Luke Brown now insists that he and his brother simply borrowed the silver, and planned to return it to their aunt later. Theyll do what they need to do to defend whats theirs.. She is the fifth of her mothers 12 children. DeRieux says the other two girls were her half-sisters, both age 16. [5][6][7][8] Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. They should refrain from this decision until they can be well informed to make a mature and thoughtful decision before entering into marriage.. J.O. Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune. Jessica Kingston said a girls devotion and attitude are often measured by her view of polygamy. Former members estimate Paul has 30 wives and more than 50 children. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. 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. Consumed with guilt over his brothers death, Stephen lashed out. According to former Order members, they worked long shifts sorting coal and operating heavy machinery in unsafe conditions. He lived on month day 1940, at address, Washington. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. (Courtesy photo) Paul E. Kingston, seen here in this undated photo. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. She was definitely the pick of the litter, and thats why Paul got her, Ron recalls. A sheriffs deputy traced the license plate of the Honda to a run-down house in a working-class suburb south of the city. Paul Kingston and his wife, Mary Kelly, were natives of Moinies (Meenies) townland, Drimoleague, Co. Cork, Ireland. The ones that misbehave, they try to push them to marry as soon as they can, Hansen said. He bragged that he had worn the same black shirt every day for a year. But he hopes that one day his family will be able to forgive him for leaving them behind. 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 clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. 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. His arms are sunburned and his hands calloused from long days moving the irrigation pipes that water the fields. This story has been shared 116,307 times. (Photo courtesy of Kollene Snow) Kollene Snow, 16, poses in her dress before her 2009 marriage in West Valley City. I think it scared them.. On the surface, the operation is legit: From Salt Lake, the Order controls some 100 businesses spread out over the Western states, from a casino in California to a cattle ranch in Nevada to a factory that makes lifelike dolls in Utah. According to Montana court documents, the couple had an argument at their apartment and DeRieuxs then-husband threw her down a flight of stairs. On February 26th, 2009, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office got a call of suspicious activity in the foothills above the city. She does not favor a change in the marriage age. No one has been criminally charged. The lawsuit does not allege any wrongdoing by SLCC. Much of what we have reviewed appears frivolous and unfounded, Gustafson said in an emailed statement. The suit says sect members might have obtained tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars through false applications. Some people say they funneled the money through Mexico. He had arranged for a banner to be placed over a bridge there. Then one of them exhaled slowly, his breath shuddering in the cold air. DeRieux said she and her husband were not allowed to live together or consummate their marriage until they had a religious ceremony the following month. Four of those appear to be couples from polygamous groups. When youre three years old, they start training you what to say if people talk to you, recalls Jeremy Tucker, a 32-year-old former member of the cult, who now works in construction. ", "Girls in polygamous Kingston Group continue to marry as young as 15, records show, sometimes leaving Utah to marry cousins", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Elden_Kingston&oldid=1136713473, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 19:29. Stephen didnt know what the law said he only knew that the people he loved were being abused and exploited by his own father. 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. Their divorce was finalized in July 2012 a little more than three years after they married. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been. By our latest survey, the majority of DCCS college students were not using government funded financial aid, including many who would qualify if they had applied. He became particularly obsessed with a plant called comfrey, which he believed would protect his clan from the nuclear war that would usher in the apocalypse. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingstons brothers were convicted of crimes related to child abuse, sex with a minor or incest. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. She said the lawsuit is well plead and noted there have been previous successful qui tam cases in student aid programs. By 18 she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. In Utah, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, plans a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. Andrea Johnson was buried on June 13, 1992, at the Bountiful Memorial Park. 1 choice for marriage is. Thats when Nicole Mafi, one of Paul Kingstons daughters, says in the lawsuit she was called into a meeting of recent high school graduates to discuss going to college. But it is likely that Kingston could recognize some of himself in Stephen. Boys are taught they will need to receive revelation from God on whom to marry. 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. Its hard to leave when thats all youve known, says one former member, who was forced to marry her cousin when she was 15. 03/01/2023 9:00 a.m. Police divers cut a path through the ice to reach the victims. 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. She's since left the marriage and wants the legal marriage age raised to 18. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. Donate to the newsroom now. It would be several more years before Stephen learned that Paul Kingston was his father, and that his mother was just one of his dads many wives. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax They had eight children whose baptisms are recorded in the same church. Regardless, all those applying should do so legally.. She then met with two women who helped her complete financial aid forms. This article related to the Latter Day Saint movement is a stub. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. My mom was never the same. To hide the scope of his organization, J.O. The Brown boys, charged with felony counts of burglary, wrote a letter to their aunt apologizing for stealing the silver in her house. 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). She was instructed, the complaint adds, to deposit the excess funds at a South Salt Lake office building, where the sects bank is located. Contact. 12 Paul J. WILFONG was born on 4-13-1912 in Marlinton. Attorneys for the Nelsons and Michaels also did not return messages seeking comments. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. This article appears in the June 23, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. According to people who have left the Order, the cult exploits its 2,000 members as virtual slave labor and hides profits from tax collectors. Chuck Lepper, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said that no review is planned at this time. He didnt have anyone to help him process what had just happened., Taking advantage of his status as a son of the prophet, Stephen began bending the rules even further. Former Order members remain convinced the Knights stole the gold. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud The boys were sentenced to two years of probation and taken back into the Order. If they kill me, they kill me, he says. 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. Log In Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. His life was in danger, the voice on the other end warned. Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. Jessica Kingston wore a white dress. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. The accusers also claim that the group arranged child marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the religious sect. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. On this much, though, mother and daughter agree: Snows father was the primary driver. My 4-year-old comes to me and says she has to find out her No. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. Kingston's death came 3 weeks after his legal wife, Luana Joan Kingston, died of breast cancer, according to her obituary. Her husband knew she didnt want him to have a plural spouse, she said, but his father told him he needed to have one. Besides, the mother said, the girl needed her husbands health insurance to treat her condition. Mafis mother is Paul Kingstons fifth wife, yet when filling out the aid forms, the woman advising her told Mafi not to submit anything about her father, according to the lawsuit. . Send us a tip using our anonymous form. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. Like Stephen, the boys were considered troublemakers by the Order and like Stephen, they knew a lot about how the clan handled its money. Only the inner circle knew the hoard even existed, says Christian Kingston, a former Order member. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). After the boys were taken into custody, one of their first calls was to Stephen. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. Hansen said during family home evenings nights when a mans family gathers for religious studies and games her husband would take girls 12 and older who were single and lead them in a teaching. The ones they dont think they have to worry about, they dont push them as hard.. By our latest survey, his statement said, the majority of DCCS college students were not using government-funded financial aid, including many who would qualify if they had applied. For the marriages performed in Utah, Bill W. Stoddard signed as the officiant until his death in March. The Kingston Group is believed to have a few thousand members, mostly in Utah and Idaho. You better check on your gold, Young told her. Paul Kingston, they said, has 17 wives and nearly 50 children. Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as minors and raped by their husbands. Not desiring to be a plural wife doesnt necessarily mean she hoped to leave the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. It passed a bill adding forced marriage into the states definition of sexual abuse. 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. For this article we will focus on forced child labor in the context of modern day slavery that takes place in the Kingston polygamous group. Three weeks after Snow married a 21-year-old man in Davis County, Hansens 17-year-old daughter legally married a 24-year-old man in Salt Lake County. It wasnt forced, said the woman, who asked not to be identified because of stigmas that often come with being associated with a polygamous sect. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. Fishing it out of his jeans, hell recognize the number. She also felt a religious call to wed and saw herself as mature enough to undertake such a commitment. If the Order doesnt have it, the clan teaches, we dont need it., Editors picks "A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. When Stephen was a boy, the clan would gather for the New Year in a warehouse in the city for its annual ritual: the numbering of the men. If that child comes to her at age 16 wanting to marry, she said, she will have questions. He was born Jan. 7, 1928, in San Diego, Calif., a son of the late Paul and Evelyn . It was a total spur of the moment thing, Brown says. To her horror, all that remained was a ring of dust, marking the place where a chest of gold coins had once stood. You could be such an asset to the Order., Trending One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. Rates of college attendance that meet or exceed the Utah average have been a point of pride in the Kingston Group, whose members have offered such statistics to counter the stereotype of children from polygamy, especially girls, being uneducated with no opportunity for self-improvement. Viewers Can Watch Prince Harry Talk to a Trauma Expert for $33.09 It was a grimy, derelict-looking place. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. That wasnt the only reason Jessica liked him. Not every Kingston Group follower marries as a juvenile. But Jessica knew the longer she waited to wed, the more likely she would have to become a polygamist and the more likely her husband would be far older than she was. We figured it was ours anyway, says Stephen, explaining that the clan hadnt paid the boys for bagging coal. We really know what your game is.. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Community College Redwood Road campus is pictured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. As he talked to the woman who lived there, Luke Brown came out of the house, and his brother Scott soon joined him. But lots of people in the sect are already descended from that family, Hansen said; thats why there are so many cousin marriages in the Kingston Group. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time [4] Plural marriages for individuals under 18 in the group are not allowed. The family gathered in the living room. Boys work its coal mine and stack boxes at Standard Restaurant Supply, a massive discount store. Child trafficking is the illegal movement of children, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation (Erase Child Trafficking). She didnt want to be in that house anymore; it reminded her of my brother. To test her devotion, Stephens father began calling her in the middle of the night and telling her to move the family to a new location. All of their children who survived the Great Famine emigrated. When he had finished, he walked toward Stephen, who was sitting on the tractor. The young women ranged from about age 18 to 22. Short and chubby, the Brown boys looked up to the Knight brothers. While the sect is headquartered in Utah, members will travel to Colorado to wed because cousin marriages are legal there. You had to be, like, a son of the prophet to know where it was.. 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. Fortunately, our population has already attained a higher graduation rate for high school and associates degrees for men and women in the DCCS. As lore has it, Elden was the one mighty and strong predicted by Scripture, who holding the scepter of power in his hand would set in order the House of God. With thick white hair, a lantern jaw and a commanding presence, he had no problem attracting followers. 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