From the "Phoenix New Timms" article, "Forbidden Fruit: Inbreeding Among Polygamists Along the Arizona-Utah Border is Producing a Caste of Severely Retarded and Deformed Children": "Colorado City resident Isaac Wyler says FLDS Prophet Warren Jeffs is trying to create the 'perfect race.'. 13:1). The couple had lived together since the age of 7, when the mother of the woman's half-brother died. "Finally exposed in the news, the facts of life inside [the Mormon offshoot Kingston clan's] religious/cult compound are stunning Mormons, Utahans, the nation, and the world. . WRE has since become defunct. "'You don't want to jump to the conclusion and say all of these are the result of inbreeding,' he says. : About half of the 8,000 people living in the towns are blood relatives of two of the founding families that settled in the 1930s on the desolate high desert plateau against the base of the Vermillion Cliffs. All went bareheaded and barefoot. Connie Rugg [is] one of John Ortell's estimated 65 children and one of a handful of Kingston relatives who have fled the clan. BungieBungie.netBungieBungie Lesser known children hidden in families sympathetic to polygamists might remain ignorant of their genetic kinship. "The few dissenters in the community say the serious genetic problems that are beginning to surface are an indication that the closed FLDS society could eventually collapse. ". . . Several people also wonder if parts of 'Escaping Polygamy' is dramatized. . 3, p. 291, "I have noticed that a man who has but one wife, and is inclined to that doctrine, soon begins to wither and dry up, while a man who goes into plurality [of wives] looks fresh, young, and sprightly. Sounds like I left a few out, he said after being reminded of how many children he had fathered in that family.[6]. [50][51], Davis County Cooperative leadership and members swiftly condemned the fraudulent behavior stating that "[Jacob] broke from tradition in many ways" and stressing "to members and non-members alike that this behavior is not in line with our beliefs or principles." . At the time this inbreeding took place these prophets preached and practiced modern eugenic science, the science of controlling the traits of future populations through selective breeding for idealized traits like blond hair, blue eyes and tall stature. ". "Other possible genetic traits include: microcephaly, a malformation of the skull in which the infant has a small head (ex-members say two children with microcephaly have died and eight others are institutionalized); blindness; spina bifida; Down syndrome; kidney disease and abnormal leg and arm joints. "My dad had a thing that was supposed to shoot radio waves or something like that, that . However, Grant claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a half-brother as a child. FOX 13 spoke to the man who filed the IRS. I'd never heard of them, a polygamist, fundie cult where even 14 year olds could . Brother Elden had received a new dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. . . . [19] For many years, members of the Co-operative lived in poor conditions, and those in need had no legal way to apply for assistance. Unfortunately, it's still the innocent who suffer due to Joseph Smith's lies. . Rather than take steps to avoid the problem, the FLDS loyalists may believe it is their duty to accept their fate. "[44] Members claim they have been broadly and unfairly targeted by authorities for the negative actions of a small few. Most populations outbreed and so these lethal genes rarely match to cause any serious diseases. This lack of information upset me as a child when to my fervent, 'Why?' . There is no doubt about that at all. [O]ver the first 50 years of Mormonism, a highly inbred hierarchy became even more inbred through their illegal marriage and childbirth practices. "Tarby said there could be hundreds of victims in coming generations. Readily accepted as a problem among mothers past the age of 35, it is rarely discussed as a problem when fathers are over 35, let alone 80. Let's revisit the boastful words of Mormon Church Prophet John Taylor and Mormon Church Apostle Heber C. Kimball, both quoted earlier: -Taylor, "Millennial Star," vol. Not only were there possibly too few fathers making it easier for defects to clump in the large interrelated kindred but succeeding generations of children from these isolated rural Mormon towns married within a few kindred as well. ", -Apostle George A Smith, "Journal of Discourses," vol. Over the past decades, the Kingston Group has maintained extreme secrecy while developing an extensive cooperative system, with wealth in at least 50 corporations in Utah and scattered across the West. . "Then, as generations of polygamous Kingston children have been taught, they demurred to questions about their father. "Andrea's son, now 7, lives with his father, Jason Kingston--Andrea's half-brother--and Rosalind, his niece. Aleck is a geneticist who participated along with Tarby and others in the groundbreaking study of several polygamous families with fumarase deficiency in the late 1990s. "The only long-term solution to the health crisis is for Barlows and Jessops to have children with spouses from outside the polygamist community. The enzyme irregularity causes severe mental retardation, epileptic seizures and other effects that often leaves children unable to take care of themselves. It takes maturity to face the truth, especially if the truth is painful and challenges the family tradition and religious belief structure. . . . "Parents who share a common ancestor are consanguineous. . "'This problem is going to get worse and worse and worse,' predicts . Kimball. [T]he one-wife system not only degenerates the human family, both physically and intellectually, but it is entirely incompatible with philosophical notions of immortality; it is a lure to temptation, and has always proved a curse to a people. . "In polygamy . Tarby. "The rate at which Kingstons marry each other is 'frightening,' she says. It is also a place of child abuse (court cases verify), neglected Sister Wives due to Polygamist practices (former members report this), Incest (court cases verify), and spiritual abuse (former . "He sent her to live in a coal yard with other polygamous wives and their many children in South Salt Lake, visiting her rarely and usually only to have sex, she testified. "Our ancestral destiny meant we might give birth to sons who would die at maturity or daughters who would carry the trait to the next generation of sons. But women who are disobedient and fail to bear children including because they miscarry face ostracism, the lawsuit claims. "The baby, delivered at Johnson's home in 1983, was taken to Primary Children's Medical Center. The groups, whose members believe polygamy brings exaltation in heaven, are offshoots of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Gradually, I realized the practice of polygamy, especially in Mormondom, might be a prescription for genetic disease. . In recent years, former members have lobbied for law enforcement to take action against the sect. Mormon Church presidents and "prophet"-leaders have blamed monogamy a host of terminal afflictions that have been delivered upon the world. . . . Video unavailable This video. In addition, placing the law of consecration at the pinnacle of divine laws is inconsistent with scripture and restoration history. "Tarby says he quickly realized he was dealing with a very unusual condition that he could not diagnose. "Fumarase deficiency began to manifest in the community when three sets of Joseph Smith Jessop and Martha Moore Yeates' great-grandchildren married each other. "Including Utah, 37 states outlaw first-cousin marriage. People most at risk likely lived and married within the same small communities their ancestors founded. Some Kingston followers might justify their financial conglomerate by comparing it to the wealthy Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 11, p. 128, ". Consequently, genetic diseases and mutations have inevitably sprouted in many polygamous groups having this belief. . He did not consider this lack of sons might be his genetic inheritance, not his multiple wives. The Kingston sisters were able to help her escape although Ava wanted to stay with her family, she knew she couldn't give up her sense of self and continue watching the cycle of abuse continue. . Elden clearly claimed to hold the priesthood keys, saying, I have those keys of power.[3]. . If both parents carry the gene, the likelihood that their offspring will be affected by the disease or become carriers of the gene greatly increases, medical experts say. . "Her book . . "During this early period, polygamy was practiced secretly by the Mormon leadership, men who covertly preached and expanded polygamy while publicly deceiving the general Mormon population about the practice. One of the most controversial splinter groups of Mormonism, the Latter Day Church of Christ, has been led by members of the Kingston family since it was founded in 1935. They do develop to some degree, but it's way behind their peers.'. Members' financial holdings are believed to include: a 300-acre (1.2km2) dairy farm in Davis County; a 3,200-acre (13km2) farm in Tetonia, Idaho; a coal mine in Emery County;[24] 1,200 acres (4.9km2) in Terreton, Idaho; a cattle ranch and a discount store; Desert Tech Firearms; a grocery store; and a restaurant supply in many western cities including Tucson, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, Boise, and Portland. The scheme included filing for $512 million in federal renewable-fuel tax credits from 2010 to 2016 through a company named Washakie Renewable Energy LLC. Child life is destroyed. "'They are discouraging any new blood," historian Bistline says. "[52][46][53] In a recent lawsuit, ex-members allege that the WRE case was an example of the concept of "bleeding the beast." "Genetics of Incest: Pre-eclampsia is a condition that can be traced genetically from one generation to the next and is prevalent among some Kingstons, Rugg says. The Kingstons represent an intriguing branch on the Mormon fundamentalist tree. 'They don't believe anything written about Colorado City [by outsiders, even medical experts] carries much truth,' Tarby says. One of the guilty pleas states they cycled fraud proceeds through a number of international partners and then back to Washakie's bank accounts, falsely claiming them as loans or profits. "FLDS marriages, Wyler and other community experts say, are an extension of a breeding program that began with Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith in the 1830s. From an "Associated Press" news report, "Doctor: Birth Defects Increase in Polygamy Community": "A rare, severe birth defect is on the rise in an inbred polygamous community on the Arizona-Utah border, according to a doctor who has treated many of the children. "'All my life, my family told me I had to marry a Kingston,' says Rugg. . . [N]ew disease classifications belong at the door of the Mormon Church leadership. . The three marriages between second cousins have produced at least eight children afflicted with fumarase deficiency, according to a report in the May 2000 'Annals of Neurology' (based on the study conducted by the group led by Tarby and Aleck), interviews with doctors treating the disease and anecdotal evidence gathered from the community. They can't do anything by themselves. Utah Attorney General's Office and Arizona Attorney General's Office. Isaac Wyler, a former FLDS member who was excommunicated from the church . "Tarby and a team of doctors from Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix and the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson began researching the disease and soon discovered that fumarase deficiency was occurring in at least two other families living in the same isolated community that practiced an unusual custom. Outwardly, she appeared to have no sex organs. By l980, this theory changed dramatically as many other Utah families accepted the diagnosis. "Another of Rugg's full sisters, Andrea Johnson, died in 1992 of complications of pre-eclampsia, a condition of pregnancy that was not treated until after the young girl, swollen with toxic fluid, was rushed to the emergency unit at University Hospital. These defects could be life threatening like nephritis and spinal bifida, or merely debilitating like asthma. 'Children should not be victims of such programs.'. . . The Kingston Clan, also known as The Order is a Mormon based group that is far more like an organized crime family and cult than religious organization. "All of the fumarase deficiency children Wyler has seen remain dependent on the parents or caregivers. ", ("Mormon Polygamy: Frequently Asked Questions," at: http://www.i4m.com/think/polygamy/polygamy_summary.htm). . "An unknown number--but believed to be in the thousands--of Barlow/Jessop descendants carry the recessive gene that causes fumarase deficiency. When the Lord chose Brother Elden through which to send this new covenant, all other covenants were thereby dissolved. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers. LuAnn Kingston, a former member of the clan who in 1995 at age fifteen was forced to marry her first cousin, shared: The joke used to be that if you werent married by 17, you were an old maid.[5], Within the Kingston Group, the primary polygamists are the immediate Kingston family and heirs. And it is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine. on the history of the fundamentalist community. Branches of the polygamist mans family left out of the genealogy will change the incidence of common ancestors and potentially mask the true disease risk and incidence in the community. . 'If the community gets larger, the number of people with fumarase deficiency gets larger. "It's unlikely the polygamous community will heed the doctor's advice. . Tarby asked them to bring the girl to him for an examination. July 1, 2020. It is a common and intentional practice in the Order to require girls and women to submit sexually to their husbands even if the sexual submission is against their will because having children results in workers for the benefit of the Order, the lawsuit states. "The genetic defect has been traced back to one of the community's founding patriarchs, the late Joseph Smith Jessop, and the first of his plural wives, according to medical literature, the Mormon Church genealogy database and residents of the community familiar with Jessop and Barlow family histories.