Polygamous leader Lyle Jeffs let out of jail until trial
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs has been let of jail pending trial on accusations he helped orchestrate a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme, but he'll be relegated to home confinement in Salt Lake City more than 300 miles from his community on the Utah-Arizona border.
Jeffs was ordered to wear a GPS monitor and stay in a Salt Lake County house, except for work, doctor's appointments and court hearings.
Federal prosecutors argued that Lyle Jeffs should remain behind bars because witnesses will be scared to cooperate with government investigators out of fear that he will send them away on repentance missions or order other punishment.
Prosecutors say sect 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 to followers.