...Republican-controlled Pentagon paid $1.7 million to firms of polygamy bosses

More than 400 children, including teenage girls, were removed from

that ranch amid claims of child abuse and forced marriage and

motherhood.

Brower says dozens of companies tied to FLDS are working on contracts

with federal or local governments.

........................................................................................................

Jeffs is serving time in Utah after his 2007 conviction for being an

accomplice to rape, charges related to a marriage he performed in

2001.

He also faces trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with

a minor, incest and conspiracy.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/17/polygamy.pentagon/index.html?eref=rss_us

Pentagon paid $1.7 million to firms of polygamy bosses

By Randi Kaye

CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) --

The U.S. government paid more than $1.7 million in defense contracts

over the last decade to companies owned by leaders of Warren Jeffs'

polygamous sect, with tens of thousands allegedly winding its way back

to Jeffs and his church.

The Pentagon had contracts with three companies with ties to Warren

Jeffs' polygamous sect.

In fact, some of the deals were made after Jeffs was named to the

FBI's "Most-Wanted List" and remained in place while he was on the

run.

CNN has learned that between 1998 and 2007, the United States Air

Force and Defense Logistics Agency purchased more than $1.7 million

worth of airplane parts from three companies owned by members of the

Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which

practices polygamy.

Those companies are Utah Tool and Die, Western Precision and NewEra

Manufacturing.

Today, the companies all operate under the name NewEra Manufacturing,

a company based in Las Vegas, Nevada, that says it supplies precision

components "for the aerospace, military, medical, recreational and

other commercial entities."

"It was my understanding that Western Precision was paying roughly

$50,000 a week into the coffers of the church," former sect member

Richard Holm said.

"It would have been close to $200,000 a month."

Holm said he helped build Western Precision.

A court affidavit signed by a man whose father was the president of

Western Precision makes similar allegations.

"During 2003, the amount being sent to the storehouse and the FLDS was

around $100,000 per month," John Nielsen said in the October 26, 2005,

affidavit.

"I have personal knowledge that checks sent to the FLDS Church/Warren

Jeffs by [Western Precision] are payable to the FLDS Church and/or

Warren Jeffs."

Private investigator Sam Brower, who monitors the sect, said money

earned through business dealings with the U.S. government was used to

build Jeffs' compounds across the country, including the one recently

raided in Eldorado, Texas.

More than 400 children, including teenage girls, were removed from

that ranch amid claims of child abuse and forced marriage and

motherhood.

Brower says dozens of companies tied to FLDS are working on contracts

with federal or local governments.

The Pentagon would confirm only it had contracts with three.

A man who answered the phone at NewEra Manufacturing said it had no

comment.

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How about that

Harry