He said the college has controls to ensure compliance with federal aid guidelines. Stephen calmly waited until his uncle got close, and then he reached behind the seat and pulled out a shotgun, leveling it at his uncle. That Stephens father sat atop a mafialike organization was a secret kept from him for most of his childhood. Hansen said during family home evenings nights when a mans family gathers for religious studies and games her husband would take girls 12 and older who were single and lead them in a teaching. (Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Salt Lake Community College Redwood Road campus is pictured Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. Inseparable: Twins Peter (left) and Paul have lived. Michaels and Mary Nelson describe similar experiences with their financial aid applications and awards. Comparable graduation rates have been attained by our bachelors and advanced degree students when compared to the state of Utah and the U.S., despite an uphill battle of active discrimination against our students. They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. Survivors include his wife, Debra Meeks Kingston, his father, Paul James Kingston, III of McKeesport, PA, children, Brandon E. Kingston & wife Janna of Vidalia, CA, Kevin Ely of Tyler, Jessica Ely of Paris, Phillip Briley of Oklahoma City, OK and Justin Briley & wife Cynthia of Paris, thirteen grandchildren along with two sisters and one brother. Hansen, 50, in a recent interview, said she told her daughter that wanting to leave home was the wrong reason to get married. 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. When one of his favorite wives died, he missed her so much that he dug her up from her grave. There are thousands of members in the group. Paul Vallas and wife Sharon have been together 38 years. The group sought to maintain Pure Kingston Blood by arranging marriages between cousins and other close relatives, and shunning relationships that werent between white people, the lawsuit alleges. Its a quiet, haunting place, with massive hayfields that stretch to the horizon. All of their children who survived the Great Famine emigrated. Child trafficking is the illegal movement of children, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation (Erase Child Trafficking). 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. Later the Order reportedly bought slot machines from mob-controlled companies. A husband and wife died while on a fishing trip after falling through thin ice in the region. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. If the father believes his son received true direction from God, the son is sent to Paul Kingston or one of the people he designates to consider marriages. Shortly after 10 p.m. on June 7, 2021, Alex Murdaugh called 911 from his property in Islandton, South Carolina, to report that he had found his 22-year-old son Paul and his wife Maggie, 55, murdered. Earlier in its history, the Kingston Group had plural wives under age 18. The Kingstons operate in a self-contained universe, completely cut off from the outside world. 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. 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. He inherited the top leadership position in 1987. The now-20-year-old said she and her husband have started a family of their own. Jessicas dad told her the wife can get only as high as her husband rises. Knight was born in Salt Lake City, the sixth child of third-generation polygamists. Birthdate: 1791. (Jessicas dad and the young man had taken courses together at the University of Utah.) Carl Kingston is believed to have fathered 20 children from two wives and another child from a third wife who has left him. His followers erected a crude stone cross nearby in his honor, covered with inscriptions of the letter K (for Kingdom or Kingston). If the case succeeds, the whistleblowers can collect perhaps millions of dollars from the damages or fines paid by the defendants. 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. Those two unions happened in Colorado, where its legal to marry your cousin. But within the Order, where drinking soda pop was against the rules, it was a pretty big deal.. The families of 19-year-old Stephen Smith who was rumored to be . It felt like it was us against the world. His older brother Richard, a burly diesel mechanic, taught him how to fix cars. Frances was born on November 4 1892, in Indiana. Paul already had two wives, but he and Richaun were married in a secret ceremony at her parents house. Managed by: Her husband knew she didnt want him to have a plural spouse, she said, but his father told him he needed to have one. Mary Nelson grew up in the sect and names her father, David Kingston, as a defendant. Did the Utah Legislature do enough to save the Great Salt Lake? In 2006, it was estimated that Paul Kingston had up to 27 wives (including three half-sisters of his), [5] some . Andrea Johnson was buried on June 13, 1992, at the Bountiful Memorial Park. The Brown boys, charged with felony counts of burglary, wrote a letter to their aunt apologizing for stealing the silver in her house. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives and 911 children. He asked him if he was being obedient, then excused himself to talk to Stephens mother. Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. A nationwide debate is underway about teens, especially girls, marrying. A Tale of Two Chads: More Drama From Nineties Band Live. 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. I dont really have too many friends, but the ones I do, I wouldnt trade for anything., Among Stephens friends were two of his cousins, Luke and Scott Brown. They were finally getting even. Girls who reach their mid- and late teens can start to feel the pressure to wed. Jessica Kingston said when word gets out that a boy or young man has asked a girls father for permission to marry her, friends and family are walking up to that girl asking, Did you pray about him?. Noticing Stephen, he put the barbells down and came over to the boy. Paul Kingston is one of eight men named as defendants in the lawsuit. They did so July 3, 2008, in Grand Junction, Colo, where records show two other couples from the Kingston Group married that day. He even had charts showing who were the higher families in the sect so his daughters knew where to look for a mate. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston claims she was groomed into choosing marriage at age 16 by her parents and the polygamous sect. 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.. Duringa 2020 trialfor a California businessman accused of carrying out a nearly $500 million biodiesel fraud scheme with a member of the Kingston Group, attorneys for the businessman called the Kingstons an incestuous polygamous group that is always scheming to defraud the US government in what the group calls bleeding the beast., A spokesman for the group, Kent Johnson, called those allegations categorically false.. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. As he grew older, Stephen turned out to be as rebellious as his own father had been. There shouldnt really be a reason for an age limit, she said. We've received your submission. Boys are taught that the prophet demands absolute loyalty and that they should be prepared to defend the clan. She also is a star of "Escaping Polygamy." September 1, 2018. A young child is also one of the accusers in the suit with allegations the child was raped by his or her father, who allegedly raped the mother. If that father says yes, the groom talks to the girl. She was definitely the pick of the litter, and thats why Paul got her, Ron recalls. Some children are born blind, others with missing fingernails or undersize heads. When they arrived in Grand Junction, all three couples filled out the papers for a marriage license. They belonged to the Order and had toiled in the cult for years. They would trek into state welfare offices, their kids in tow, claiming that they had no idea who the father of their children was, or that he was a truck driver who had left them destitute. It would be several more years before Stephen learned that Paul Kingston was his father, and that his mother was just one of his dads many wives. 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. For that, she would have to be legally married to him. He was born Jan. 7, 1928, in San Diego, Calif., a son of the late Paul and Evelyn . You had to be, like, a son of the prophet to know where it was.. Yet its teen marriages in the Kingston Group that spurred the Utah Legislature to act this year. 1 choice [of whom to marry] in The Order, Jessica Kingston said. And they avoid the police, opting to handle any disputes in their own brutal manner. This story has been shared 116,307 times. deductible, Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe@sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe@sltrib.com. Three weeks after Snow married a 21-year-old man in Davis County, Hansens 17-year-old daughter legally married a 24-year-old man in Salt Lake County. I honestly didnt even know there was any gold until they accused me of taking it, he says. Jessica Kingston didnt want to be a polygamist. Markey said the plaintiffs are making the case to a judge that the Kingston Group is a cult and criminal enterprise rather than a religion. Situated at the base of a rugged mountain range, the Orders spread sat in a pristine valley of glistening hayfields and open pasture. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. Come and get me, Stephen said. If you were more obedient, this wouldnt have happened., After that, everything changed, Stephen says. ", "United by fundamentalist Mormon beliefs, one polygamous group helps another by bringing truckloads of food", "Young Brides Stir New Outcry on Utah Polygamy", "Shurtleff: Child bride polygamous marriages appear to have stopped", "Polygamists are urged to make public statement", "No longer performing child-bride marriages? Snow said she was forced to fast, pray and read the Bible. The deputy opened the trunk of the Honda, where he found two duffel bags stuffed with silver. Those cousins and two others have since pleaded guilty to crimes that include fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and witness tampering in a plot to pocket federal energy tax credits. They and Mafi also accuse a sect-affiliated tax preparer of falsifying tax returns for Kingston Group members to report lower incomes, partly to boost student financial aid. But we paid it all back.. There, stacked on the concrete floor, were crates filled with bars of silver. And it would be several years after that before he stole from his father for the first time. Thanks for contacting us. He became particularly obsessed with a plant called comfrey, which he believed would protect his clan from the nuclear war that would usher in the apocalypse. Every now and then, as hes driving around the ranch, his phone will ring. ), Related The Tribune also found three marriages in Missouri, where, until a new law raising the marriage age takes effect Aug. 28, 15-year-olds can marry with a parents permission. Their grooms averaged 20 years and 18 days. The lawsuit does not allege any wrongdoing by SLCC. One of the Orders leaders did jail time for severely beating his own daughter after she fled an arranged marriage to his brother. They seemed happy, Ron says. Their neighbors had no idea that the family were prominent members of the Kingston clan, the most powerful polygamist cult in America and one of the most dangerous. Then, moving quickly, the boy at the door let himself in and got to work. 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. Former and current members of the Kingston Group say that kids are taught from a young age they one day will need to pray about whom to marry. He also had dozens of children a brood that would eventually grow to around 300 and he had a hard time telling them apart. Paul Kingston and his wife, Mary Kelly, were natives of Moinies (Meenies) townland, Drimoleague, Co. Cork, Ireland. The lone man suing said three Order men raped him when he was 16 or 17 and that when he left the group and announced he was gay, was tracked down and severely beaten by a group of boys acting at the direction of the Order, the lawsuit alleges. While the Order preached strict abstinence to its children, forbidding even incidental contact between the sexes, there seemed to be no rules after marriage especially for the clans leaders. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. 1 choice for marriage is. A state court website says the judge must conclude that the marriage is voluntary and in the best interests of the minor.. He seemed like the most amazing guy, Stephen recalls. But it is likely that Kingston could recognize some of himself in Stephen. 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. Theyre trying to paint a picture, Markey said, give the judge and, frankly, the defendants, when they see the complaint, give them the context, which is to the effect, We know what's up. Brother Ron Tucker, he would intone, come and get your number. According to the Orders interpretation of the Book of Revelations, only 144,000 numbered men will be allowed to rule in heaven under God. The young women ranged from about age 18 to 22. It was also around then that Stephen, at the age of 14, began to see the clan for what it really was. Her parents placed her in what she called a repentance home, where she wasnt allowed to communicate with anyone without supervision. As he talked to the woman who lived there, Luke Brown came out of the house, and his brother Scott soon joined him. Rates of college attendance that meet or exceed the Utah average have been a point of pride in the Kingston Group, whose members have offered such statistics to counter the stereotype of children from polygamy, especially girls, being uneducated with no opportunity for self-improvement. Donate to the newsroom now. The theft of the silver bars from Rachel Youngs basement, they concluded, had been a copycat crime. I knew I wasn't supposed to marry him, she said, but I almost did to get everyone to shut up and leave me alone about marriage.. He has held several high-level positions in government and education and worked as a consultant, so he likely has earned a significant income over the years. They did it, says Christian Kingston. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. He died on 6-4-1998 at the Beckley Veterans Administration. 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. He snapped the padlock on the first crate and began stuffing the silver ingots into duffel bags, lugging them back out to the waiting Honda. Look around, Stephen says. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. Because of the clans distrust of banks, the Order had cash hidden all over the place, a poorly kept secret within the family. Paul Kingston, they said, has 17 wives and nearly 50 children. Two are nieces. 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. In all likelihood, Stephen and his brothers had stolen the gold from Patty Kingston first and then the Brown boys, in an effort to emulate their cousins rebellious acts, had robbed their aunt weeks or even months later. Everyone in the Order knew that she controlled the purse strings for the operation but few were aware that she was sitting on a hidden stash of silver. 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. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Bryan and Mary Nelson of South Jordan were informants for the federal government as they build a criminal case against Washakie Renewable Energy and their owners, Jacob and Isaiah Kingston. He had arranged for a banner to be placed over a bridge there. The "9" represents his status as a "numbered man" in the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group. Among those Kingston Group brides who marry as minors and for whom The Tribune was able to find birthdates, the average age was 16 years, 7 months and 12 days. The plaintiffs also contend these eight defendants have significant wealth acquired through the money and labor followers contribute to the Kingston Group and the rent the defendants charge their wives. On this much, though, mother and daughter agree: Snows father was the primary driver. The clan kids from there would come to school not properly dressed for the cold, and they were always getting in fights. Romero has said her concern is for all girls, not just those in polygamous sects. The lawsuit includes a copy of whats alleged to be an agreement children had to sign before going to college. All rights reserved. Cousin Carl E. Kingston, an attorney, is said to have a mere two wives. We were taught to be polite, but to never make friends with outsiders. The clan avoids hospitals, believing government-backed doctors might inject them with a mysterious disease or demand birth records exposing the Orders lifestyle. Snow says she chose to get married to escape an abusive living situation. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. 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 months after the robbery, Stephen couldnt shake the feeling he was being watched. The bride was 16. Then their father said something they never expected. 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. Besides, the mother said, the girl needed her husbands health insurance to treat her condition. Church leader Paul Kingston conducted the service and his brothers John Daniel and David were speakers. After the chest of gold was stolen, suspicion among the clans leadership immediately fell on a group of rebellious teenagers who had left the cult a few years before. These days Stephen works on a cattle ranch near the Idaho border, just down the road from where he grew up. Each time turning up no significant violations or nothing at all. It was time. (Paul Kingston and other leaders of the family ignored repeated requests for comment for this story. DeRieux says the other two girls were her half-sisters, both age 16. But Jessicas No. A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston Group. Snow said the classes also taught the girls to be submissive to their husbands and to keep a good house for them. She is the fifth of her mothers 12 children. 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