Polygamous sect leader pleads guilty to escape, fraud
Source: Associated Press
Lindsay Whitehurst, Associated Press
Updated 3:11 pm, Wednesday, September 20, 2017
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) A high-ranking polygamous sect leader recaptured after a year on the run pleaded guilty Wednesday in a food-stamp fraud and escape case, ending a wide-ranging investigation seen as a crackdown on the secretive group.
Lyle Jeffs is facing three to five years in prison after pleading guilty to two felony counts in an agreement that also called for him to pay $1 million in restitution.
. . .
Jeffs will be sentenced Dec. 13 by U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart the same judge who reversed an earlier ruling and released Jeffs from jail to home confinement in 2016 while he was awaiting trial in the food-stamp fraud case.
Days later, Jeffs slipped off his ankle monitor using olive oil and escaped. He was on the run for nearly a year. Jeffs was caught after South Dakota pawn shop workers recognized him as he sold two pairs of pliers. He was apparently living out of his pickup truck.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Captured-polygamous-leader-due-in-court-12214633.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
Utah: Traffic Stop Valid Even When Cop Causes Violation
Federal judge upholds stop for a left-lane violation even when presence of cop car caused traffic to slow.
US District Judge Ted StewartA police officer can pull over a motorist for a traffic violation even if the officer himself caused the driver to commit the infraction, a federal judge ruled last Tuesday. US District Judge Ted Stewart made the decision in the case of Hickory W. McCoy, who was pulled over on January 24, 2012 while traveling just under the speed limit in the left lane of Interstate 80 in Utah.
Highway Patrol Trooper Randy Riches was running a speed trap on the side of the road, about 150 feet from where the speed limit drops from 75 MPH to 65 MPH. Just before noon, McCoy's rented 2011 Chevrolet Malibu passed by at a legal 73 MPH. Riches pulled onto the highway and b
ibu was driving a legal 62 MPH in the left lane. Another vehicle was passing in the right lane at the time.
Trooper Riches pulled over the Malibu on the grounds that it was blocking traffic in the left lane. Under Utah law, it is unlawful to dawdle in the fast lane, blocking faster traffic, unless "avoiding actual or potential traffic" in the right-hand lane. McCoy's attorney, Randall Gaither, said the trooper was the one driving dangerously.
"The Highway Patrol officer drove at an excessive speed of over 88 miles per hour with no lights or siren down the Interstate in the right lane of travel pursuing the vehicle without any observation of a traffic offense," Gaither told the court. "The vehicle was driven in an aggressive manner without any emergency exception. The position and manner of driving by the patrol unit would have reasonably affected the drivers on the roadway. The trooper began following the vehicle and restricted the movement of the vehicle into the right lane... The only clear traffic violation is the excessive speed of the patrol vehicle driving and passing cars in the right lane."
More:
http://thenewspaper.com/rlc/news.asp?ID=3982&m=print
Sounds as if the people can count on this clown to ALWAYS do the wrong thing. What a shame.
Thanks for the info. in this man in the wrong profession.
