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FLDS Leader Says Alleged Food Stamp Fraud Was Religious Freedom

KSJD | By Gail Binkly

Published July 13, 2016 at 3:46 PM MDT

The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder-Day Saints, who is on the lam after slipping out of his court-ordered GPS tracking device a month ago, is claiming religious freedom as a defense against federal charges of food-stamp fraud. The Salt Lake Tribune reportsthat attorneys for Lyle Jeffs, who disappeared while out on bond, filed a motion in U.S. District Court Tuesday saying that in donating his food-stamp benefits to a church warehouse, he was exercising his faith.

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Gail Binkly

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.

See stories by Gail Binkly

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