Flds - Follow The Money

[mollymalone]

http://www.childbrides.org/colorado_YFZ_exclusive_by_Krakauer.html

Although its existence came to light less than a month ago, Allred actually purchased the first 60 acres of the Mancos property on July 11, 2003--for $669,000, under his own name--some four months before he purchased the Eldorado FLDS property. Allred bought a second 60-acre parcel for $725,000 on October 8, 2004--this time attempting to disguise the purchase by buying it in the name of a shell corporation called Sherwood Management, Inc., based in Mesquite Nevada. "Officials in Montezuma County, Colorado, initially began to wonder about Allred after Deputy Assessor Scott Davis visited the Mancos property to conduct a routine tax assessment. "During the ten years I've been doing this job, I'd never encountered someone who acted as secretive as Allred,"

The acreage acquired by the FLDS came with three existing homes and several barns and other outbuildings. In 2003 an FLDS construction crew transformed one of these barns into a fourth residence. When Brower and I visited the property on October 22 we discovered two additional residences that had just been built--handsome log homes, three stories high with green metal roofs, the larger of which measures approximately 5,000 square feet. Additionally, we saw at least four vehicles (including a BMW X5 sport utility vehicle registered to one of Allred's plural wives), http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Cont...qE7VwFthTPPfYER64mg4hTKR3FFXYEqH7vVaHHbjMzylf a house trailer, excavating equipment, and building materials stockpiled for further construction." "Both of the new homes are secreted in dense stands of pine and aspen along the back property line, and are not visible from any road. Smoke was rising from the chimneys, but blinds were drawn tightly across every window."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.childbrides.org/colorado.html

*Photo

"According to records examined Thursday at the Montezuma County Assessor's office, a nearby 60 acres was sold to Sherwood Management Group, Inc., Oct. 8. A deed of trust for that property, at 15976 County Road 39, is signed by David Allred and also lists him as the president of Sherwood Management, with a postal box address in Mesquite, Nev."

"Allred's initial purchase came to local attention when he declined to let Deputy Assessor Scott Davis into buildings at the 15252 address. Doing so is not illegal, but Davis said that, along with Allred's demeanor, prompted his suspicion.The Sherwood Management property in Mancos went for considerably above market value - $725,000 for agricultural property situated next to public lands. Its assessed valuation, for tax purposes, was $156,900, with a possible market value of $200,000, Davis said Friday."

"His office also said on Thursday that Sherwood Management secured a loan from the Jolujo Management Trust for $325,000, paying cash for the balance. The deed of trust shows a Medford, N.Y., postal box address for Sherwood's lender. A search by the Journal failed to turn up information about Jolujo Trust or a telephone number.

Calls to FLDS attorney Rod Parker were not returned Friday by deadline.

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8809492
The FLDS have other secluded settlements, including one in Mancos, Colo. But elsewhere, such as Mesquite and Las Vegas, Nevada, they have settled into established communities.


http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19430/polygamy-31
Amid the scrutiny FLDS members have left their homes in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., about 160 miles northeast of Las Vegas, for anonymity and the booming economy of southern Nevada. Many work in the construction industry for companies in Las Vegas, Henderson and Mesquite.

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19430/polygamy-31

On Gilbert Lane, residents watched as several prebuilt homes popped up and residents who sometimes mingled with neighbors grew more reclusive. “You used to be able to see one little girl who used to come up to the glass window and wave at you,” Donahue said. “Then they immediately put paper up over the windows so she couldn’t. It was a little creepy.”The home’s residents wrapped a green mesh fence around the property, blocking what had been a clear view of the backyard, neighbors said. Donahue recalled stepping outside one night and seeing a man at the house loading a pickup.
“The minute he saw me, he closed all the doors on the truck, ran in the house and turned off all the lights,” she said. “It’s like they don’t want you to see what they are doing. All very mysterious.”

"Jacob Jessop, who owns the Gilbert Lane house, incorporated JNJ Engineering in Las Vegas in 2002. Engels, private investigator Sam Brower and others identified Jessop as an FLDS member. He visited Jeffs in the Clark County Detention Center after his arrest, according to visitor logs."

"The family on Gilbert Lane was ordered by city inspectors late last year to remove three small houses that appeared on his property. They were gone by January, but serenity hasn’t returned to Gilbert Lane. “Everybody’s moving because no one wants to be around the polygamists,” Corral said."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.childbrides.org/colorado_abc7_pligs_selling_UT_AZ_parcel.html

"A polygamous sect on the Utah-Arizona border is selling 1,300 acres of surplus land to finance other purchases in Colorado and Texas. "It doesn't really fit in well with their community," Rodney Parker, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' attorney, said Tuesday. "They can use that money for these other projects." "The Arizona Strip parcel for sale doesn't border the church's base in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where an estimated 10,000 members live. It's listed for $4.6 million.

 

[mollymalone]

NewEra Manufacturing (formerly Western Precision)

http://www.religionnewsblog.com/19430/polygamy-31

"Another major business owned by FLDS members in Las Vegas is NewEra Manufacturing, which was called Western Precision before moving from Utah to Nevada in July 2006." Before they moved to Las Vegas, it was the biggest employer in Colorado City,” Brower said. “They have a lot of government contracts.”

"The company’s founder, Wendell Nielsen, is one of Jeffs’ closest confidants, and company President John C. Wayman owned the Cadillac Escalade Jeffs was riding in when he was arrested, Brower said."

http://rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy444.html
Western Precision Inc., a high-tech machine shop that builds components for such products as bicycles, blood pumps and military aircraft. The firm, according to filings in a high-stakes court battle, once funneled as much as $100,000 a month to the FLDS church and its leaders.

"Lawyers for Bruce R. Wisan, the court-appointed overseer now managing the trust, claim Western Precision was a "priesthood project business." Its multi-million dollar building, fixtures and the land it sits on, they argue, are assets of the United Effort Plan Trust, which holds virtually all property in the twin cities. Wisan has supervised holdings in Utah, Arizona and British Columbia, valued at $111 million, since last May after the FLDS church, the trust and its leaders - among them fugitive leader Warren Jeffs - failed to answer two lawsuits that named them as defendants." "Wisan sued Western Precision a day after his appointment, alleging that months after the suits were filed former trustees wrongfully allowed the company to buy the property and building for $25,000 - a fraction of its real value, which he puts at $1.8 million to $5 million. The deal also didn't account for labor and materials contributed by FLDS members, he alleges."

Western Precision disputes Wisan's characterizations of the sale and the company's relationships with the FLDS church and the UEP trust. The company claims it paid fairly for the land, owns the building that it paid for mostly with its own or borrowed funds and that members contributed willingly to the project. Wisan has overstepped his authority and does not have the right to challenge the sale, the company claims. In doing so, he has jeopardized the community's largest employer and inappropriately taken sides in what is, at heart, a religious battle."

 

[mollymalone]

http://rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy444.html
Attorneys for Western Precision told The Salt Lake Tribune the company made donations to the FLDS church and its leaders in the past but has not done so for two years. It denies taking pay from employees for the church, as some allege. Based on court documents and interviews, that marks a sea change in Western Precision's previously instrumental role in supporting FLDS endeavors.

Funding the faith: Founded by Wendell Nielsen in 1981 in West Jordan, Western Precision is a lucrative enterprise with contracts spanning a range of fields: aerospace, military, automotive, mining, health and fitness and medical. The firm merged in 1992 with another machining business, Utah Tool & Die. Then-FLDS leader Rulon Jeffs, who was president of Utah Tool, didn't see the need for two competing machine shops, according to John Nielsen, one of Wendell's sons. Rulon Jeffs was put on Western Precision's payroll, said John Nielsen, who worked for Western Precision from 1981-1995. He also worked there 2002 to 2004, until he was ousted from the FLDS church. John Nielsen said his father met regularly with Rulon Jeffs and quarterly gave him checks for $10,000 or more. It wasn't the only support the company gave the church."

"Western Precision and several other FLDS-affiliated businesses jointly chartered a Lear jet to fly Rulon Jeffs to Canada and other places to tend church business, John Nielsen said. It also made contributions to Alta Academy, the now-defunct private FLDS school in Sandy that Warren Jeffs once led."

 

[mollymalone]

MOLLY SAYS: Western Precision was ordered to relocate to Hilldale, Utah after Rulon Jeffs predicted that Salt Lake would be destroyed at the time of the Olympics.

" FLDS faithful rushed to ready a new 55,266-square-foot facility for the company on 3.3 acres on Hildale, which Western Precision agreed to lease for $200 a year." " James K. Tracy, one of Western Precision's attorneys, said the company poured "in excess of $1 million" of its own money into the new facility and paid some companies for their work." "But numerous FLDS businesses and craftsmen in the community - General Rock & Sand, L&M Equipment, Amerock, electricians, plumbers, stucco crews - also donated labor and equipment to finish the building, court documents said. Work continued over the next two years, with volunteer crews spending Saturdays finishing up and modifying the facility."

"There was a time when Wendell [Nielsen, Western Precision's founder] was starving his employees so that he could give their money to the church," Blackmore agreed in an e-mail. "He would tell his employees that they couldn't make payroll" because of the company's contributions to church leaders. Some employees, Blackmore said, went for months "without a hundred dollars." "During at least one Saturday work project meeting - during which residents received voluntary community improvement assignments - a church leader announced Western Precision was contributing $50,000 a month, Holm said in a court document.

The company generated another $50,000 a month by getting employees to work for free on Saturdays, John Nielsen said. Stubbs makes similar claims in his deposition, describing wage cuts and donations Western Precision's employees made.

The company provides jobs for some 100 people who fill round-the-clock shifts. It is widely regarded for its quality work, in recent years garnering two awards as a defense contractor for its innovative business practices.

Western Precision said it sought to purchase its property, beginning in 2003, to calm vendors' concerns about its facility being on trust-owned land; it also wanted to be able to use the real estate as collateral for a $1 million loan. It wrapped up the deal in October 2004, receiving deeds to the land. The price it paid per acre is more than the $2 million Wisan got for 436 acres of UEP land he sold in nearby Apple Valley last year, the company argues.

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=508&sid=1072877
*Photo Wendell Neilson

"He's believed to be living in Las Vegas, where his old company operates under a new name, keeping up the flow of money. There's an unverified report Nielsen came back to town last weekend and convened a suit-and-tie meeting, inside a warehouse, surrounded by a fleet of vehicles.

"Former FLDS member Isaac Wyler Former FLDS member Isaac Wyler said, "Wendell Nielsen holds the money string. David Allred has the keys to the houses."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy636.html

"A dairy and alfalfa farm operated by members of a polygamous sect will be seized to satisfy an $8.8 million judgment against Warren S. Jeffs and the FLDS church. Harker Farms Inc., in Beryl, has until May 25 to either comply with or object to the seizure sought by Bruce R. Wisan, a court-appointed fiduciary overseeing the United Effort Plan Trust. Harker & Sons, the entity that operates the farm, faces the same deadline. The property to be seized includes land, cash and equipment. These assets will be used to pay the judgment and benefit the trust, which could keep the farm or sell it."
"The farm encompasses 400 acres."

Potatoes grown on the farm years ago were processed at a now-defunct processing plant in Colorado City, which, with Hildale, Utah, has been the home base of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Harker, a church counselor and UEP trustee, also oversaw other farming operations in the community." "Like many FLDS business operations, the farm was considered to be consecrated to the church. Harker arranged in 1997 to formally turn the farm over to the FLDS church, said Salt Lake Attorney Rod Parker, who helped Harker with his estate planning. In December of that year, Harker & Sons, which owned and operated the farm, was signed over to the church’s business arm."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.childbrides.org/dakota.html
*PHOTOS

"A "prison-like guard tower" was also erected at the entrance to the compound." "Neighbors say that only one man, named Jerald, speaks for the estimated 60 people living here."


http://www.childbrides.org/dakota_kelo_Black_Hills_police_aware_of_Warren.html
Electronic gates near Pringle are the entrance to a 100 acre piece of land, home to a polygamist sect. On the ground ... a green metal roof is barely visible through the trees. But in the air ... you can see the layout of the compound.

http://www.childbrides.org/dakota.html
"Copies of deeds filed in Custer County, S.D., and obtained by The Associated Press indicate the land was deeded to Jeffs' loyalist, David Allred, president of Details Unlimited, based in Washington County, Utah, on Sept. 22, 2003."

http://www.childbrides.org/dakota_KELO_compound_in_Pringle_not_hidden_well_enough.html
**PHOTOS

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.childbrides.org/dakota_RCJ_compound_still_growing.html

"Since October 2003, the group has built several structures on the property. More recently, United Land Management, a group tied to the FLDS, bought another 40 acres, owned by Kenneth and Marlene Boggs, adjacent to the compound. The compound bought 15 acres last March for $37,500 and on Oct. 13 paid $275,000 for 25 acres. The second piece of property includes a new 2,400-square-foot log home, according to documents at Custer County Courthouse. Compound members also have begun work on another, larger lodge, according to Custer County equalization director Les Struble. That building will total more than 14,000 square feet and contain 18 bedrooms and 14 bathrooms, according to documents filed at Custer County Planning Department. Group members have been building one or two lodges a year on the fenced-off, gated compound, Struble said. He estimated that the existing lodges are about 3,000 square feet each. "The existing ones are set up like a bed and breakfast," he said. They have large kitchen and living rooms, plus separate bedrooms and bathrooms. The lodges vary in size and have five to 10 bedrooms per building."

The property’s current assessed value is about $1.5 million, including the Boggs property, Struble said. After the new lodge is finished, the total assessment likely will rise to between $2.5 million and $3 million.
The compound will have a tax bill next year of about $30,000. After the new lodge is finished, the tax bill will rise to an estimated $50,000 or $60,000 per year, Struble said. "Struble said he talks with only two or three men on his assessment visits. They give only their first names."

 

[mollymalone]

For more articles about Pringle, SD. FLDS compound:
http://www.childbrides.org/dakota.html

 

[mollymalone]

Behind a half-opened door stand five unsecured rifles. As one of 350 independent schools in B.C., Bountiful receives a funding allotment from the provincial government of about $550,000 annually. This covers almost all the costs of the 200-student school. A 10 percent tithe from Bountiful followers covers the rest. Despite the rumours of sexual abuse of children within Bountiful, educational inspectors have not discovered evidence of a single problem. Academically, however, student achievement is lacklustre. A study of B.C.'s independent schools last year showed that over 50 percent of grade seven students in Bountiful rated "poor" in reading, writing, and math skills. Judged by what's on the school's walls, it is religion that's most important. Posters of Mormon prophets, some bearded, all stern, including the current clean-shaven prophet Rulon T. Jeffs, vie with scores of Biblical quotations.

"Winston does divvy up some of the school's education allotment to twenty single mothers-the celestial wives of polygamous husbands -- who each earn $700 a month as teaching assistants. He also runs a successful wood-treatment plant in nearby Cranbrook. But a lot of people survive on seasonal jobs: picking fruit, digging potatoes, processing chickens, doing some small-scale logging, or helping harvest the commune's estimated 1,000 hectares of canola and timothy. Unlike Colorado City, Arizona, where there are reported to be scores of UEP single mothers on welfare, Blackmore boasts that no one receives welfare in his community."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/apr/16/flds-linked-to-low-bid-construction-firms/
Among the most successful enterprises held by members of the sect are at least three construction and contracting companies based in Hildale, Utah, home of apparent sect leader Warren Jeffs. The largest of these is JNJ Engineering Construction, owned by sect member Jacob Nathan Jessop, for whom the company is named."

"Among the projects that JNJ Engineering has won in recent years:

$4 million to build a flood-control improvement project for Las Vegas. Construction began in February and is expected to last 11 months.

$2.4 million to revitalize or build 6,500 feet of walking trails, 1,500 feet of paved road and 16 picnic areas in a nature preserve for the Las Vegas Valley Water District in 2005.

$1.6 million to replace and upgrade the service lines between water meter and water mains. The Las Vegas Valley Water District awarded the contract in June 2005.

$880,500 to improve street drainage for the Pima County Regional Flood Control District in Arizona in a contract awarded in 2005."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=2709009

*Photos child laborers

"Another FLDS-linked company, Paragon, was hit with a permanent injunction a few weeks ago by a federal judge. It was for "repeatedly and willfully" violating child labor laws. We encountered a Paragon crew last week and saw no children. But the workers suddenly stopped and drove away as soon as they saw our camera."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/1354729/
"In addition, JNJ Engineering, a company owned and operated by FLDS leaders, has made millions of dollars in Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in September. The company won $11.3 million in contract work from the Las Vegas Valley Water District;

all but one of the project workers came from the twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., where most of the sect's 10,000 members live.

 

[mollymalone]

http://web.sccn2.net/FLDS/Started.htm
" approximately January 2004. Three - 3 story buildings on a three section ranch for a hunting retreat owned by " YFZ ( Yearning For Zion) Land Development".

Further investigation by Schleicher County Sheriff and Eldorado Success revealed the YFZ was a holding company for Warren Jeffs and the FLDS."

 

[mollymalone]

DAGROW TRUSS & COZY LOG HOMES

In Mesquite, FLDS members have run several companies, including Dagrow Truss and Cozy Log Homes."
"Nicholes said activity at Dagrow Truss slowed after Jeffs’ arrest last year, and FLDS workers have all but disappeared from Mesquite. An unidentified woman who answered the phone at Dagrow Truss said no one would comment." "A phone message to Cozy Log Homes went unreturned. One of the managing members of Cozy Log Homes, Kelly Fischer, was the first FLDS member to be tried in Mohave County on charges related to underage brides. He was convicted last year of sexual contact with a minor and sentenced to 45 days in jail."

HENDERSON BASED COMPANY

"Brower works for a law firm that is suing Jeffs and the church on behalf of women who allege they were sexually abused within the church, and on behalf of young men who were kicked out of the church." "He and Engels identified a Henderson-based company that made lanyards for Snugz, a Salt Lake City company. A lanyard is a cord that hangs around the neck to display security badges and event passes.""Jon Clave, 24, who worked for another company in the same warehouse in Henderson, recalled going into the factory to ask for the return of a borrowed forklift. Clave said he walked in on a room full of kids. Four or five boys, three girls. “They just sat there in dead silence. No one said anything,” he said. A few months later, the business closed and the workers disappeared." Snugz owner Brandon Mackay said FLDS workers were manufacturers for some of the company’s products when he bought it in the spring of 2005. He ended the relationship last year for business reasons, he said."

 

[mollymalone]

http://www.myeldorado.net/YFZ%20Pages/YFZ031705b.html

"Shem Fischer, who was once employed by a cabinet company in Hilldale, UT, alleges in the lawsuit that he ws wrongfully terminated from his job because he no longer adhered to the town's dominate FLDS faith."


MOLLY SAYS: The new settlement at Crawford Texas is supposed to have a "cabinet company." No idea if it was moved from Hilldale to Crawford, or if it is a separate company.

 

[mollymalone]

http://helpthechildbrides.com/articles/prescottcourier.htm

"The church-controlled United Effort Plan owns most of the property. A worthy family can be assigned a building space but they pay for building their own house on it, and then it belongs to the U.E.P. Homes are built piecemeal and expanded as necessary -- pay as you go, no mortgages. Since a home is rarely finished, the tax bill stays small. If a family leaves or is evicted, they own nothing. (Financial control also -- you stay "in harmony" with the Prophet or lose your home.)"