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A second member of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has pleaded guilty to a felony in a federal food-stamp fraud case and has been sentenced to time already served.
Seth Steed Jeffs admitted Wednesday in U.S. District Court to unlawfully using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits worth at least $5,000. Judge Ted Stewart sentenced Jeffs to the approximately six months he has already served behind bars, a term that allows the 43-year-old to be released from jail Wednesday.
"He's ready to go back home and work and take care of his family," defense attorney Jay Winward said outside court.
Jeffs was one of 11 FLDS members charged in February with one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the nutrition assistance program and one count of conspiracy to launder money for allegedly diverting millions of dollars worth of their benefits. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of using benefits contrary to law.
Co-defendant John Wayman, 57, made the same plea last week and also was sentenced to time served. Under their plea bargains, Jeffs and Wayman do not have to serve probation or pay restitution.
Jeffs, a brother of imprisoned FLDS President Warren Jeffs, leads the FLDS congregation in South Dakota; Wayman is a former bishop in the FLDS. The two had been freed earlier this year pending trial, but were re-arrested Aug. 1.
Warren Jeffs is serving a prison sentence of life plus 20 years in Texas for convictions related to sexually abusing two underage girls he married as spiritual wives.
Prosecutors allege FLDS leaders required sect members to turn over to the church their SNAP cards or the food purchased with them, and in some cases SNAP benefits were used at church-controlled stores and converted to cash.
After Wayman was sentenced Dec. 22, some former FLDS members complained that the punishment was too lenient. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Lund said then that the plea agreement was a reasonable step in attacking a "culture of fraud" within the FLDS.
On Wednesday, Lund again said that the punishment was an appropriate disposition and that prosecutors cannot try in the food-stamp case to address every alleged harm caused by FLDS leaders.
When asked outside court why restitution was not part of the plea bargain, Lund said most of the benefits were used to feed hungry people, which is the purpose of SNAP.
In addition, he cited the inability to pay restitution, saying people in the defendants' community are among the poorest residents in Utah.
The other nine defendants in the case are scheduled for trial Jan. 30, but defense attorneys have said plea deals have been offered to most of them.
One of the nine, Lyle Jeffs, fled in June and remains at large. He has not been offered a plea bargain.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC