His life was in danger, the voice on the other end warned. Unable to visit his mother, Stephen would leave a $100 bill in her mailbox or, with his brothers, buy her new furniture. He told her he believed one did not need to practice polygamy to reach heaven. It empowered Stephen before that, no one had ever stood up to Daniel Kingston or any of them, says a former member. On weekends, he was sent out to work at the Orders coal mine with other teenagers. For, nearly 75 years after they were born, Peter and Paul Kingston are as inseparable now as they were inside their mother's womb. One of them, Stephen Knight, made for the most unlikely of suspects. On February 26th, 2009, the Salt Lake County Sheriffs Office got a call of suspicious activity in the foothills above the city. Dating or romance among young people before marriage is forbidden in the Kingston Group, but the sect does hold dances. Others say they buried it out in the desert and are slowly cashing it out. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. His arms are sunburned and his hands calloused from long days moving the irrigation pipes that water the fields. While his dad was running the order from Salt Lake City, Stephen grew up on a cattle ranch called Washakie, near the Idaho border. And they avoid the police, opting to handle any disputes in their own brutal manner. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. In its place, someone had left a note. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. 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. Girls, many of them teen brides, answer phones at the Orders law office, bag groceries at its supermarket or tend to the clans many children. Chuck Lepper, vice president for student affairs and enrollment management, said that no review is planned at this time. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. This article appears in the June 23, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. She said the lawsuit is well plead and noted there have been previous successful qui tam cases in student aid programs. However, Grant claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a half-brother as a child. 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. I could tell she loved him, and it seemed like he loved her too. Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. By the time he was 30, he would have more than 10. One baby deemed to have too many deformities was allegedly put in a shoe box and left to die. Each daughter married one of their cousins, who also are pictured with their parents. Investigators have said 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh was shot four or five times with a rifle, while 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh was killed by two shotgun blasts near kennels on the family's . 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. Hanging up the phone, she rushed to her closet. (Courtesy photo) Paul E. Kingston, seen here in this undated photo. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. Hopefully, the politician is leading a comfortable . If you knew where to look and the Knight boys did it was easy to find. In his teens, Stephen and five of his half brothers stole $4,000 from their father. 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. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. Paul passed away on month day 1973, at age 92 at death place, Oregon. No evidence directly linked him to the missing gold or silver, but his father was convinced he had played a part in the thefts. 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. It includes a provision they obtain financial aid. Hansen, 50, in a recent interview, said she told her daughter that wanting to leave home was the wrong reason to get married. The pressure became so intense DeRieux stopped going to dances. A nationwide debate is underway about teens, especially girls, marrying. During his tenure, Kingston has followed his father's practice of plural, child, and intra-family marriage. Businesses and individuals have the autonomy to choose and operate as they see fit as evidenced by a huge diversity of industry and management styles among members. Kiki Kannibal: The Girl Who Played With Fire. Snow contends her mother was one of the people who told her she needed to think about whom she was going to wed. Photo by Nate Carlisle, The Salt Lake Tribune | Shirley Hansen, seen here July 21, 2018, stands along 2100 South near State Street in Salt Lake City. It was all just innocent teenage stuff, recalls Ron, who has since left the clan. 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. That daughter was born with a form of heart disease and had long acted responsibly in caring for it, Hansen said. Jeanne Markey, a partner at the Philadelphia law firm of Cohen Milstein and co-chair of a group there that handles cases of whistleblowers reporting fraud against the government, reviewed the complaint at the request of The Tribune. Terrified, he went out and bought a stash of guns to arm himself, just in case his family tried to gun him down. Three of his wives are his half-sisters. Many consider Kingston the top man in the group. No recordings or photos were allowed during the ceremony. He charged across the field and started brutally beating Stephens cousin. Now, former members say, girls who will be plural wives meaning they have only a spiritual marriage to their husband are left alone until they are 18 so laws about sex with a minor wont apply. The theft of the silver bars from Rachel Youngs basement, they concluded, had been a copycat crime. But mostly he talked about the history of the Order and his ancestors, the men who had started the clan. 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 his opening statement and in his cross examination of Kingston, the attorney also spent much time dwelling on the practice of polygamy in the Kingston family sect, saying that sect leader Paul . We will continue to do so. Jessica saw the list. Short and chubby, the Brown boys looked up to the Knight brothers. Paul Kingston is one of eight men named as defendants in the lawsuit. 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, offered such statistics to counter the stereotype, Nicole Mafi, one of Paul Kingstons daughters. The Kingston Group is believed to have a few thousand members, mostly in Utah and Idaho. Cousin Carl E. Kingston, an attorney, is said to have a mere two wives. The couples divorce became final in 2011. She then met with two women who helped her complete financial aid forms. 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. Theyd keep it in basements, in filing cabinets, in a big safe in one of Pauls offices, says Levi Kingston, a former clan member. Jessica suspects her dad was pushing her toward another man. Mark Shurtleff, the Utah attorney general, has spent years investigating the clan, gathering birth certificates and genealogical data, and has come to believe that the cult is guilty of a long list of crimes, including child labor, tax evasion, welfare fraud, polygamy and the sanctioning of underage marriages to blood relatives. Only the inner circle knew the hoard even existed, says Christian Kingston, a former Order member. Eventually, Stephen was sent back to Washakie and was placed under the supervision of his uncle, one of the familys most feared enforcers. Jessica Kingston wore a white dress. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. Paul Kingston, the top man within the Davis County Cooperative Society, also known as the Kingston Group or The Order, is accused of overseeing what the lawsuit calls a scheme. Girls are told they will need to pray to God so he might show them who their No. Paul Kingston told her congratulations. Ed Sheeran Announces Final Mathematical-Themed Album 'Subtract' Paul married Frances G Chez Kingston. Look around, Stephen says. She says marriages can be used in The Order to gain or maintain favor among the parents of the brides and grooms. Colbert Reimagines Disney Park as 'De-Wokeified' DeSantis World, Sex, Drugs, and the Biggest Cybercrime of All Time, I could boil down what theyre about in three words, says a member who broke with the Order. It was all fun, Stephen recalls. Jessicas father relented during the meeting and gave his approval for his daughter to marry her No. The Order was founded by Elden Kingston, Stephens grand-uncle, at the height of the Great Depression. The plaintiffs estimate 40 to 50 children from the sect were college age in each of the past six years. Jessica Kingston said she has heard males talking to one another about a girl and say, If youre going to marry that girl, shes going to have to be a first wife because she wont live polygamy.. She and her husband had four children with whom they share custody. Donate to the newsroom now. It wasnt forced, said the woman, who asked not to be identified because of stigmas that often come with being associated with a polygamous sect. 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. For more than a decade, the group has publicly spoken out against child-bride marriages and the DCCS has a policy encouraging its members to marry within the legal age of consent. As time passed, his dogma became even stranger. The groom wore a suit. 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. She also is a star of "Escaping Polygamy." (Paul W. Kingston, (Ph.D. Columbia University, 1980) is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Virginia. Murdaugh is accused of fatally shooting his son, Paul, 22, with a shotgun and his wife, Maggie, 52, with a rifle near the dog kennels at the family's hunting estate known as Moselle. Five of the women suing alleged they were coerced into marriage as minors and raped by their husbands. Finding one wasnt difficult. Paul Vallas and wife Sharon have been together 38 years. She grew up in Woods Cross and hated The Order all her life, she said in a recent interview. In qui tam cases, the federal government can either join the plaintiffs in recouping losses and pursuing damages and fines, or let the plaintiffs prosecute the lawsuit on their own. The Knight brothers were driving new trucks, and so were their friends, says Levi Kingston. While the Kingston Group, founded in 1935, is not affilated with the FLDS, members practice a fundamentalist version of Mormonism that involves polygamy. 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. Boys are taught that the prophet demands absolute loyalty and that they should be prepared to defend the clan. They were married in Drimoleague parish church 02 February 1834. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. The woman who married in 2014 at age 16 and asked not to be identified is still with her husband. 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