Polygamist faces trial in daughter's beating | Deseret News

A 16-year-old girl wept as she told a judge how her polygamist father took her to a remote family ranch near the Utah-Idaho border and whipped her with a belt because she rebelled against a marriage to his brother.

Twenty-eight times her father, John Daniel Kingston, whipped her, she testified, before she apparently passed out.On Wednesday, 1st District Judge Ben Hadfield ordered Kingston, 43, a prominent member of a Utah polygamist group, to stand trial for the May 24 assault on the girl.

Kingston faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

The girl's voice cracked throughout her testimony and she cried openly when Box Elder County Attorney Jon Bunderson asked her to identify the man who hit her. She pointed to Kingston.

Polygamist faces trial in daughter's beating | Deseret News

Feds move to seize homes and businesses from polygamous Kingston Group as fraud defendants plead guilty - The Salt Lake Tribune

The owners of Washakie Renewable Energy pleaded guilty to charges Thursday in what the government has called a $511 million biofuel fraud, and the pleas could have repercussions for the polygamous sect to which they belong.

Jacob O. Kingston, the company’s CEO, pleaded guilty Thursday to 41 charges including money laundering, fraud, conspiracy and witness tampering and obstruction of justice, according to a court docket. His brother and the chief financial officer, Isaiah E. Kingston, pleaded guilty to 17 counts.

Their mother, Rachel Ann Kingston, 64, also pleaded guilty to five counts. Jacob Kingston’s legal wife, Sally, pleaded guilty to two counts.

Feds move to seize homes and businesses from polygamous Kingston Group as fraud defendants plead guilty - The Salt Lake Tribune

CA regulators look to shut down Mormon extremist-owned casino | The Sacramento Bee

California regulators are working to shut down a casino with ties to a Utah Mormon fundamentalist group known to practice polygamy, including marriages of girls as young as 15.

At first glance, Sahara Dunes Casino, doing business as Lake Elsinore Hotel and Casino, doesn’t look like much.

It sits on I-15 between Los Angeles and San Diego, hundreds of miles from the glittering lights of Las Vegas. Only a plain red sign — reading “Casino Restaurant Cocktails” — identifies the building’s nature.

However, the casino is owned by Joseph and Ted Kingston, whose family also controls the Kingston Group, otherwise known as the Davis County Cooperative Society.

As reported in the Salt Lake Tribune, the Kingston Group also owns “a diverse portfolio of service, financial and agricultural operations in Utah and Idaho.”

Members of the group are known to conduct marriages of girls as young as 15, as well as marriages between cousins, according to the Tribune; the Tribune also reports that the group has drawn the attention of federal regulators, who allege that members have engaged in a multi-million-dollar tax fraud scheme.

CA regulators look to shut down Mormon extremist-owned casino | The Sacramento Bee