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Brother of fugitive polygamist arrested

AP, via the Monterey Herald, USA
Oct. 31, 2005
Jaques Billeaud
www.montereyherald.com

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Tuesday November 1, 2005

Aug. 29, 2006 Update: Warren Jeffs Arrested

PHOENIX – A Utah man was charged with harboring and concealing his older brother, a fugitive polygamist leader who’s accused of arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a married man.

Seth Steed Jeffs, 32, was charged in Denver federal court after he was found with $140,000 in cash and prepaid credit and cell phone cards, officials said Monday. Authorities said the items often are used to help wanted people evade capture.

Warren Jeffs has been a fugitive since his June indictment in Arizona. The FBI added a charge of unlawful flight against him and joined the search.

Warren Jeffs, 49, is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The sect practices polygamy in a remote enclave in Arizona on the state line with Utah.

When questioned by authorities, Seth Jeffs said he didn’t know his brother’s whereabouts and wouldn’t help investigators find him, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent in Colorado.

The money and prepaid credit and cell phone cards were found Friday after Seth Jeffs and another man were pulled over in a traffic stop in Pueblo, Colo., authorities said.