It was all fun, Stephen recalls. Girls who agree to become plural wives tend to be more devout and usually live in homes without their husband, thus receiving less scrutiny. They did it, says Christian Kingston. If someone is mature enough, they should be able to do whatever they want.. 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In his opening statement and in his cross examination of Kingston, the attorney also spent much time dwelling on the practice of polygamy in the Kingston family sect, saying that sect leader Paul . 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. The two most recent of those marriages, according to wedding certificates, occurred in April. With the Orders leaders taking so many wives for themselves, the clans younger men were often unable to find anyone to marry. That usually means marrying a Kingston descendant. In its place, someone had left a note. Paul Kingston, the top man within the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group or The Order, is accused of overseeing what the lawsuit calls a scheme. Shanell DeRieux was married at 18 to a husband in the Kingston Group. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. By our latest survey, the majority of DCCS college students were not using government funded financial aid, including many who would qualify if they had applied. presided, while Richauns father officiated the wedding, promising the bride that if she obeyed her husband, she would be guaranteed a spot in the Celestial Kingdom, the highest level of heaven. If that child comes to her at age 16 wanting to marry, she said, she will have questions. Johnson said the Davis County Cooperative Society takes no position on the issue. Her father, John Daniel Kingston, has 14 wives. Paul Elden Kingston has been the leader of the Mormon fundamentalist Latter Day Church of Christ and the Davis County Cooperative Society in the United States of America since 1987. 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. 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. Stephen hangs up and drives home in silence. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. Their legal team includes a Boston law firm with expertise in qui tam lawsuits. 1 choice was not her fathers. Theyll do what they need to do to defend whats theirs.. For the marriages performed in Utah, Bill W. Stoddard signed as the officiant until his death in March. Women and girls, after theyre married, submit to their husbands and men answer to higher-ranked men, the suit alleges. Michaels and Mary Nelson describe similar experiences with their financial aid applications and awards. Had Snow been a better behaved, more devout member of the Kingston Group, Hansen said, there may not have been a push to have her legally marry at 16. And then, when the men get mad at each other, they wont let the [other] mans sons come forward to marry one of their daughters. J.O. But age alone wont determine her answer. Each daughter married one of their cousins, who also are pictured with their parents. Paul Kingston is one of eight men named as defendants in the lawsuit. All rights reserved. According to All Famous Birthdays, Paul Vallas has a staggering net worth of $5 million. The "9" represents his status as a "numbered man" in the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. 'I am the daughter of his fifth. From the outside it seemed like a typical suburban home, offering few clues of the secrets that were contained inside. But the constant fear has subsided. "A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. It was a wild place, says Scott Cosgrove, a former detective with the Box Elder County Sheriffs Office, who remembers the ranch as a broken-down spread, guarded by a feral pack of boys who patrolled the fence line from the back of a pickup armed with shotguns. Their father rarely came by, and because the nearest town was 18 miles away, the kids forged a fierce bond among themselves. The lawsuit describes crimes and issues within the Kingston Group that have no direct relationship to the student aid applications. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. All the families belong to the Davis County Cooperative Society. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. He is not ready to forgive his father. Colorado does not require an officiant or a ceremony to marry. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been as a boy. On weekends, he was sent out to work at the Orders coal mine with other teenagers. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. 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. He said the college has controls to ensure compliance with federal aid guidelines. It was time. The grift was exposed decades later, in the 1980s, when the clan paid a $350,000 settlement for swindling the government through welfare fraud. 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. Those two unions happened in Colorado, where its legal to marry your cousin. 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. A week later, the two were profiled on the CBS program Whistleblower for their work in exposing fraud at Washakie Renewable Energy, the biofuel company operated by two of Mary Nelsons first cousins. [4] Plural marriages for individuals under 18 in the group are not allowed. John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims. Kingston clan into a multimillion-dollar business empire while allowing many of his purported 13 wives and dozens of children to survive on government assistance. She was definitely the pick of the litter, and thats why Paul got her, Ron recalls. The deputy heard the Brown boys knew who stole the gold but suddenly, without explanation, they and everyone in the clan clammed up. Church leader Paul Kingston conducted the service and his brothers John Daniel and David were speakers. Jessica Kingston said a girls devotion and attitude are often measured by her view of polygamy. No recordings or photos were allowed during the ceremony. As a favored son of the prophet, Paul had the freedom to disregard the strict discipline his father imposed on other members of the Order. They steer clear of banks, fearing theyll steal their money. In Salt Lake County, for example, there were 45 marriages in which the bride or groom was 17 or younger, according to data from the county clerks office from Feb. 1, 2016, to April 10, 2018. Intermarriage of close. The Mormon Church officially banned polygamy in 1890, and some of the defiant bands of fundamentalists who refuse to give up the practice have been pushed out of the city and into the desert, where they eke out an existence in rusted-out trailers and sprawling compounds. He lived on month day 1940, at address, Washington. 180+ Jonathan Jacob Meijer View Site Google Maps Then one of them exhaled slowly, his breath shuddering in the cold air. In the meantime, the police were closing in on the missing silver. Paul Valls's wife is Sharon Vallas. In Utah, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, plans a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. To go to Colorado, DeRieux said, she and her fianc drove to Price, where they jumped into a 15-passenger van carrying their parents, the other two sets of brides and grooms and their parents. ", "Girls in polygamous Kingston Group continue to marry as young as 15, records show, sometimes leaving Utah to marry cousins", "Inside 'The Order,' One Mormon Cult's Secret Empire", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Elden_Kingston&oldid=1136713473, This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 19:29. The lawsuit was filed May 24 in Salt Lake Citys federal court by Mary and Bryan Nelson. Women, meanwhile, allegedly gain status by being pure of blood and obedient, becoming the first wives of higher-ranking numbered men, and bearing many children. One crime had been solved but the chest of gold stolen from Patty Kingstons closet remained a mystery. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. Paul Elden Kingston is an accountant and attorney who has served as the Trustee-in-Trust of the Davis County Cooperative Society (DCCS), a Mormon fundamentalist denomination, [2] since 1987. Birthdate: 1791. took great pains to never show his wealth and taught his followers to do the same. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. Photo Credit: Sullivan County Sheriff's Office. If they are money-laundering or making money in support of polygamy and incest, then they probably meet the statute.. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. His arms are sunburned and his hands calloused from long days moving the irrigation pipes that water the fields. He bragged that he had worn the same black shirt every day for a year. 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. The group has drawn legal attention before. 1 choice. He inherited the top leadership position in 1987. had some 80 children by 13 wives, but his favorite was Paul, an excellent student who made friends easily. They had eight children whose baptisms are recorded in the same church. The now-20-year-old said she and her husband have started a family of their own. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. The well-kept yellow house sat on the corner of a tidy cul-de-sac called South Bonner Circle surrounded by a black wrought-iron fence. 210 King Sobhuza II: King of Swaziland (now Eswatini), lived 1899-1982, is thought to have had 70 wives. Then their father said something they never expected. One baby deemed to have too many deformities was allegedly put in a shoe box and left to die. As time passed, his dogma became even stranger. Snow said her marriage fell apart over her not liking the Kingston Group and her husband wanting to have another wife. Snow said the classes also taught the girls to be submissive to their husbands and to keep a good house for them. It was also around then that Stephen, at the age of 14, began to see the clan for what it really was. The boys were sentenced to two years of probation and taken back into the Order. He charged across the field and started brutally beating Stephens cousin. At first, the two boys denied any involvement in the break-in at Youngs house. 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. He was born Jan. 7, 1928, in San Diego, Calif., a son of the late Paul and Evelyn . Because of the clans distrust of banks, the Order had cash hidden all over the place, a poorly kept secret within the family. (Photo courtesy of Kollene Snow) Kollene Snow, 16, poses in her dress before her 2009 marriage in West Valley City. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it. Paul Vallas' Net Worth In 2023 Explored. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Terrified, he went out and bought a stash of guns to arm himself, just in case his family tried to gun him down. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Matt Gaetz Called Out for Citing Chinese Propaganda in Hearing By 18, she was pregnant with her first child and ended up having four children in four years. The plaintiffs argue a plan to defraud such well-known student aid benefits as Pell Grants and the Ford and Perkins loans began in 2004 or 2005. [10][11]. One of them approached the front door while the other kept a lookout. I could tell she loved him, and it seemed like he loved her too. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. If that father says yes, the groom talks to the girl. In the months after the robbery, Stephen couldnt shake the feeling he was being watched. We've received your submission. (Courtesy photo) Paul E. Kingston, seen here in this undated photo. One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. J.O. 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. Over the years, the Order has armed itself to ward off rivals, and once stalked and intimidated a judge who was meddling in the clans affairs. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. Paul Kingston, they said, has 17 wives and nearly 50 children. The clan is lead today by Charles E. Kingston's son, Paul E. Kingston, who is said to have more than 30 wives. The groups, whose members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven, are offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His life was in danger, the voice on the other end warned. Its his father, the prophet, calling to coax his wayward son back into the fold. Everyone knows it., After the gold disappeared, the Knight brothers suddenly seemed to have a lot of money especially for young men on their own in the world for the first time. They seemed happy, Ron says. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. Finding one wasnt difficult. Jessica is hardly the only girl to make such a choice. Known variously as "Brother Paul," "the leader," and "the man on the watchtower" by Order members, this unremarkable, balding middle-aged man reportedly has 27 wives and over 300 children. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. 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. 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. 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