The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax He also shared his brothers fascination with herbs and natural medicine. If Paul Kingston or the designee signs off, the groom next goes to the girls father. Investigators have said 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh was shot four or five times with a rifle, while 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh was killed by two shotgun blasts near kennels on the family's . Mafi followed Paul Kingstons instructions, the lawsuit states, and never again saw those funds.. She was instructed, the complaint adds, to deposit the excess funds at a South Salt Lake office building, where the sects bank is located. 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. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. For Stephen and the other kids on the ranch, the highlight of each week came on Sundays, when they traveled the hour and a half south to Salt Lake for church. No recordings or photos were allowed during the ceremony. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. When he had finished, he walked toward Stephen, who was sitting on the tractor. Suddenly, Stephens brother David lost control of the truck and it rolled over, killing David instantly. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. They should refrain from this decision until they can be well informed to make a mature and thoughtful decision before entering into marriage.. (Paul Kingston and other leaders of the family ignored repeated requests for comment for this story. The ones they dont think they have to worry about, they dont push them as hard.. According to Montana court documents, the couple had an argument at their apartment and DeRieuxs then-husband threw her down a flight of stairs. The plaintiffs estimate 40 to 50 children from the sect were college age in each of the past six years. Those families have intermarried to the extent that half brothers and sisters are now marrying one another, as well as uncles. One day, not long after the gold disappeared, Knight got an anonymous phone call. The grift was exposed decades later, in the 1980s, when the clan paid a $350,000 settlement for swindling the government through welfare fraud. . They threw away their possessions, donned matching blue overalls, and pitched canvas tents on a patch of land north of Salt Lake that would come to be known as the Home Place.. For parents, there can be other practical considerations in letting a teen marry, Hansen said. Four of those appear to be couples from polygamous groups. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. Jessica said her husband was on a group text that went around listing girls or women who had not yet married with jokes about how old the females were getting. They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. Eventually, Stephen was sent back to Washakie and was placed under the supervision of his uncle, one of the familys most feared enforcers. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. Create Biography LDS Church wants to light up a temple in a place that prides itself on dark skies, For husband-and-wife team, this new restaurant is the culmination of a decadeslong dream, offered such statistics to counter the stereotype, Nicole Mafi, one of Paul Kingstons daughters. For, nearly 75 years after they were born, Peter and Paul Kingston are as inseparable now as they were inside their mother's womb. From Hansens perspective, the entire Kingston Group marriage process is like being told you can have anything to eat as long as it comes from a certain table. Chuck Lepper, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said that no review is planned at this time. The doorknob to her room was removed. Stephens father seemed to marry a new girl every year, each one younger and prettier than the last. It was a total spur of the moment thing, Brown says. Paul Kingston told her congratulations. As the first of Paul Kingstons many wives, Patty enjoyed a privileged role in the Order including access to vast wealth. ", "United by fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, one polygamous group helps another by bringing truckloads of food", "Young Brides Stir New Outcry on Utah Polygamy", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? He then pinned her on a bed, the documents say, and wouldnt let her call for help. The suit says sect members might have obtained tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars through false applications. These days Stephen works on a cattle ranch near the Idaho border, just down the road from where he grew up. The lawsuit from Michaels and the Nelsons asserts the defendants are liable for up to $27 million in damages and another $20 million in penalties. He would talk to them about marriage and thinking of whom to marry, Hansen said. A lawsuit alleges leaders of a Utah polygamous sect bilked federal student aid programs by instructing teenagers to omit their fathers and other sources of income when applying for benefits. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. To her horror, all that remained was a ring of dust, marking the place where a chest of gold coins had once stood. Their neighbors had no idea that the family were prominent members of the Kingston clan, the most powerful polygamist cult in America and one of the most dangerous. Stephen moved in with his brother. The parents of the 16-year-olds also completed a form granting their permission. Paul was upset any of this had been reported at all, says a former member close to the boys. So far, however, despite Shurtleffs efforts, the insular and highly secretive nature of the Order has prevented him from finding sufficient evidence to bring a case strong enough to dismantle the clan. On the surface, the operation is legit: From Salt Lake, the Order controls some 100 businesses spread out over the Western states, from a casino in California to a cattle ranch in Nevada to a factory that makes lifelike dolls in Utah. Most of the time, said Shanell DeRieux, a former Kingston Group member now seen on Escaping Polygamy, the girls only choice is to have babies because thats how we build The Order by population.. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. 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. Donate to the newsroom now. . The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. Mrs. In response to questions from the newspaper, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society, sent an email saying marriages should occur within the age of legal consent and not be coerced. He said the college has controls to ensure compliance with federal aid guidelines. But within the Order, where drinking soda pop was against the rules, it was a pretty big deal.. He died on 6-4-1998 at the Beckley Veterans Administration. 1:03. Paul Valls's wife is Sharon Vallas. For more than a decade, the group has publicly spoken out against child-bride marriages and the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent. He didnt have anyone to help him process what had just happened., Taking advantage of his status as a son of the prophet, Stephen began bending the rules even further. No one would accept the guilty by association view in any other culture that has been adopted by the public for ours. By 18 she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. On this much, though, mother and daughter agree: Snows father was the primary driver. In Utah, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, plans a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. His arms are sunburned and his hands calloused from long days moving the irrigation pipes that water the fields. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. Log In Once logged in, you can add biography in the database. She didnt want to be in that house anymore; it reminded her of my brother. To test her devotion, Stephens father began calling her in the middle of the night and telling her to move the family to a new location. Come and get me, Stephen said. After the boys were taken into custody, one of their first calls was to Stephen. He went days at a time without eating, convinced it helped provoke visions, and believed that by the laying on of hands he could heal his followers from sickness and disease. 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. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. Three of Kingston's 14 wives also are in the photo. A nationwide debate is underway about teens, especially girls, marrying. In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. Eventually, there was a meeting between Jessica Kingston, her parents and Paul Kingston. One woman who was married in 2014 at age 16 said she did so for the same reason most people do: She fell in love. In its place, someone had left a note. He slept with a different one each night, in accordance with their ovulation cycles, and sometimes disappeared during lunch to have sex with a favorite. Others say they buried it out in the desert and are slowly cashing it out. Former members estimate Paul has 30 wives and more than 50 children. But Jessica knew the longer she waited to wed, the more likely she would have to become a polygamist and the more likely her husband would be far older than she was. It empowered Stephen before that, no one had ever stood up to Daniel Kingston or any of them, says a former member. Johnson said the Davis County Cooperative Society takes no position on the issue. For now, Utah law says a 15-year-old may marry with the consent of a parent or guardian and the permission of a juvenile court judge. took great pains to never show his wealth and taught his followers to do the same. Jessica Kingston didnt want to be a polygamist. Comparable graduation rates have been attained by our bachelors and advanced degree students when compared to the state of Utah and the U.S., despite an uphill battle of active discrimination against our students. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. [4], Plural marriage is practiced by some members of the DCCS, and members make their own choice in who they marry. Snow contends her mother was one of the people who told her she needed to think about whom she was going to wed. Photo by Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune | Shirley Hansen, seen here July 21, 2018, stands along 2100 South near State Street in Salt Lake City. Paul Elden Kingston (1959- ): Known as the "Watchman on the Wall" who claims to hear from God regularly, Paul is the son of John Ortell. Jessica said, strictly speaking, she and the other teen brides she knows chose to get married, but added: Its not much of a choice when theyre groomed to do that.. According to All Famous Birthdays, Paul Vallas has a staggering net worth of $5 million. (Jessicas dad and the young man had taken courses together at the University of Utah.) They did it, says Christian Kingston. The memorial was held in Maxwell Park in Hildale, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015. Trump Melts Down Over Murdoch Admitting Fox Lied About Election Fraud Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. But he hopes that one day his family will be able to forgive him for leaving them behind. 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. This is an indication that an experienced qui tam firm looked at the facts, Markey said, and realized it was a case that was worth pursuing.. Jessicas father relented during the meeting and gave his approval for his daughter to marry her No. 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. After the lawsuit was filed, attorneys representing the U.S. government asked a judge to seal the case, according to entries that can still be found on a webpage maintained by DocketBird.com, a commercial site that collects and sells court records. 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. A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. [5][6][7][8] Members generally seek the blessing of parents and religious leaders before choosing to marry. Carolyn Yvonne Kingston was born in 1938 in Elmo, Utah, to Charles Elden Kingston, and his first wife Ethel Gustafson, so she was the daughter of the first prophet of the Kingston Clan. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. They were finally getting even. But the constant fear has subsided. (Like most kids in the clan, Stephen wasnt told who his father was until he was old enough to be trusted to lie to protect the Order.) 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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Like other teenagers who leave fundamentalist Mormon communities, Stephen was not prepared to enter the world at large. At first, the two boys denied any involvement in the break-in at Youngs house. 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. They did so July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo, where records show two other couples from the Kingston Group married that day. The group has drawn legal attention before. They sat there for a moment, warming their hands against the sputtering heater. In the months after the robbery, Stephen couldnt shake the feeling he was being watched. The lawsuit describes crimes and issues within the Kingston Group that have no direct relationship to the student aid applications. She wasnt allowed to leave the house until she decided whom to marry. He became particularly obsessed with a plant called comfrey, which he believed would protect his clan from the nuclear war that would usher in the apocalypse. 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. Those two unions happened in Colorado, where its legal to marry your cousin. This article appears in the June 23, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. A Tale of Two Chads: More Drama From Nineties Band Live. DeRieux was photographed in Layton, Wednesday, July 11, 2018. The deputy opened the trunk of the Honda, where he found two duffel bags stuffed with silver. If you ever do that again, he said, Ill blow your head off., It was an astonishing moment in the history of the clan. The now-20-year-old said she and her husband have started a family of their own. He told the children they would all be applying for financial aid, enrolling at SLCC and majoring in business administration, the lawsuit cites Mafi as saying. Businesses and individuals have the autonomy to choose and operate as they see fit as evidenced by a huge diversity of industry and management styles among members. Her husband, John Daniel Kingston, told his children to marry up, she said, meaning marry into a well-regarded family in the Kingston Group. It was all just innocent teenage stuff, recalls Ron, who has since left the clan. 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 group sought to maintain Pure Kingston Blood by arranging marriages between cousins and other close relatives, and shunning relationships that werent between white people, the lawsuit alleges. If the case succeeds, the whistleblowers can collect perhaps millions of dollars from the damages or fines paid by the defendants. He is not ready to forgive his father. What he told me was, Hansen said, Get her married so we dont have to take care of her anymore.. Yet its teen marriages in the Kingston Group that spurred the Utah Legislature to act this year. This is nothing more than a continued attempt in a long history to keep DCCS members from accessing education and services every other U.S. citizen is legally entitled to. Snow said her marriage fell apart over her not liking the Kingston Group and her husband wanting to have another wife. Former sect members testified in favor of the measure, but its unclear whether the pressures faced by teens in the Kingston Group constitute forced marriage. Genealogy profile for Paul Kingston Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) - Genealogy Genealogy for Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Boys work its coal mine and stack boxes at Standard Restaurant Supply, a massive discount store. I honestly didnt even know there was any gold until they accused me of taking it, he says. By 18, she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. Sometimes he parked his immaculately buffed burgundy Ford Thunderbird on the curb, but it was rare to see the man himself. Johnson did not provide the raw data to support those statistics. One of them approached the front door while the other kept a lookout.