The younger brother of fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was sentenced Friday to three years of supervised probation for harboring and aiding his brother.
Seth Steed Jeffs, 33, was also fined $2,500 and ordered to pay $100 to a crime victims fund.
Jeffs, 33, of Hildale, Utah, was stopped on Oct. 28, 2005, by the Pueblo County Sheriff’s Office.
In his car, deputies discovered $142,000, prepaid credit cards, seven prepaid cell phones, a donation jar that read “Pennies for the prophet” and numerous letters addressed to Warren Jeffs.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Brimmer said prosecutors believed that Seth Jeffs was supplying the items to his brother so Warren Jeffs could continue to operate as the head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) while a fugitive.
Warren Jeffs is the leader and “prophet” of the polygamous FLDS. The group separated from mainstream Mormonism in 1890 when the Mormon Church denounced polygamy.
In June 2005, an Arizona grand jury returned an indictment against Warren Jeffs charging him with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy. Since the indictment, he has eluded capture.
Brimmer asked U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn to sentence Seth Jeffs to a three-month prison term. The prosecutor said he made the request because Seth Jeffs said his religion caused him to take the actions, even though he knew they were wrong.
But Brimmer agreed to probation because Seth Jeffs had led a non-criminal lifestyle until his apprehension in Colorado last year.
“Up until this incident, his life, as far as we know, was exemplary,” Brimmer said.
Seth Jeffs apologized to Blackburn, saying that he knows what he did was wrong.
“I’ve done everything to remove myself from this situation,” Jeffs said. “I never want to find myself in this position again or in a courtroom like this again. I just want to get on with my life.”
Jeffs said he plans to remain in Colorado with his wife and six children.
The FLDS is estimated to have 10,000 followers and has communities in Hildale, Colorado City and Eldorado, Texas, where FBI agents believe Seth intended to deliver the money, letters and cellphones. Jeffs told FBI agents he was delivering the items from church headquarters in Hildale to the Texas facility.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
