Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS)

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

Records relating to or mentioning the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS).

After concealing itself from the public eye for decades by virtually taking over and occupying small towns on the Utah-Arizona border, the intensely secretive FLDS finally started coming under scrutiny in the mid-2000s due to widespread allegations of organized welfare fraud and sexual abuse of children. Following the 2007 conviction of FLDS "prophet" Warren Jeffs on charges of being an accomplice to rape, many of the cult's members relocated to live behind the walls of FLDS compounds in Colorado and Texas.

In 1890, when the leaders of mainstream Mormonism abandoned the practice of polygamy in a deal with the federal government to gain statehood for Utah, one group of adherents refused to capitulate. The resulting splinter group, the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) has continued the practice to this day, residing for most of the 20th century in or around the twin towns of Hildale and Colorado City on the Utah-Arizona border. The remote border location allowed the sect to thrive with relatively few intrusions, given the towns' distance from neighboring populations and the possibility of crossing the border to avoid raids by local or state law enforcement agencies in either jurisdiction.

Even when the government did attempt to interfere, the result was the strengthening rather than the dismantling of the sect. A 1953 raid ordered by then-Arizona Gov. Howard Pyle provoked media outrage over the separation of children from their families and left the governor's political career in shambles, while bolstering the resolve of the polygamists to resist a government they viewed as infringing on their right to freedom of religion.

Through the decades, the FLDS survived leadership disputes and the formation of splinter groups to reach the turn of the 21st century with a membership estimated at 10,000, mostly centered around the Hildale-Colorado City hub, with smaller groups dispersed as far away as Mexico and British Columbia, Canada. Current leader Warren Jeffs' father, Rulon Jeffs, ruled for more than 15 years after dissolving a council government system and establishing one-man rule. When he died in 2002, this power was passed on to his son, who succeeded him as prophet, taking on the responsibility of directly relaying the word of God to his followers.

The younger Jeffs ruled with an iron fist, outlawing such activities as swimming and watching television, and taking exclusive control over the practice of "spiritual marriage," the centerpiece of FLDS polygamy. It was Jeffs who assigned wives to husbands and determined when a wife should be "reassigned" following an alleged deviation by her husband from the path of righteousness. Former members also allege that Jeffs took it upon himself to reduce competition for wives by "excommunicating" younger male members who presented the greatest threat to wife-accumulation by their elders. The young men, who were typically thrown out of the cult with no money or other resources, became known as "The Lost Boys" and were featured repeatedly in critical news accounts.

Jeffs also presided over some of the more dubious financial activities of the sect. The FLDS has grown fat on the property of its members, many of whom sign over their wealth to their leader. Even more troubling are allegations that "spiritually married" FLDS women are encouraged to apply for federal benefits designed for single mothers.

While media attention has often focused on the sect's polygamy, less attention has been given to its racism and homophobia. FLDS members view the 1978 decision of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to allow all males regardless of race to hold the priesthood as the church's ultimate spiritual downfall, and recordings of Warren Jeffs' sermons have him proclaiming, "The black race is the people through which the devil has always been able to bring evil unto the earth."

Since 2005, the FLDS has been under intense scrutiny. That was the year the prophet went on the run after a warrant for his arrest was issued on charges of conspiracy to commit rape and sexual conduct with a minor. During that same period, eight other FLDS men were arrested on various charges and a judge decided to freeze $100 million of the group's assets. Jeffs managed to ascend to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list before his capture in a routine traffic stop in late 2006. In 2007, Jeffs tried to hang himself in prison while awaiting trial. A year later, he was sentenced by a Utah judge to two consecutive terms of five years to life (meaning he will serve at least 10 years) for marrying a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin.

The FLDS appeared resilient in the face of increased government scrutiny, with the group leader's imprisonment being interpreted as a sort of martyrdom. While on the run, Jeffs managed to organize the transfer of several hundred of those families he deemed most faithful to him to a large compound outside of Eldorado, Texas, where dormitories and an enormous church-like structure were constructed. In 2008, the group purchased $2 million worth of property in five locations along the remote eastern flank of the rugged Sangre De Cristo Mountains about 175 miles southwest of Denver.

While it seemed that the 1,691-acre Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado would provide the seclusion the group desired, peace was not to be had. In April 2008, after what turned out to be a prank phone call from a woman claiming she had been raped, police raided the compound and took 460 children into protective custody. For several days, intense media attention was focused on the compound, with images of tearful women in long dresses and the characteristic FLDS "up-do" hairstyles dominating television reports. The cult fought back, hiring legal assistance and embarking on a publicity campaign aiming to portray themselves as the victims of excessive government power. After a ruling determining that the state had in fact overreached in taking the children from their parents, all those removed were returned. Nevertheless, the sect faces a protracted criminal investigation into charges that young girls have been routinely forced to "marry" and engage in sexual relations with men who are often their elders by several decades.

The fate of the FLDS remains unclear. There is some evidence that Warren Jeffs continues to lead the group from prison, but reports have surfaced of a memo in which he renounces his position as prophet. While it seems that, for the moment, state officials have escaped the kind of media outrage that destroyed Howard Pyle in 1953, it is entirely possible that the group will emerge from this current struggle strengthened and more insular than ever.

Please conduct a search of the Central Records System, including but not limited to the Electronic Surveillance (ELSUR) Indices, the Microphone Surveillance (MISUR) Indices, the Physical Surveillance (FISUR) Indices, and the Technical Surveillance (TESUR) Indices, for both main-file records and cross-reference records of both HQ and all field offices for all relevant names, agencies, organizations, companies and events including but not limited to those cited in the previous paragraphs and/or links as well as a cross-reference with the Southern Poverty Law Center to include any information provided by the SPLC. My request includes but is not limited to 137, 157, 176, 177, 183, 184, 188, and 214 files. If previously released records are available, then I request a rolling release consisting of those records while additional records are located and processed for release.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities for AND Magazine, MuckRock and Glomar Disclosure and have an open arrangement with each. My articles have been widely read, with some reaching over 100,000 readers. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through the non-profit Internet Archive, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself. As such, it is not necessary for me to demonstrate the relevance of this particular subject in advance. Additionally, case law states that “proof of the ability to disseminate the released information to a broad cross-section of the public is not required.” Judicial Watch, Inc. v. Dep’t of Justice, 365 F.3d 1108, 1126 (D.C. Cir. 2004); see Carney v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 19 F.3d 807, 814-15 (2d Cir. 1994). Further, courts have held that "qualified because it also had “firm” plans to “publish a number of . . . ‘document sets’” concerning United States foreign and national security policy." Under this criteria, as well, I qualify as a member of the news media. Additionally, courts have held that the news media status "focuses on the nature of the requester, not its request. The provision requires that the request be “made by” a representative of the news media. Id. § 552(a)(4)(A)(ii)(II). A newspaper reporter, for example, is a representative of the news media regardless of how much interest there is in the story for which he or she is requesting information." As such, the details of the request itself are moot for the purposes of determining the appropriate fee category. As such, my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available and I therefore request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Michael Best

I am appealing the decision to not perform the cross-reference searches and field office searches explicitly requested.

Can you please confirm that the files are for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and not the Church of Latter day Saints?