brother, Warren Jeffs, who is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The sect split from the traditional Mormon church in the late 1890s after Mormons renounced polygamy Warren Jeffs is wanted in Arizona on charges of felony sexual child abuse for allegedly arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and an older married man in 2002.

Prosecutors, who have charged Seth Jeffs with harboring a fugitive, a federal felony, had asked Colorado U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer to order him kept behind bars while the case is pending against him.

Shaffer ruled today that enough evidence exists to try Seth Jeffs.

Pluss, arguing before Shaffer that Seth Jeffs can be depended upon to appear in court when required, said his client has stable and significant family ties in Utah, where he has lived all his life.

"He has wives — he has a wife, brothers, many children," Pluss said.

Seth Jeffs was arrested Friday in Pueblo after a traffic stop. FBI agents took him into custody after Pueblo sheriff's deputies found $142,000 in cash, seven cellular phones, prepaid debit cards, prepaid phone cards, letters addressed to Warren Jeffs and a glass donation jar bearing Warren Jeffs' photograph and the label, "Pennies for the Prophet."
 
RockyMountainNews.com
Originally published November 3, 2005
 
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