The family believed that discipline would rein in the boys and that hard labor would make the girls more supplicant to their husbands back in the city. Some people say they funneled the money through Mexico. One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. The teenagers sitting in the driveway on South Bonner Circle that afternoon in 2009 knew the operation well. The couple have since divorced. But within the Order, where drinking soda pop was against the rules, it was a pretty big deal.. Jessica Kingston said she has heard males talking to one another about a girl and say, If youre going to marry that girl, shes going to have to be a first wife because she wont live polygamy.. Then one night, a clan member called and told him that the Order planned to kill him. The two boys pulled into the driveway and shifted the green Honda into park. She received no sex education or premarital counseling. Johnson said the Davis County Cooperative Society takes no position on the issue. (Photo courtesy Shanell DeRieux) Shanell DeRieux, then called Shanell Snow, center, stands with her mother, Shirley Hansen, right, and her father, John Daniel Kingston, in this photo from her legal wedding day, July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo. Also pictured are DeRiux's now-ex-husband and ex-mother-in-law. A statement from the only higher education institution mentioned in the lawsuit, Salt Lake Community College, said it has not received any subpoenas or inquiries. Shortly after 10 p.m. on June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh called 911 from his property in Islandton, South Carolina, to report that he had found his 22-year-old son Paul and his wife Maggie, 55, murdered. So when her husband pushed for that daughter to marry, too, Hansen thought she was mature enough. I dont really have too many friends, but the ones I do, I wouldnt trade for anything., Among Stephens friends were two of his cousins, Luke and Scott Brown. 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). A young child is also one of the accusers in the suit with allegations the child was raped by his or her father, who allegedly raped the mother. Everyone in the Order knew that she controlled the purse strings for the operation but few were aware that she was sitting on a hidden stash of silver. 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. And it would be several years after that before he stole from his father for the first time. Paul married Frances G Chez Kingston. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. 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. 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. That usually means marrying a Kingston descendant. Members of a powerful polygamous group in Utah claim they were forced into underage marriages with their relatives to keep their blood pure, were raped by their husbands and had to perform child labor, according to a bombshell lawsuit. I dont think theyre organized crime in that regard, but the racketeering statute defines it as any conspiracy or pattern of illegal activity done in concert with others. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. The marriages, former followers say, can be used as a tool to keep girls in the Kingston Group, known among younger members as The Order. For their part, the brides sometimes see legal marriages as a way to avoid becoming polygamists later (and consequently being matched with a husband perhaps twice their age) or a means to escape their parents crowded households. One day, not long after the gold disappeared, Knight got an anonymous phone call. The lawsuit says Mafi received an aid package that exceeded her tuition. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. 1:03. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives. Stephen hangs up and drives home in silence. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. She and her husband had moved to Billings, Mont., to work for a coal mine. DeRieux says she was still high school age when her father told her she needed to pray about whom to marry, get married and build The Order. Her father also started calling her mother and prodded her to pressure DeRieux to get married. Finding one wasnt difficult. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? The "9" represents his status as a "numbered man" in the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. 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. They teach the girls its their choice, Hansen said, but [say], Heres the selection.. Snow says she chose to get married to escape an abusive living situation. From the outside it seemed like a typical suburban home, offering few clues of the secrets that were contained inside. Not every Kingston Group follower marries as a juvenile. The accusers describe a patriarchal doctrine known as The Law of One Above Another, which they claim designates everyone a rank in the groups hierarchy. Three others, including Grant, said they had to flee to escape such a fate. What he told me was, Hansen said, Get her married so we dont have to take care of her anymore.. The groom wore a suit. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. Luke and Scott often visited the home of one of their aunts, Rachel Young. Death: January 25, 1867 (75-76) Immediate Family: Husband of Lydia Kingston. The ones they dont think they have to worry about, they dont push them as hard.. He became obsessed with homeopathic treatments and herbal remedies, teaching followers that through proper diet they could live to the age of a tree. When lightning struck a tree at the Home Place, he taught his followers that the tree had divine powers and was a gateway to heaven. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. Theyre trying to paint a picture, Markey said, give the judge and, frankly, the defendants, when they see the complaint, give them the context, which is to the effect, We know what's up. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. Then their father said something they never expected. Former members of the sect say there may be dozens or even hundreds more marriage certificates at county clerk offices across the West. One day, for laughs, he and his half brother Ron Tucker stole some napalm from an Order army-supply store, drew lines of it in the street and lit it on fire as cars drove by. If I had done it, the Order probably would have killed me. While much of the focus of any polygamous group is on plural marriages that happen outside the law, records and interviews with current and former first wives in the Kington Group lend insight into how legal marriages are facilitated. She was 68. Sometimes his father read the Book of Mormon from the pulpit and talked about things regular Christians would recognize, like tithing or repentance. Her father, John Daniel Kingston, has 14 wives. The suit was filed against the groups leader Paul Eldon Kingston and 21 other members. Mrs. The education figures he cited would be a few percentage points higher than the average for Utah as a whole, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? The clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. After the wedding, Richaun chose the name Knight randomly a practice designed to prevent prosecutors from proving that men in the Order have multiple wives. He lived on month day 1940, at address, Washington. But age alone wont determine her answer. Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingston's brothers were convicted of. The third plaintiff is Michelle Michaels, who the complaint says left the sect in 2017 rather than become a spiritual wife to a cousin who has nine wives. In its place, someone had left a note. 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. Log In Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. Look around, Stephen says. Fishing it out of his jeans, hell recognize the number. But 16- and 17-year-olds in Utah need only the consent of a parent to wed. Idaho, Colorado and Nevada, where the The Tribune also found Kingston Group marriages, have similar age and parental-consent requirements. Stephens father seemed to marry a new girl every year, each one younger and prettier than the last. But because they were the sons of the prophet, they got away with it., Stephen vehemently denies that he or his brothers had anything to do with the heist. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. But the more the deputy pressed, the more their stories didnt add up. The Kingston Group is not affiliated withthe Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) based on the Utah-Arizona line that is run by imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving a life sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting girls he considered brides. It passed a bill adding forced marriage into the states definition of sexual abuse. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax If that father says yes, the groom talks to the girl. Over the next several years, Stephen bounced from the suburbs of Salt Lake to the clans ranch in Nevada. DeRieuxs marriage effectively ended in June 2010. There, stacked on the concrete floor, were crates filled with bars of silver. The lawsuit does not allege any wrongdoing by SLCC. At Washakie, he forced clan children to decapitate cows with chain saws to toughen them up, and sometimes beat the children for some infraction of the Orders rules like forgetting to face the Home Place three times a day and pray. While his dad was running the order from Salt Lake City, Stephen grew up on a cattle ranch called Washakie, near the Idaho border. 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. He kept his office on a side street in central Salt Lake. One crime had been solved but the chest of gold stolen from Patty Kingstons closet remained a mystery. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Or wed set traps and raise them as pets., In many ways it was an idyllic childhood, except for the fact that the ranch also doubled as a work camp for disobedient clan wives and rebellious kids. If the case succeeds, the whistleblowers can collect perhaps millions of dollars from the damages or fines paid by the defendants. He served one day in jail. He thinks about his mom, and wonders if she misses him. 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