A third polygamous food stamp suspect rearrested as two others appear in court

FLDS Detention Petition 080216

Another suspect in the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints food stamp fraud case was rearrested Tuesday, as two other defendants appeared in court.

Preston Yeates Barlow was booked into the Washington County jail on Tuesday. The jail's website said he was being held on a detainer for the FBI.

Two other defendants in the case, Seth Jeffs and John Wayman, were arrested Monday.

Jeffs and Wayman appeared before a federal magistrate in St. George on Tuesday afternoon. The magistrate scheduled a hearing for Aug. 9 in federal court in Salt Lake City, where Judge Ted Stewart will consider whether Jeffs and Wayman should be released again. Meanwhile, they will remain in jail. Barlow is to appear in front of the magistrate 3 p.m. Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said all three men were arrested in the Hildale, Utah, area, which is home to the FLDS.

The three had been free pending trial.

A petition made public Tuesday by the U.S. Probation Office said their GPS ankle monitors showed Wayman, Jeffs and Barlow all were at the same location on multiple occasions in July. The terms of their release had forbidden them from associating with other defendants in the fraud case.

Wayman and Jeffs were at the same place on three different days in late July, the petition said. Barlow, Wayman and Jeffs were together Friday. Wayman also was out past his 10 p.m. curfew on July 26, the petition says.

Prosecutors had opposed the release of all three men, telling judges they were flight risks.

Another defendant, Lyle Jeffs, slipped off his GPS ankle monitor in mid-June and has been on the run ever since. He and Seth Jeffs are full brothers of FLDS President Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually abusing two girls he married as plural wives.

Prosecutors had opposed the release of Lyle and Seth Jeffs and Waymn, telling judges they were flight risks.

In all, 11 people were indicted in February on charges alleging they used government-issued food stamp cards and diverting the groceries or the cash value to FLDS leaders. Their trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 3.

The defendants all have pleaded not guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges alleging they diverted at least $12 million worth of food-stamp benefits from FLDS members in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., collectively known as Short Creek.

FLDS sect leaders instructed followers to donate items they bought with their food-stamp cards to a church warehouse, prosecutors say, then the leaders decided how to distribute the products among the membership.

In addition, food stamps allegedly were cashed at sect-owned stores without the users getting anything in return. The money was then diverted to front companies and used to pay thousands for a tractor, truck and other items, prosecutors say.

ncarlisle@sltrib.com

Twitter: @natecarlisle