A temporary cease and desist order was issued by the county this past week to Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) leader Seth Jeffs asking him to halt construction on his 40-acre Pike Lake property.
The order came from Cook County Land Services after they conducted a site visit to the property where they noted the following issues/concerns/non-compliance concerns.
1. Total site impacts exceed 1-acre, invoking the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting authority of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA);
2. Total site impacts exceed 1-acre and/ or 1,000 cubic yards of fill or excavation, requiring compliance with the Cook County Stormwater Ordinance and specifically, Section 5.1 of said Ordinance;
3. Improperly installed silt fence;
4. Lack of site-wide erosion and sediment control measures;
5. Failure to isolate wetland resources from upslope sediment and/ or hydric impacts;
6. Lack of slope breaks, filtering devices and other stabilization measures in excavated ditches;
7. Failure to separate and stockpile topsoil resources;
8. Out-letting disturbed soils into potential wetland resources;
9. Failure to temporarily seed and mulch disturbed areas;
10. No “spill kits” were observed on the site;
11. Storage of equipment, fuel, and other
hydrocarbons in a wetland;
12. Wetland impacts exceeded the permitted wetland exemption allocation; and,
13. Driveway construction estimates have been significantly exceeded.
Aerial drone photos taken by detective Sam Brower during his short stay in the county revealed that Jeffs had two pieces of heavy equipment on the property that he had used to begin digging with. It was those photos that caused the county to go in and have a closer look at what was going on.
According to the letter sent to Jeffs by Cook County Planning and Zoning Administrator Bill Lane, after inspecting the property, it was discovered that “the disruption to the landscape was pronounced and has occurred outside of all relevant permits.”
Seth is the brother of infamous polygamist Warren Steed Jeffs, the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), who is serving a life sentence plus 20 years after being convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault. While he is in prison, Warren, who took over the church following his father Rulon’s death in 2001, is still believed to be the leader and prophet of the church.
Last December Seth, who is listed as a registered agent of Emerald Industries LLC, purchased the 40-acre property on the Pike Lake Road and then secured a building permit for a 5,760- foot pole barn complete with living quarters and a septic system.
Seth is also the reputed leader of an FLDS sect in the South Dakota Black Hills near a town called Pringle. He is also listed as owner and operator of Emerald Craftmasters, a general contracting business in the Twin Cities that has been in operation for four years and lists two employees.
As for Sam Brower, he has been pursuing FLDS leaders for the last 15 years and helped gain convictions of FLDS men who were found guilty of sexually abusing children.
Brower and Tonia Tewell, who is the founder of the nonprofit organization Holding Out Help that works with FLDS members who have left the FLDS church, were both brought to Cook County by a group of concerned citizens to talk about their encounters and knowledge about the FLDS church, which believes in polygamy and child brides.
According to Utah attorney Alan Mortensen, who is a partner and shareholder with the Utah-based law firm of Dewsup, King & Olsen, Seth is wanted for court-appointed unpaid child support and unpaid alimony. Seth was also convicted in 2006 of harboring or concealing his brother Warren and in 2016 he pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud.
Cook County Land Services Director Tim Nelson said, “The actions that we take are based solely upon the level of actual non-compliance that is maintained by any property owner with regards to the permits issued as well as compliance with the standards of the relevant ordinances.”
The cease and desist letter that Planning and Zoning Adminstrator Bill Lane sent to Jeffs reads: “Moving forward, you must IMMEDIATELY CEASE AND DESIST ALL SITE ACTIVITIES until such time that comprehensive erosion and sediment controls are established and site stabilization is demonstrated.”
Lane ended with the following, “These are serious matters, even more so given the emphasis Cook County places on the conservation of our wetland resources. Nevertheless, permit compliance remains the responsibility of the property owner and we will expect impacts to be repaired in a timely manner. In addition, you will be responsible for the submittal of NPDES and Cook County Large Site Stormwater permits.
We will be happy to consult with you as you move forward with your property ownership, but these consultations must occur before work on the site continues. Please also know that Cook County will be requesting a Technical Evaluation Panel (TEP) site review to evaluate actual and potential site and resource impacts, including the involvement of the State of Minnesota Board of Soil and Water Resources (BWSR) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Given observed site impacts, Cook County will expedite this review process.”
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