The lawsuit does not allege any wrongdoing by SLCC. The plaintiffs filed what is called a qui tam lawsuit in which whistleblowers assist in pursuing individuals who commit fraud against the government. 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. As time passed, his dogma became even stranger. Genealogy profile for Paul Kingston Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) - Genealogy Genealogy for Paul Kingston (1824 - 1894) family tree on Geni, with over 240 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. By our latest survey, the majority of DCCS college students were not using government funded financial aid, including many who would qualify if they had applied. Stephen moved in with his brother. 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. No one has been criminally charged. 1 choice. Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the Trustee-in-Trust of the DCCS upon his father's death in 1987. Church leader Paul Kingston conducted the service and his brothers John Daniel and David were speakers. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) 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. She favors raising the legal marriage age to 18. She wasnt allowed to leave the house until she decided whom to marry. 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.. Inseparable: Twins Peter (left) and Paul have lived. It was a grimy, derelict-looking place. He and Carl are members of the Utah State Bar, despite signing state oaths agreeing to uphold the Utah Constitution, which specifically outlaws polygamy. The father preferred another who had inquired about marrying Jessica. The other seven are brothers or sons of Paul Kingston. 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. It includes a provision they obtain financial aid. Paul Kingston succeeded his father John Ortell Kingston as the leader of the Kingston Clan on his father's death in 1987. Donate to the newsroom now. The now-20-year-old said she and her husband have started a family of their own. 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. Instead, she volunteered for extra shifts at the Kingston Group-run coal mine near Huntington, where she worked as a dispatcher. 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. He also had dozens of children a brood that would eventually grow to around 300 and he had a hard time telling them apart. It passed a bill adding forced marriage into the states definition of sexual abuse. Directories Newly added. The two most recent of those marriages, according to wedding certificates, occurred in April. Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time But the more the deputy pressed, the more their stories didnt add up. She also felt a religious call to wed and saw herself as mature enough to undertake such a commitment. The plaintiffs estimate the eight combine to have 106 wives. Some children are born blind, others with missing fingernails or undersize heads. She said the marriage disintegrated when her husband married spiritually one of her half-sisters, who was 22 at the time. Jessica said, strictly speaking, she and the other teen brides she knows chose to get married, but added: Its not much of a choice when theyre groomed to do that.. Mysterious cars followed his girlfriend, and he once came home to find that someone had rifled through his drawers. According to written histories, John Ortell Kingston, father of the current leader, also encouraged his family members to marry other kin to improve their own bloodline. For that, she would have to be legally married to him. Paul J. Kingston Sr., 93, of North Huntingdon, died Saturday, Oct. 2, 2021. The lawsuit includes a copy of whats alleged to be an agreement children had to sign before going to college. Paul E. Kingston, considered the top man, signed as a witness for four of the marriages that The Tribune found outside Utah. 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. Carolyn Yvonne Kingston was born in 1938 in Elmo, Utah, to Charles Elden Kingston, and his first wife Ethel Gustafson, so she was the daughter of the first prophet of the Kingston Clan. All rights reserved. Still stunned at the sudden loss of their brother, Stephen and his siblings were numb with grief. The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity and contributions are tax As he talked to the woman who lived there, Luke Brown came out of the house, and his brother Scott soon joined him. She, in turn, wrote a letter to the judge on their behalf, and the case was settled without a trial. 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?. My e-mail address; george@eaglefreeenterprises ,com . He slept with a different one each night, in accordance with their ovulation cycles, and sometimes disappeared during lunch to have sex with a favorite. Her own father David Kingston has 18 wives and around 200 kids. 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. Mrs. Another group of kids called the Lost Boys, who were kicked out of the polygamist cult the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, ended up on the streets of Las Vegas and Phoenix, some turning tricks for drugs like meth and heroin. Child trafficking is the illegal movement of children, typically for the purposes of forced labor or sexual exploitation (Erase Child Trafficking). If I had done it, the Order probably would have killed me. Thats your Uncle Paul, she said. To cope with the disorientation and loneliness of leaving one world for another, many turn to drugs. 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. They should refrain from this decision until they can be well informed to make a mature and thoughtful decision before entering into marriage.. While the sect is headquartered in Utah, members will travel to Colorado to wed because cousin marriages are legal there. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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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. Come and get me, Stephen said. After the boys were taken into custody, one of their first calls was to Stephen. Former members estimate Paul has 30 wives and more than 50 children. Regardless, all those applying should do so legally. 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. We really know what your game is.. Members of The Order are taught they need to be in a plural marriage to reach the highest heaven. Cousin Carl E. Kingston, an attorney, is said to have a mere two wives. During his tenure Kingston has followed his father's practice of plural, child, and intra-family marriage. A review of wedding certificates shows how the teen marriages are sanctioned at the highest levels of the Kingston 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. Ed Sheeran Announces Final Mathematical-Themed Album 'Subtract' Women and girls, after theyre married, submit to their husbands and men answer to higher-ranked men, the suit alleges. He charged across the field and started brutally beating Stephens cousin. DeRieux did marry the next year at age 18 to a cousin who was 19. Three others, including Grant, said they had to flee to escape such a fate. A body of research suggests the teenage brain is not developed enough to make the kind of long-term decision needed for marriage. Like other fundamentalists of that era, he believed the Mormon Church had lost its divine authority when it renounced polygamy in 1890, so he persuaded three other families to join him in establishing their own sect. The statement also said that of the Kingston Group individuals who married under age 18 in the past 20 years, 95.1 percent remain married, 94.2 percent have earned a high school degree, and a third, most of them women, have graduated from a public college or university. (Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jessica Kingston was wed at age 16 in what she says was a marriage she felt pressured into by her parents and others in a polygamous sect. When someone is interested in marriage, the process is something more like a job interview than a courtship. That usually means marrying a Kingston descendant. If they kill me, they kill me, he says. The plans fizzled because her mother didnt believe DeRieux had received direction from God to marry the man. Members who have left in recent years say that changed after some of Paul Kingstons brothers were convicted of crimes related to child abuse, sex with a minor or incest. He was born Jan. 7, 1928, in San Diego, Calif., a son of the late Paul and Evelyn . There are thousands of members in the group. However, Grant claims she endured years of sexual abuse by a half-brother as a child. Over 75 years, the Kingstons have amassed a fortune worth an estimated $300 million, but the operation skirts the edges of the law. You had to be, like, a son of the prophet to know where it was.. The families of 19-year-old Stephen Smith who was rumored to be . Within a year, Paul Kingston would take a fourth wife. 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.. 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. Older teenagers were crammed five and six to a room, sleeping on the floors of trailers. While some despised Ben for his apostasy and refused to speak with him, Stephen had remained in touch with his brother. They had 4 children: John Hozlette Kingston and 3 other children. In Utah, Rep. Angela Romero, D-Salt Lake City, plans a bill that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. The relations are distant enough they wouldnt encounter any of Utahs prohibitions on marriage between siblings, first cousins or aunts/nephews and uncles/nieces. The lawsuit was filed May 24 in Salt Lake Citys federal court by Mary and Bryan Nelson. If someone is mature enough, they should be able to do whatever they want.. Paul already had two wives, but he and Richaun were married in a secret ceremony at her parents house. 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