Sect leader Jeffs caught after year on lam
SALT LAKE CITY — Polygamous sect leader Lyle Jeffs was captured in South Dakota following nearly a year on the run after he pawned two pairs of pliers and provided a real identification card, authorities and the pawn shop owner said.
The suspicious pawn shop employee notified the owner Jeffs was wanted by the FBI, who learned more about him online and alerted authorities.
Jeffs was alone near a lakeside marina and hours away from a compound in the state run by his polygamous group when an off-duty police detective spotted a pickup truck Thursday that a tipster told police Jeffs had been driving, said Eric Barnhart, FBI special agent in charge for the Salt Lake City Division.
Jeffs complied with officers when he was arrested Wednesday at a lakeside marina near the small town of Yankton in the southeastern corner of South Dakota, Barnhart said. Authorities believe he had been in that area for the last two weeks and was living out of his pickup truck.
Authorities had been hunting for Jeffs since he escaped home confinement in Utah on June 18, 2016, ahead of his trial in an alleged multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud scheme.
The events leading to Jeffs’ capture started Tuesday when he went to the River City Treasures and Pawn shop and sold two pairs of Leatherman pliers for $37 and provided his ID, owner Kevin Haug said in an interview.
A store employee notified Haug that Jeffs was wanted by the FBI after Jeffs had left the store. Haug called police in Yankton and said he provided officers with store video and pawn paperwork.
Jeffs also visited the store last week and tried to sell a tool but the store did not buy them that time and Jeffs did not identify himself during the earlier visit. Jeffs during his first visit was fidgeting, seemed nervous and was “acting like a freak,” Haug said.
Barnhart declined comment on whether Haug was the tipster credited with helping authorities capture Jeffs, but Yankton County Chief Deputy Sheriff Michael Rothschadl said authorities looked for Jeffs in the area because of the pawn shop tip.
The FBI had issued a $50,000 reward for information leading to Jeffs’ arrest and Barnhart said the agency is working to determine if the unidentified tipster will get paid.
Barnhart said investigators believe Jeffs was running out resources and not getting much help from members of the sect. He said investigators still are trying to determine Jeffs’ movements for the rest of the time he was missing and declined to discuss other tips received by agents.
Jeffs likely will face at least one new felony charge connected to his time on the run, U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said.
Jeffs was stopped in Yankton after using a bathroom as he drove at a marina-resort next to picturesque Lewis and Clark lake that marks the border of South Dakota and Nebraska, Rothschadl said.
Jeffs’ group, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is based in a small community on the Utah-Arizona border. Members of the sect believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. The group is an offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.