These days Stephen works on a cattle ranch near the Idaho border, just down the road from where he grew up. The clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. Father of Avisa Kingston; Susannah Mary Allison; Samuel Kingston and Paul Kingston. He said the college has controls to ensure compliance with federal aid guidelines. I am in love with old cars and horses. Thanks for contacting us. The Order was founded by Elden Kingston, Stephens grand-uncle, at the height of the Great Depression. They also knew that much of the clans wealth was stashed inside the unassuming suburban house on the corner. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. Thanks for your understanding. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. The plaintiffs also contend these eight defendants have significant wealth acquired through the money and labor followers contribute to the Kingston Group and the rent the defendants charge their wives. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston claims she was groomed into choosing marriage at age 16 by her parents and the polygamous sect. Theyll do what they need to do to defend whats theirs.. He had arranged for a banner to be placed over a bridge there. Had Snow been a better behaved, more devout member of the Kingston Group, Hansen said, there may not have been a push to have her legally marry at 16. While his dad was running the order from Salt Lake City, Stephen grew up on a cattle ranch called Washakie, near the Idaho border. Chuck Lepper, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said that no review is planned at this time. One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. He also preached a bizarre extrapolation of the Book of Mormon called the White Horse Prophecy, a dreaded prediction of a cataclysmic time when the black race will rise up and attempt to destroy the white man, only to be thwarted by Native Americans riding to the rescue. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. View Site So far, however, despite Shurtleffs efforts, the insular and highly secretive nature of the Order has prevented him from finding sufficient evidence to bring a case strong enough to dismantle the clan. After the lawsuit was filed, attorneys representing the U.S. government asked a judge to seal the case, according to entries that can still be found on a webpage maintained by DocketBird.com, a commercial site that collects and sells court records. Home. They were the type of kids you didnt mess with, says Robert Owen, a former member of the clan. [5][6][7][8] Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. The issue is available now on newsstands and in the digital archive. They believe were Gods chosen people, Snow said of the Kingston Group followers, so you should start having kids as soon as possible.. Her top choice the one whom she felt God told her to marry was a man five years older than she and to whom she was related on both sides of her family tree. We strongly encourage all members to strictly adhere to every legal guideline when operating their businesses including day cares and when applying for all need-based assistance, including financial aid for students. She's since left the marriage and wants the legal marriage age raised to 18. The marriages, former followers say, can be used as a tool to keep girls in the Kingston Group, known among younger members as The Order. For their part, the brides sometimes see legal marriages as a way to avoid becoming polygamists later (and consequently being matched with a husband perhaps twice their age) or a means to escape their parents crowded households. Carl Kingston is believed to have fathered 20 children from two wives and another child from a third wife who has left him. For now, Utah law says a 15-year-old may marry with the consent of a parent or guardian and the permission of a juvenile court judge. (Jessicas dad and the young man had taken courses together at the University of Utah.) ", "United by fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, one polygamous group helps another by bringing truckloads of food", "Young Brides Stir New Outcry on Utah Polygamy", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? According to All Famous Birthdays, Paul Vallas has a staggering net worth of $5 million. In the past, we have worked closely with DWS, DOE and financial aid counselors at local colleges and universities to ensure proper training and that all applications adhere to every guideline. Nevertheless, waves of audits of State taxes, Federal taxes, corporate taxes, DWS, SNAP, WIC and regulatory compliance in day cares among other things, have been levied against individuals and corporations with known or suspected ties to the DCCS. At a minimum, the statement said, two employees review every student file flagged for verification to ensure quality assurance in our processes.. In its place, someone had left a note. 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. 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. Then, moving quickly, the boy at the door let himself in and got to work. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. There are thousands of members in the group. On weekends, he was sent out to work at the Orders coal mine with other teenagers. Instead, she volunteered for extra shifts at the Kingston Group-run coal mine near Huntington, where she worked as a dispatcher. On February 26th, 2009, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office got a call of suspicious activity in the foothills above the city. Jessica Kingston said a girls devotion and attitude are often measured by her view of polygamy. Incest is endemic in the clan, with uncles marrying much younger female relatives; in 2003, police showed up at an Order barbecue and arrested a clan member for marrying his underage cousin. Fishing it out of his jeans, hell recognize the number. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax had some 80 children by 13 wives, but his favorite was Paul, an excellent student who made friends easily. DeRieuxs marriage effectively ended in June 2010. In qui tam cases, the federal government can either join the plaintiffs in recouping losses and pursuing damages and fines, or let the plaintiffs prosecute the lawsuit on their own. On this much, though, mother and daughter agree: Snows father was the primary driver. In Salt Lake County, for example, there were 45 marriages in which the bride or groom was 17 or younger, according to data from the county clerks office from Feb. 1, 2016, to April 10, 2018. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. He was usually off visiting one of his 30 or so wives, or checking on one of the clans many businesses, or in a backroom getting his muscles rubbed in preparation for one of his painful, 40-day fasts, a purification ritual that he endured in order to get closer to God. 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. His father stood on the stage and called out the names of the men who were to receive one of the clans highest honors. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. Brother Ron Tucker, he would intone, come and get your number. According to the Orders interpretation of the Book of Revelations, only 144,000 numbered men will be allowed to rule in heaven under God. There shouldnt really be a reason for an age limit, she said. Paul Vallas' Net Worth In 2023 Explored. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bryan and Mary Nelson of South Jordan were informants for the federal government as they build a criminal case against Washakie Renewable Energy and their owners, Jacob and Isaiah Kingston. Her parents placed her in what she called a repentance home, where she wasnt allowed to communicate with anyone without supervision. Whether she gives her blessing, she said, will depend on the answers to those questions. It was just the best choice, some say, among their bad options. Once the couples signed the certificates and turned them back in to the Mesa County clerk, they were legally married. You could be such an asset to the Order., Trending Consumed with guilt over his brothers death, Stephen lashed out. He bragged that he had worn the same black shirt every day for a year. The lawsuit from Michaels and the Nelsons asserts the defendants are liable for up to $27 million in damages and another $20 million in penalties. The third plaintiff is Michelle Michaels, who the complaint says left the sect in 2017 rather than become a spiritual wife to a cousin who has nine wives. The clan believed he had their treasure, and they were sending someone to kill him. Some people say they funneled the money through Mexico. 03/01/2023 9:00 a.m. Police divers cut a path through the ice to reach the victims. Jessica Kingston wore a white dress. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. Jessica Kingston didnt want to be a polygamist. As the first of Paul Kingstons many wives, Patty enjoyed a privileged role in the Order including access to vast wealth. Former and current members of the Kingston Group say that kids are taught from a young age they one day will need to pray about whom to marry. The land had once been home to the Washakie Indians, and as children, Stephen and his 15 full brothers and sisters played among the wind-swept ruins of a Native American cemetery. Paul Elden Kingston is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination, [2] since 1987. 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. 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. 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. A copy of the lawsuit also is available there, though no other filings in the case are. Come back, his dad will say. That includes the fraud within Washakie Renewable Energy as well as what the plaintiffs allege was a separate scheme by sect members to bilk a U.S. Department of Agriculture program to provide free lunches to child and adult day cares. The groom wore a suit. The son of the clans prophet, Knight, then 18, had once seemed destined for a leadership role within the Order. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time When Jessica Kingston was 15, her father told her she had four choices apparently the number of suitors who had spoken to him about marrying her. Everyone knows it., After the gold disappeared, the Knight brothers suddenly seemed to have a lot of money especially for young men on their own in the world for the first time. If the father believes his son received true direction from God, the son is sent to Paul Kingston or one of the people he designates to consider marriages. He died on 6-4-1998 at the Beckley Veterans Administration. 1 choice was not her fathers. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). 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). My 4-year-old comes to me and says she has to find out her No. Intermarriage of close. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. Earlier in its history, the Kingston Group had plural wives under age 18. Jessica suspects her dad was pushing her toward another man. sltrib.com 1996-2023 The Salt Lake Tribune. His face was crushed, Stephen says now, matter-of-factly, his eyes going blank for a moment. J.O. 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. Another group of kids called the Lost Boys, who were kicked out of the polygamist cult the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, ended up on the streets of Las Vegas and Phoenix, some turning tricks for drugs like meth and heroin. All of their children who survived the Great Famine emigrated. He lived on month day 1940, at address, Washington. It includes a provision they obtain financial aid. Paul Eldon Kingston, the leader of Utah's polygamous Kingston Group, also known is the order, is named as a defendant in a bombshell lawsuit alleging sex trafficking. But mostly he talked about the history of the Order and his ancestors, the men who had started the clan. She said the lawsuit is well plead and noted there have been previous successful qui tam cases in student aid programs. But Jessicas No. Paul Valls's wife is Sharon Vallas. Women and girls, after theyre married, submit to their husbands and men answer to higher-ranked men, the suit alleges. 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