Seth Jeffs arrested; FLDS compound in Pringle could be raided

Update, 25 February, 1200 MST:

Jeffs, 42, appeared today in federal court in Rapid City, one day after his arrest near the compound he is alleged to lead near Pringle. He is a high-ranking member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a reputed polygamist sect that U.S. prosecutors allege has access to a vast system of closed-off and secure hideouts in South Dakota, Colorado, Oregon, Texas, western Canada, Mexico and South America. [Rapid City Journal]

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"Seth Steed Jeffs was arrested Tuesday morning in Custer County, South Dakota, and will have an initial appearance in federal court in South Dakota."

Lyle Jeffs, who has been running the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for his imprisoned brother, has been indicted on food stamp fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney for Utah announced Tuesday. Also indicted was Seth Jeffs, brother to both Lyle and FLDS President Warren Jeffs. Jeffs and a number of other FLDS Church members — in Utah and South Dakota — were arrested, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Read it all here.

A secretive religious group linked to national cases of polygamy and the marriage of underage girls may be expanding to the Edgemont area, and there may be little Fall River County officials can do. The property in question was part of the estate of Buddy Heck and was left to Doris Seabeck and to Carolyn Fines. Seabeck is Heck’s sister and is the personal representative of his estate. Seabeck signed the purchase agreement, which is being contested by Fines in the courts. The commissioners said that as Carolyn Fines is state’s attorney Lance Russell’s mother, there may be some conflict of interest on the county’s part. [Rapid City Journal]

In 2011 Russell was censured by the state's judiciary for leaking grand jury testimony.

Following arrests and a death during a siege by Mormons in Harney County, Oregon tensions are high where white people are becoming conflicted about whether sedition is an appropriate response to perceived government tyranny.