210 King Sobhuza II: King of Swaziland (now Eswatini), lived 1899-1982, is thought to have had 70 wives. DeRieuxs marriage effectively ended in June 2010. Paul passed away on month day 1973, at age 92 at death place, Oregon. The group also teaches its members that only those with so-called pure blood will survive the apocalypse, according to the lawsuit. Then their father said something they never expected. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. When Jessica Kingston was 15, her father told her she had four choices apparently the number of suitors who had spoken to him about marrying her. So when her husband pushed for that daughter to marry, too, Hansen thought she was mature enough. It passed a bill adding forced marriage into the states definition of sexual abuse. When Rachel Young, a stern and humorless woman, got home, she discovered that several crates of silver in her basement had been pried open whoever had robbed the place had clearly been in a hurry and had left with only a small fraction of her silver. For, nearly 75 years after they were born, Peter and Paul Kingston are as inseparable now as they were inside their mother's womb. It was February in Salt Lake, cold and gray, and in the foothills above the city, a low fog hung over the mountains. He picked fights at school, shot a teacher in the face with a water gun and refused to do homework or answer questions. He died on 6-4-1998 at the Beckley Veterans Administration. Contact. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. He also had dozens of children a brood that would eventually grow to around 300 and he had a hard time telling them apart. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. The parents of the 16-year-olds also completed a form granting their permission. On February 26th, 2009, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office got a call of suspicious activity in the foothills above the city. 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. According to people who have left the Order, the cult exploits its 2,000 members as virtual slave labor and hides profits from tax collectors. Snow said she was forced to fast, pray and read the Bible. 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. At Washakie, he forced clan children to decapitate cows with chain saws to toughen them up, and sometimes beat the children for some infraction of the Orders rules like forgetting to face the Home Place three times a day and pray. 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The jury in Alex Murdaugh's high-profile murder trial will visit the scene where his wife Maggie and son Paul were brutally murdered, before they decide the disgraced legal scion's fate.. We figured it was ours anyway, says Stephen, explaining that the clan hadnt paid the boys for bagging coal. Her father, John Daniel Kingston, has 14 wives. In the meantime, the police were closing in on the missing silver. Every now and then, as hes driving around the ranch, his phone will ring. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. Stephen didnt know what the law said he only knew that the people he loved were being abused and exploited by his own father. Like other teenagers who leave fundamentalist Mormon communities, Stephen was not prepared to enter the world at large. It empowered Stephen before that, no one had ever stood up to Daniel Kingston or any of them, says a former member. 180+ Jonathan Jacob Meijer View Site Google Maps 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. She received no sex education or premarital counseling. It didnt take long for them to break down and confess that they had robbed their aunt. 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. If you would like the full family tree and I feel your request is legitimate I will email it to you. The doorknob to her room was removed. (Courtesy photo) Paul E. Kingston, seen here in this undated photo. Mafi recalls Paul Kingston telling the children who attended that meeting that The Order was going to be trying out something new, the lawsuit says. I was scared to death when I left. From a clan ranch in Nevada, Stephen called his brother Ben, who had left the Order a few years before. 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. She and her husband had moved to Billings, Mont., to work for a coal mine. For the marriages performed in Utah, Bill W. Stoddard signed as the officiant until his death in March. Many of these men are also given stewardship of the Orders business holdings sent out to run the clans coal mine or ranches, or to oversee one of its many storefronts. A body of research suggests the teenage brain is not developed enough to make the kind of long-term decision needed for marriage. Kingston had told gaming regulators in California. A few days later, the groom-to-be picked up Jessica and took her to Murray Park. Men rise in prominence by being obedient and pure of blood and by having large families that can produce a lot of money and workers for the group, the suit continues. In the kitchen, he opened a closet and popped a hatch in the floor that led down to a dark, musty basement. According to former Order members, they worked long shifts sorting coal and operating heavy machinery in unsafe conditions. All I like to do is work on cars and hang out with friends and ride my ponies, he wrote one night on his MySpace page. If you messed with one of them, you were messing with them all., When Stephen was nine, an accident at Washakie set in motion a chain of events that would eventually prompt him to leave the cult. They also knew that much of the clans wealth was stashed inside the unassuming suburban house on the corner. Some former teenage Kingston Group brides acknowledge they werent forced to marry; they made a choice. Order girls are taught from birth that their primary purposes in life are to be obedient, a submissive wife, and to bear as many children as possible, the suit states. Polygamy is a legacy of the early teachings of the mainstream church, which abandoned the practice in 1890 and now strictly prohibits it. Jessica saw the list. Eventually, Stephen was sent back to Washakie and was placed under the supervision of his uncle, one of the familys most feared enforcers. The accusers also claim that the group arranged child marriages so that girls would become pregnant and beholden to their husbands and the religious sect. But the Kingstons have remained in Salt Lake, operating virtually undetected in a city of more than 1 million people. 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. Alex's wife and son, Maggie and Paul, were shot to death at their home in 2021, and Alex is currently on trial for their murders.. She was 68. 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. Former members of the sect say there may be dozens or even hundreds more marriage certificates at county clerk offices across the West. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) From the outside it seemed like a typical suburban home, offering few clues of the secrets that were contained inside. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. 12 Paul J. WILFONG was born on 4-13-1912 in Marlinton. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Community College Redwood Road campus is pictured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. Some former sect members, including two stars of the television show Escaping Polygamy," say girls are pressured to marry at the age most kids are learning to drive and reading Wuthering Heights.. Jessica as well as Snow, DeRieux and Hansen all favor raising the legal marriage age in Utah and other states to 18. Theyd keep it in basements, in filing cabinets, in a big safe in one of Pauls offices, says Levi Kingston, a former clan member. Mary Nelson grew up in the sect and names her father, David Kingston, as a defendant. They were finally getting even. But the constant fear has subsided. Brothers John Daniel Kingston, the father of the girl now in state custody, is said to have 20 wives; the mother of the "M.N." is half sister. I dont think theyre organized crime in that regard, but the racketeering statute defines it as any conspiracy or pattern of illegal activity done in concert with others. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. The suit says sect members might have obtained tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars through false applications. Girls who agree to become plural wives tend to be more devout and usually live in homes without their husband, thus receiving less scrutiny. Members of a powerful polygamous group in Utah claim they were forced into underage marriages with their relatives to keep their blood pure, were raped by their husbands and had to perform child labor, according to a bombshell lawsuit. [9], Records show he signed as a witness on 4 lawful teenage marriages over a 20 year period. According to Montana court documents, the couple had an argument at their apartment and DeRieuxs then-husband threw her down a flight of stairs. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. It was all fun, Stephen recalls. At clan gatherings, girls who were still in their teens danced with men old enough to be their uncles, whom they were sometimes forced to marry. She also is a star of "Escaping Polygamy." One of them, Stephen Knight, made for the most unlikely of suspects. 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. Paul Vallas and wife Sharon have been together 38 years. Its all political, Jessica said. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. She was instructed, the complaint adds, to deposit the excess funds at a South Salt Lake office building, where the sects bank is located. One day, for laughs, he and his half brother Ron Tucker stole some napalm from an Order army-supply store, drew lines of it in the street and lit it on fire as cars drove by. According to All Famous Birthdays, Paul Vallas has a staggering net worth of $5 million. For this article we will focus on forced child labor in the context of modern day slavery that takes place in the Kingston polygamous group. DeRieux said she and her husband were not allowed to live together or consummate their marriage until they had a religious ceremony the following month. The lawsuit describes crimes and issues within the Kingston Group that have no direct relationship to the student aid applications. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. was just as frugal as his brother he lived in a dilapidated shack with planks missing from the porch but he had a better head for business. The lawsuit says Mafi received an aid package that exceeded her tuition. At 17, she agreed to marry a man in his early 20s. Its who I am., To keep the police from prying into the matter any further, the clan also hired a private investigator to track down the missing gold. My e-mail address; george@eaglefreeenterprises ,com . Fortunately, our population has already attained a higher graduation rate for high school and associates degrees for men and women in the DCCS. The family gathered in the living room. Paul, a grandson of the group's founder, has 27 wives and more than 300 children, Mary said. Her top choice the one whom she felt God told her to marry was a man five years older than she and to whom she was related on both sides of her family tree. Stoddard was the president of the Latter Day Church of Christ, the Kingston Groups incorporated religious organization. I felt for his pulse, but he was already gone., That night, Paul Kingston arrived at the ranch. During his tenure, some members have continued the practice of plural, and intra-family marriage,[3] although neither is practiced by the majority of members and the practice is not required to gain status in the group. Consumed with guilt over his brothers death, Stephen lashed out. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. She called her sister-in-law Patty Kingston, who lived across town. These days Stephen works on a cattle ranch near the Idaho border, just down the road from where he grew up. We strongly encourage all members to strictly adhere to every legal guideline when operating their businesses including day cares and when applying for all need-based assistance, including financial aid for students. Another brother, Ben, showed him how to mend fences. She wasnt allowed to leave the house until she decided whom to marry. The boys were sentenced to two years of probation and taken back into the Order. 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. It was just the best choice, some say, among their bad options. The Kingstons operate in a self-contained universe, completely cut off from the outside world. According to former members of the Order, decades of inbreeding have resulted in rampant birth defects throughout the family. 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. Our goal of an educated, well-informed population goes against the popular narrative for our culture and there is a concerted effort to keep this false narrative alive. Mafi had another meeting with Paul Kingston during which he made sure that she had completed her [applications] and told her that she could only attend college if her grades were sufficient to qualify for financial aid.. Johnson said neither he nor any other representatives of the cooperative society were aware of the lawsuit until contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune recently for comment. She, in turn, wrote a letter to the judge on their behalf, and the case was settled without a trial. He then pinned her on a bed, the documents say, and wouldnt let her call for help. COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) Jurors in Alex Murdaugh's murder trial will get to see for themselves the rural hunting estate where his wife and son were killed, following in the footsteps of . But age alone wont determine her answer. The theft of the silver bars from Rachel Youngs basement, they concluded, had been a copycat crime. The roof sagged, the carpet was worn, and the place reeked of cheap cologne. The suitor had asked her to dance a few times at The Orders youth social events. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. Hansen said some men try to use their children to improve their status in the sect. To get out of this s----y situation, I have to get into another s----y situation, said Kollene Snow, who married at 16 and is DeRieuxs full sister. Wed sleep on the chicken coop in the summer and shoot raccoons. Paul married Frances G Chez Kingston. The now-20-year-old said she and her husband have started a family of their own. Now, two years later, Stephen still sleeps with a gun near his bed. She then met with two women who helped her complete financial aid forms. 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. But lots of people in the sect are already descended from that family, Hansen said; thats why there are so many cousin marriages in the Kingston Group. John Gustafson, a representative of the Davis County Cooperative Society, an affiliate of the Kingston Group, disputed the lawsuits claims. 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, plural marriages that happen outside the law, two stars of the television show Escaping Polygamy,", Shanell DeRieux, a former Kingston Group member, stigmas that often come with being associated, Kent Johnson, a spokesman for the Davis County Cooperative Society. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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