Investigators say Jeffs had everything he needed to elude authorities
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
HURRICANE - Unlike some criminal suspects on the lam, Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, had something most who are fleeing felonies do not - an unlimited supply of money and scores of faithful followers willing to protect and hide him, according to investigators.

Private investigator Sam Brower, who has worked on the Warren Jeffs case for several attorneys for the last two years, said since 2002 Jeffs has asked followers for money.

Jeffs took over the leadership of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose followers predominately live in the twin cites of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., and required his followers to pay a 10 percent tithing to the church along with $1,000 a month.

Brower said in 2002, there was a sermon where Jeffs talked about people stopping work on their own properties and putting the money they would put into their own homes into the bishops storehouse, which is him.

"As far as how much he brought in, we can only speculate, but let's take a conservative estimate and say that there are just 1,000 people there that were donating the required $1,000 a month, that's a million dollars a month," Brower said. "That's not counting the 10 percent extra money from people's work and business."

Brower said Jeffs micromanaged people's businesses the same way he does their lives and their families and everything else.

In 2004, Jeffs son-in-law, David Allred, purchased property in El Dorado, Texas, Mancos, Colo., and Pringle, S.D.

Brower said the properties cost about $4 million and estimates now with improvements are valued between $30 million and $50 million. The Texas temple alone is assessed at $8 million, Brower said.

When Jeffs was pulled over Monday night by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on a routine traffic stop, he was a passenger in a 2007 Cadillac Escalade.

An FBI inventory of the contents of the car included about $53,000 in cash, 16 cell phones, two GPS units, a police scanner, four laptop computers and six computer memory storage devices.

Even while on the run, Jeffs had money funneled to him from faithful followers, but Brower said it would be difficult to ever pinpoint how much money he received and if Jeffs has money stashed.

So what was Jeffs doing with this money besides buying property and building a temple?

"Buying Escalades, Porsches, living high on the hog in Texas, traveling wherever he wants to. He's a typhoon man. He got the money and blew it," Brower said with a laugh.

But such high living on the sweat and hard work of his followers may at some point catch up with Jeffs and maybe at sometime, somehow, authorities will be able to cross Warren Jeffs with the FLDS Church and the United Effort Plan Trust, the financial arm of the church.

Brower said they are all one in the same.

Last year, Jeffs was removed as a trustee of the UEP and a special fiduciary was appointed to oversee the trust.

Jeffrey Shields, attorney for fiduciary Bruce Wisan, spent Tuesday in Denver reviewing court documents.

Shields said he is trying to see if there are UEP assets other than the property in Hildale and Colorado City and property in British Columbia that should be turned over to the fiduciary for control.

"It's hard because I've never seen any records except for the real estate because you have to title that but beyond that, there could be livestock and inventory, but there are no documents to prove that one way or another," Shields said.

The assessed value of the property in the UEP is $100 million, Shields said.

While the FLDS assets were in the UEP, there were no bank accounts or records or at least none that Shields can find so it would be difficult to prove legally if Jeffs has control of assets that rightfully should be in the trust name.'
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published September 1, 2006
 
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