DeRieux did marry the next year at age 18 to a cousin who was 19. A state court website says the judge must conclude that the marriage is voluntary and in the best interests of the minor.. A Tale of Two Chads: More Drama From Nineties Band Live. A young child is also one of the accusers in the suit with allegations the child was raped by his or her father, who allegedly raped the mother. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. In the months after the robbery, Stephen couldnt shake the feeling he was being watched. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. I strongly believe they are an organized-crime family, Shurtleff says. The deputy heard the Brown boys knew who stole the gold but suddenly, without explanation, they and everyone in the clan clammed up. His most bizarre beliefs, though, concerned the occult. Her husband knew she didnt want him to have a plural spouse, she said, but his father told him he needed to have one. Duringa 2020 trialfor a California businessman accused of carrying out a nearly $500 million biodiesel fraud scheme with a member of the Kingston Group, attorneys for the businessman called the Kingstons an incestuous polygamous group that is always scheming to defraud the US government in what the group calls bleeding the beast., A spokesman for the group, Kent Johnson, called those allegations categorically false.. Some people say they funneled the money through Mexico. According to former Order members, they worked long shifts sorting coal and operating heavy machinery in unsafe conditions. Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), which also is named as a defendant, said members are strongly encouraged to strictly adhere to every legal guideline when applying for financial aid. A nationwide debate is underway about teens, especially girls, marrying. This is an indication that an experienced qui tam firm looked at the facts, Markey said, and realized it was a case that was worth pursuing.. Like other fundamentalists of that era, he believed the Mormon Church had lost its divine authority when it renounced polygamy in 1890, so he persuaded three other families to join him in establishing their own sect. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). By 18 she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. It was February in Salt Lake, cold and gray, and in the foothills above the city, a low fog hung over the mountains. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. It was a wild place, says Scott Cosgrove, a former detective with the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office, who remembers the ranch as a broken-down spread, guarded by a feral pack of boys who patrolled the fence line from the back of a pickup armed with shotguns. Each time turning up no significant violations or nothing at all. You better check on your gold, Young told her. The Tribune also found three marriages in Missouri, where, until a new law raising the marriage age takes effect Aug. 28, 15-year-olds can marry with a parents permission. During his tenure, some members have continued the practice of plural, and intra-family marriage,[3] although neither is practiced by the majority of members and the practice is not required to gain status in the group. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. Some children are born blind, others with missing fingernails or undersize heads. On weekends, he was sent out to work at the Orders coal mine with other teenagers. 1 choice. Terrified, he went out and bought a stash of guns to arm himself, just in case his family tried to gun him down. But 16- and 17-year-olds in Utah need only the consent of a parent to wed. Idaho, Colorado and Nevada, where the The Tribune also found Kingston Group marriages, have similar age and parental-consent requirements. Members of a powerful polygamous group in Utah claim they were forced into underage marriages with their relatives to keep their blood pure, were raped by their husbands and had to perform child labor, according to a bombshell lawsuit. When a girl doesnt want to be a polygamist, that information is shared among boys and men in the sect. Within the clan, the pieces started to add up. Stoddard was the president of the Latter Day Church of Christ, the Kingston Groups incorporated religious organization. The couple have since divorced. Inseparable: Twins Peter (left) and Paul have lived. presided, while Richauns father officiated the wedding, promising the bride that if she obeyed her husband, she would be guaranteed a spot in the Celestial Kingdom, the highest level of heaven. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. If you were more obedient, this wouldnt have happened., After that, everything changed, Stephen says. Former Order members remain convinced the Knights stole the gold. The issue is available now on newsstands and in the digital archive. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. One is a first cousin. The education figures he cited would be a few percentage points higher than the average for Utah as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Attorneys for the Nelsons and Michaels also did not return messages seeking comments. Complete statement from Davis County Cooperative Society: For decades, the DCCS has encouraged its members to be well-educated, well-informed, independent thinkers. The Brown boys, charged with felony counts of burglary, wrote a letter to their aunt apologizing for stealing the silver in her house. Not desiring to be a plural wife doesnt necessarily mean she hoped to leave the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. I dont really have too many friends, but the ones I do, I wouldnt trade for anything., Among Stephens friends were two of his cousins, Luke and Scott Brown. 180+ Jonathan Jacob Meijer View Site Google Maps The Tribune, with assistance from former sect members who reviewed the records, also found 20 cases in which both the bride and groom were at least 18. As lore has it, Elden was the one mighty and strong predicted by Scripture, who holding the scepter of power in his hand would set in order the House of God. With thick white hair, a lantern jaw and a commanding presence, he had no problem attracting followers. But the Kingstons have remained in Salt Lake, operating virtually undetected in a city of more than 1 million people. They threw away their possessions, donned matching blue overalls, and pitched canvas tents on a patch of land north of Salt Lake that would come to be known as the Home Place.. By our latest survey, his statement said, the majority of DCCS college students were not using government-funded financial aid, including many who would qualify if they had applied. The couples divorce became final in 2011. Shortly after that meeting, the complaint continues, Mrs. Eventually, there was a meeting between Jessica Kingston, her parents and Paul Kingston. Hansen said during family home evenings nights when a mans family gathers for religious studies and games her husband would take girls 12 and older who were single and lead them in a teaching. However, Grant claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a half-brother as a child. A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time To go to Colorado, DeRieux said, she and her fianc drove to Price, where they jumped into a 15-passenger van carrying their parents, the other two sets of brides and grooms and their parents. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingstons brothers were convicted of crimes related to child abuse, sex with a minor or incest. She also felt a religious call to wed and saw herself as mature enough to undertake such a commitment. Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. Alex's wife and son, Maggie and Paul, were shot to death at their home in 2021, and Alex is currently on trial for their murders.. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud Their grooms averaged 20 years and 18 days. It was a grimy, derelict-looking place. In an analysis written in 2015, a University of Maryland sociologist found that nationwide 37 percent of people who marry before age 20 divorce in the first 10 years. Jessica has begun working with Hope After Polygamy, a charity started by the cast of Escaping Polygamy and other former Kingston Group members to assist people leaving polygamous sects. Paul Valls's wife is Sharon Vallas. All rights reserved. He even had charts showing who were the higher families in the sect so his daughters knew where to look for a mate. Shanell DeRieux was married at 18 to a husband in the Kingston Group. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. Jessica said her husband was on a group text that went around listing girls or women who had not yet married with jokes about how old the females were getting. At 17, she agreed to marry a man in his early 20s. We were taught to be polite, but to never make friends with outsiders. The clan avoids hospitals, believing government-backed doctors might inject them with a mysterious disease or demand birth records exposing the Orders lifestyle. Snow contends her mother was one of the people who told her she needed to think about whom she was going to wed. Photo by Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune | Shirley Hansen, seen here July 21, 2018, stands along 2100 South near State Street in Salt Lake City. When he noticed that the boys had stopped working, he became enraged. He finished a three-year term as Chair of the Department of Sociology in August 2007. The DCCS is a financial cooperative established by his uncle Elden Kingston in 1935. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. I am in love with old cars and horses. Chuck Lepper, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said that no review is planned at this time. Andrea Johnson was buried on June 13, 1992, at the Bountiful Memorial Park. Girls are told they will need to pray to God so he might show them who their No. You had to be, like, a son of the prophet to know where it was.. If someone is mature enough, they should be able to do whatever they want.. Mrs. had some 80 children by 13 wives, but his favorite was Paul, an excellent student who made friends easily. Paul passed away on month day 1973, at age 92 at death place, Oregon. Prior to 2017, Kingston was Professor of Sociology, and by courtesy, Professor in the Curry School of Education. It alleges sex trafficking, sexual battery and child abuse, and seeks a jury trial and unspecified damages. They belonged to the Order and had toiled in the cult for years. As he talked to the woman who lived there, Luke Brown came out of the house, and his brother Scott soon joined him. As a favored son of the prophet, Paul had the freedom to disregard the strict discipline his father imposed on other members of the Order. Men rise in prominence by being obedient and pure of blood and by having large families that can produce a lot of money and workers for the group, the suit continues. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. The DCCS reaffirms that each individual has their free agency to choose whom and when they will marry, the statement said. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. After the chest of gold was stolen, suspicion among the clans leadership immediately fell on a group of rebellious teenagers who had left the cult a few years before. The boys were sentenced to two years of probation and taken back into the Order. If God gives him direction on whom to marry, he goes to his dad. The parents of the 16-year-olds also completed a form granting their permission. What he told me was, Hansen said, Get her married so we dont have to take care of her anymore.. The clan, known privately as the Order, runs what prosecutors believe is one of the largest organized-crime operations in Utah, overseeing its far-flung empire from a string of secret locations and backrooms. They did so July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo, where records show two other couples from the Kingston Group married that day. Romero has said her concern is for all girls, not just those in polygamous sects. Now, two years later, Stephen still sleeps with a gun near his bed. Managed by: Paul Kingston is one of eight men named as defendants in the lawsuit. Cousin Carl E. Kingston, an attorney, is said to have a mere two wives. My e-mail address; george@eaglefreeenterprises ,com . That Stephens father sat atop a mafialike organization was a secret kept from him for most of his childhood. This article related to the Latter Day Saint movement is a stub. Jacob's dad, John Kingston, husband of at least 14 wives and father to some 120 children, was imprisoned in 1998 after pleading no contest to charges that he beat his 16-year-old daughter . I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. There shouldnt really be a reason for an age limit, she said. A short, blustery man with a hair-trigger temper, Daniel Kingston had reportedly once kidnapped two boys at gunpoint and led them out to the Great Salt Lake (the charges were later dropped). Women, meanwhile, allegedly gain status by being pure of blood and obedient, becoming the first wives of higher-ranking numbered men, and bearing many children. Now, former members say, girls who will be plural wives meaning they have only a spiritual marriage to their husband are left alone until they are 18 so laws about sex with a minor wont apply. Three others, including Grant, said they had to flee to escape such a fate. Do you think if I took $5 million in gold, Id be working out here?. I dont think theyre organized crime in that regard, but the racketeering statute defines it as any conspiracy or pattern of illegal activity done in concert with others. Consumed with guilt over his brothers death, Stephen lashed out. The Kingston Group is not affiliated withthe Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) based on the Utah-Arizona line that is run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. Three of Kingston's 14 wives also are in the photo. In a search of public records created since the start of 1997, The Salt Lake Tribune found 65 marriages among members of the Kingston Group in which the bride was 15, 16 or 17. At 15, Snow ran away from home, wound up in a foster home and later was returned to her mother. One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. Girls who reach their mid- and late teens can start to feel the pressure to wed. Jessica Kingston said when word gets out that a boy or young man has asked a girls father for permission to marry her, friends and family are walking up to that girl asking, Did you pray about him?. Their divorce was finalized in July 2012 a little more than three years after they married. [10][11]. Their neighbors had no idea that the family were prominent members of the Kingston clan, the most powerful polygamist cult in America and one of the most dangerous. One day, for laughs, he and his half brother Ron Tucker stole some napalm from an Order army-supply store, drew lines of it in the street and lit it on fire as cars drove by. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston was wed at age 16 in what she says was a marriage she felt pressured into by her parents and others in a polygamous sect. Brothers John Daniel Kingston, the father of the girl now in state custody, is said to have 20 wives; the mother of the "M.N." is half sister. DeRieux said she and her husband were not allowed to live together or consummate their marriage until they had a religious ceremony the following month. "A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. Paul Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the leader of the Kingston Clan on his father's death in 1987. Their legal team includes a Boston law firm with expertise in qui tam lawsuits. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. According to written histories, John Ortell Kingston, father of the current leader, also encouraged his family members to marry other kin to improve their own bloodline. Mysterious cars followed his girlfriend, and he once came home to find that someone had rifled through his drawers. Whether she gives her blessing, she said, will depend on the answers to those questions. They teach the girls its their choice, Hansen said, but [say], Heres the selection.. Stephen calmly waited until his uncle got close, and then he reached behind the seat and pulled out a shotgun, leveling it at his uncle. Then one night, a clan member called and told him that the Order planned to kill him. If the case succeeds, the whistleblowers can collect perhaps millions of dollars from the damages or fines paid by the defendants. Their grooms were 22. The father preferred another who had inquired about marrying Jessica. Her parents placed her in what she called a repentance home, where she wasnt allowed to communicate with anyone without supervision. But Jessicas No. Intermarriage of close. Sometimes his father read the Book of Mormon from the pulpit and talked about things regular Christians would recognize, like tithing or repentance. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Community College Redwood Road campus is pictured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. In 2006, it was estimated that Paul Kingston had up to 27 wives (including three half-sisters of his), [5] some . While his dad was running the order from Salt Lake City, Stephen grew up on a cattle ranch called Washakie, near the Idaho border. She called her sister-in-law Patty Kingston, who lived across town. No one has been criminally charged. Create Biography For parents, there can be other practical considerations in letting a teen marry, Hansen said. When people hear organized crime, they think of mobsters. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. At a minimum, the statement said, two employees review every student file flagged for verification to ensure quality assurance in our processes.. Exhibiting LGBTQ+ tendencies can indicate impure blood, according to the lawsuit. Suddenly, Stephens brother David lost control of the truck and it rolled over, killing David instantly. He then severed her index finger, cleaned off the three bones, and carried them with him the rest of his life, believing that the totem kept her spirit with him. Thanks, it read. Those two unions happened in Colorado, where its legal to marry your cousin. One of them approached the front door while the other kept a lookout. To hide the scope of his organization, J.O. Only the inner circle knew the hoard even existed, says Christian Kingston, a former Order member. Stephen didnt know what the law said he only knew that the people he loved were being abused and exploited by his own father. The two most recent of those marriages, according to wedding certificates, occurred in April. was just as frugal as his brother he lived in a dilapidated shack with planks missing from the porch but he had a better head for business. One woman who was married in 2014 at age 16 said she did so for the same reason most people do: She fell in love. She said her father didnt think the suitor was a good student. The Kingstons operate in a self-contained universe, completely cut off from the outside world. We were off on our own out there and really close, Stephen says. The lawsuit describes crimes and issues within the Kingston Group that have no direct relationship to the student aid applications. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingston's brothers were convicted of. 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