Members were told to divert their food stamp benefits to the church by purchasing food from church-owned businesses like the Meadowayne Dairy Store and Vermillion Cliffs Produce and then bring those items to the FLDS Storehouse for "donation," according to the indictment.
"These leaders also provided instruction on how to avoid suspicion and detection by the government," the indictment alleges.
FLDS leaders also told members to transfer their SNAP benefits to the church-owned stores without receiving any food products, according to the indictment.
On one occasion, Wayman is accused of taking an Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT, card which operates similar to a debit card and is linked to a SNAP account from a qualifying person and giving it to an unauthorized person to buy food and goods.
Prosecutors also allege that the proceeds from the SNAP fraud financed ineligible purchases, such as paper products, a tractor and a truck.
"Because the funds for food are diverted to other purposes, hundreds of people especially those disfavored by the elites lack sufficient food," according to a U.S. attorney's office motion to detain four of the principal indicted members, pending trial.
Last year, 728 households received food stamps in either Colorado City, Ariz., or Hildale, Utah, according to officials in each state. And the combined benefit reached about $7.2 million.
Colorado City had about twice as many SNAP recipients as Hildale, 500 to 228, and it was worth twice as much, $4.8 million to $2.4 million.