Suzan Mazur: Most Wanted In Polygamy Coverup

L to R: Robert Foster Bennett, Orrin Hatch, Mike Leavitt, Mark Shurtleff & Rodney Parker

A voice Message from FBI in Idaho to me several weeks after contacting them regarding my front page piece just published in the Weekend Financial Times (10/28/2000), "Seven brides for one brother: Plural marriage is rife in the western United States", an article that for the first time tied together the various Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints polygamy groups, including the one in Bonner's Ferry, Idaho on the British Columbia border:

"Hello Suzan Mazur, this is Gail Gneckow with the FBI in Coeur 'd Alene, Idaho. My supervisor Bob Davis talked to you a few weeks ago and said that you had some information. . ."

I returned the phone call describing my investigation for the FT. I also asked if Gneckow would be interested in hearing from others with knowledge of the problem and she indicated that she would be. However, activists told me that when they tried to inform agent Gneckow, they found the polygamy case was being closed.

It will take more than Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's "mea culpa" to the Los Angeles Times to clear him and other officials who are responsible for allowing polygamy to flourish up and down the US Rocky Mountains, with Utah currently at the epicenter of sex cult activity. Why? Because America along with 182 other countries is signatory to the 1979 UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recognizing that:

POLYGAMY IS A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION.

That's right, Attorney General Shurtleff, America is morally bound to the document even though the Republican-led Senate has not had the decency or backbone to ratify it.

CEDAW defines discrimination against women as:

". . . any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field."

Current Bush administration politics prevent American officials who have supported such crimes against humanity, however, from responding to any inquiry from appropriate bodies such as the International Criminal Court. Neither does polygamy fall under the "purview" of Congress - according to Utah's senior Senator Orrin Hatch (ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and for years its Chairman), a man who said in 2003 at a public gathering in southern Utah:

"I'm not here to justify polygamy. All I can say is, I know people in Hildale who are polygamists who are very fine people. You come and show me the evidence of children being abused there and I'll get involved. Bring me the evidence. [He said further,] I personally don't believe in polygamy but I'm not going to judge others who feel differently."

Letter from Orrin Hatch to Jay Beswick

So these crimes against humanity have, in fact, been neatly buried by corrupt Utah officials as well as by the Department of Justice, particularly, the FBI. However, the DOJ and FBI are, indeed, accountable to the Senate Judiciary Committee, as Senator Hatch is fully aware, despite his failure to make the hearings happen.

Hatch knows that the FBI has chosen to look the other way on the issue partly because when the bureau was created by J. Edgar Hoover, it was staffed with Mormon "G-men", who went easy on their polygamist "brothers".

As an example, Jay Beswick, a dedicated child advocate who for years lived with his family on the edge of the FLDS border towns of Hildale, Utah - Colorado City, Arizona, sent a package to the Baltimore FBI (who handle child pornography) with evidence about underage marriages inside the polygamy cults. It went unacknowledged aside from postal signatures.

Jay Beswick's postal receipts for information provided to the FBI

Robert Gehrke, a former Associated Press reporter who's now with the Salt Lake City Tribune has also complained of getting no FBI record on Rulon Jeffs after filing an FOIA request on the former FLDS prophet, the father of the current FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who is one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted criminals.

Robert Gehrke, AP 9/13/2003 email to Jay Beswick:

"Hey Jay - It's been a while. Hope you're doing well. I've followed some of the developments out that way with interest.

Two things I wanted to run by you. First, I filed an FOIA request for Rulon Jeffs' FBI record and got nothing. They said it never existed, which seems odd to me. I think I'm going to send a similar request to the Salt Lake office to see if they have documents there. It seems like there should be something on him.

…snip. . . ."

FBI agent Jeff Goins in St. George, Utah did respond to Jay Beswick, June 29, 2004, but advised his office would "no longer accept e-mails" from him.

"Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 1:02 PM
Subject: Your Previous E-mail Messages
Mr. Beswick,

I tried unsuccessfully last night and today to reach you on the telephone. To my knowledge we have never met or spoken so I do not know what you do/did for a living. I am an FBI agent and as such I investigate allegations of violations of federal laws that are within the jurisdiction of the FBI.

In over 15 years as a criminal investigator I have spoken with thousands of individuals who wanted to provide information to authorities. I'll take a few minutes and try to explain how law enforcement agencies work regarding complaints.

An incomplete e-mail is not a "documented complaint". We receive forwarded e-mails daily from individuals with partial and incomplete information or incoherent allegations. Simply sending an e-mail does not "document" anything.

A complaint consists of specific information about a person, suspected illegal activity, names and locations of possible conspirators and witnesses, etc. Without the ability to communicate with a complainant to answer follow up questions these e-mails are simply disregarded. If it is important enough for you to complain it is important enough for you to spend 10 minutes on the phone answering follow-up questions. I will not spend an entire day trading a series of e-mails trying to get a coherent complaint, especially about a matter that is not within the jurisdiction of the FBI.

As you probably know the FBI does not open an investigation into every complaint we receive. There simply is not enough time or agents to work them. Many factors are a part of the decision to open an investigation. As an FBI agent, some of these factors are:
- Where the crime occurred
- Is it a federal crime
- Is it a crime for which the FBI has investigative authority
- Amount of the $ loss
- Availability of witness/victim to testify
- Reliability of person making the complaint
- Reliability of victim/witness
- Has statute of limitation expired (usually 6 years)
- Availability of documents to prove the violation
- US Attorney prosecutive [sic] guidelines
- Is it possible to prove the violation beyond a reasonable doubt
- Notice that the following factors do not play any role in the FBI's decision:
- Prominence of the suspect(s)
- Who the victim is
- Religion of suspect/victim/witness
- Political sensitivity of the issue

Some of your e-mails contain text from as far back as 2000 and 2001. What you must realize that information provided to one investigator from one agency last month is not automatically forwarded to every investigator of the FBI. Generally, investigators from different agencies only coordinate and share information when they are working a joint case or assigned to the same task force.

This is often true even when investigators assigned to the same agency but stationed in separate states. We are not omniscient and it is unreasonable for you to assume that I am fully aware of all the information you provided to all of the various agencies over the last seven years.

Although I appreciate you gathering information and forwarding the information to our office, it is best if victims or witnesses contact the investigators directly. There are several reasons for this.

The victim has much more information about the crime because it happened to them. Upon questioning by trained investigators the victims often recall things that they didn't think where important when talking to someone else.

It shows the victim is indeed a victim and is upset by the incident. If someone does not care enough to report the matter to law enforcement perhaps it wasn't that big of a deal. We understand that sometimes victims are reluctant to come forward for fear of reprisal but all in all I generally take complaints from victims more seriously than complaints from outsiders or those not witnesses to the crime.

It is not necessary for civilians to perform the work of law enforcement. Indeed, when civilians put themselves in the place of trained investigators several problems can arise:
- Physical danger to the civilian
- Chain of custody problems can lead to evidence being inadmissible
- Investigation can be tainted by bias/background/baggage of civilian

If you think something needs to be brought to the attention of law enforcement you should advise law enforcement of the allegation. The best way to for this to be done either in person or over the telephone so intelligent follow-up questions can be asked and answered.

FBI agents, unlike Sheriffs, Attorneys General, and Police Chiefs, are not elected officials. We do not have to run for office and I do not particularly care if my investigation upsets the voters. All I want to do is put bad people in jail. I spoke with SS this morning and confirmed that he has never played golf with either RF or KS. I strongly resent your implication that I, my partner, or another FBI agent would fail to investigate a valid complaint based on the popularity of the investigation with the general public. Just because you are not happy with the outcome of information you provided to the FBI don't run around throwing out baseless accusations.

I graduated from FLETC in 1988 when I worked for IRS Criminal Investigation Division. I graduated from the FBI Academy in 2002 after being hired by the FBI. One of the topics covered by both training programs was complainants and informants. Both IRS and FBI (and indeed most modern law enforcement agencies) agree that information from complainants/informants is a one way street. Law enforcement receives information but does not advise the complainant of the status of the investigation, what steps they are going to take, and the ultimate disposition of the case. Likewise, no law enforcement agency will allow a complainant or informant to direct the investigation or tell the agency what steps to take. Doing so would lead to serious issues at trial.

This morning I spoke with Gail Gneckow regarding information you provided to her in the past. As she recalls it was 2000 or 2001 when she last had contact with you. She recalls telling you that there was no provable criminal violation and that she was closing the case [emphasis added]. She also recalls you threatening to go to the media because you were not happy with the outcome. At times we are not able to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt (the standard of proof in a criminal trial). At that point we close the case and begin working on other cases that we think you can prove.

You do not contact every complainant/victim/witness and tell them the case has been closed and the reasons why. It just doesn't work the way you perhaps expect it to.

As a general rule the FBI does not get involved in street level and small time drug cases. The FBI works with DEA, US Customs, and other federal, state, and local agencies in Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) program. OCDETF cases involve tons of marijuana, or 25 plus pounds of cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine and a large importation/manufacturing/distribution network. If I understand correctly, after reading through four or five e-mail messages, J and CP have some knowledge or participated in the manufacture of drugs (possibly meth??) with WB in Hildale. The various e-mails indicate someone in law enforcement will be/has been notified of the allegation. As I understand it you are forwarding these e-mails to me in order for me to make sure the allegation is followed up but do not state who and which agency has already been notified and might be investigating the issue.

One e-mail message from RB to you lists the telephone number of the DEA agent in Salt Lake City and asks that you call the DEA agent. If you have not already spoken with him I suggest you contact DEA in St. George or the Washington County Drug Task Force at 435-xxx-xxxx and provide them with the complete story of the drugs.

It appears that you have already forwarded this matter to the attention of the Arizona AG's office and from them to the EPA. Is there anything further you need or desire from the FBI regarding this allegation?

Some of the e-mails you forwarded to me include messages to/from the following individuals: KK, CT, CM, and CV. Are these people victims, witnesses, investigators from other agencies? Each statement you make may bring up half a dozen follow-up questions that I'd like to ask. Your answers to each of those questions could lead to even more questions and the cycle continues. Are you starting to see how difficult it is to get a complete picture of the allegation if the only communication is via e-mail?

Several portions of your e-mails are lost on me. These are examples of things that could have been cleared up on the phone if you were available.

In about a decade 14 children have been run over and killed in Hildale/CC and your County Coroner can back that up. While it is indeed sad that children are killed in automobile/ATV accidents, this problem is not unique to Utah and I fail to see a violation of any state or federal criminal laws based on this limited information.

Diversion to photograph not only the unmarked graves but all of them. What is your allegation concerning unmarked graves. Do you think the person buried there was murdered? If so, what leads you to this conclusion? Is there a specific statue regarding a grave marker that states it must have the decedent's name, DOB, and DOD on it? I'm not sure what an unmarked grave has to do with anything. I've seen a DVD of the graveyards in that area. The person that sent in the DVD requested law enforcement to exhume all of the bodies in the grave yards. That person must have been watching too much CSI because they never cited one fact, suspect, or justification for such an intrusive act.

In order to exhume the bodies law enforcement would either have to get the consent of the decedent's family or a judge to sign a court order. No judge would ever allow us to exhume a body "just because", there has to be specific, articulable facts that lead the judge to believe that an examination of the body will lead to the discovery of evidence of a crime. If you have further information on this aspect of the graves please call and fill me in because the person that submitted the DVD has no knowledge of the legal requirements of what they requested.

I saw a TV movie just last month where the FBI claimed the Mann-Act was a serious concern and yet, 45 minutes away little girls are moved back and forth between Arizona and Utah, now Texas! Sometimes to Creston BC Canada, now also to Benjamin Hill Mexico. TV movies are usually not the best way to learn about the investigative priorities and techniques of the FBI.

All I know of you personally is your finger printing of BC way back. I contacted C after an individual contacted our office and stated that someone fitting the description of Whitey Bulger, one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, was at the Washington County library. I did not disrupt the meeting and waited until it was over before approaching C. From my point of view in the back of the room C did match the physical description of Bulger. Upon contacting C at the end of the meeting I verified that his fingerprints did not match those of Bulger and he was free to go. End of story. Total contact time with C was ~ 15 minutes.

Taking a complaint via the telephone or face-to-face is much more effective and efficient than taking a complaint via e-mail. Without the ability to talk with you and ask follow up questions, your allegations will not be processed. I will not spend an entire day trading a series of e-mails trying to get a complete, coherent complaint.

The FBI is always willing to listen to allegations of violation of federal law. If you ever have information regarding a matter that is within the investigative purview of the FBI please contact me at 435-xxx-xxxx (I'll even accept collect calls if you are out of state).

If the matter is not something within the FBI's jurisdiction I'll be happy to provide you with the contact number for the department/agency that handles that particular criminal violation. This office will no longer accept e-mails from you. If it is important enough for you to file a complaint, it is important enough for you to spend a few minutes on the phone answering follow-up questions. As stated in my earlier e-mail I am disregarding the previous 20 e-mails from you due to the incomplete nature of their content.

I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
SA Jeff Goins
FBI - St. George, UT
435-xxx-xxxx"

[Please note: most proper names have been removed from the above email.]

Jay Beswick says he elected not to ring Special Agent Goins by telephone as following his experience with Gail Gneckow he believed it necessary to maintain a paper trail of all his dealings with the FBI.

The CIA too has heavily recruited Mormon agents - even though their domestic missions pre-September 11, 2001 would have fallen under the CIA's secret charter relating to domestic operations.

For example, Utah's junior US Republican senator (since 1993), Robert Foster Bennett, during the Watergate years was president of Robert Mullen Associates, a public relations firm that was a front for the CIA and employed Watergate burglar E. Howard Hunt. Bennett also served as Director of Howard Hughes' holding company Summa Corporation. And he was pals with former Watergate conspirator Chuck Colson. Nixon thought Bennett was Woodward & Bernstein's "Deep Throat".

Bob Bennett is the son of former US Senator Wallace Bennett and both father and son, it seems, have helped to successfully keep the lid on polygamy
crimes in their state.

But with 2006 an election year, the FBI now appears pressured by Republican leadership to find a discrete way out of the polygamy mess. Also, LDS celebrity/Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney has clearly been making noise about a run for US President in 2008 and he will have to answer questions about what he did and did not do to help undo the ravages of polygamy amongst his people in the Mormon culture.

However, as in the case of Utah's conviction of bigamist Tom Green, the FBI is going after one man -- Warren Jeffs -- with assets and cult compounds in UT, AZ, ID, TX, SD and BC, although the FLDS Is Incorporated In The State Of Utah as: the United Effort Plan.

So, as Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff now speaks to the media of organized crime in relation to the FLDS, he need look no further than the organized protection he and his colleagues representing the state have provided the cults through the years:

Senators Bob Bennett & Orrin Hatch, former Governor Mike Leavitt (now Bush Health & Human Services secretary) and Rodney Parker, former Bush I Associate Deputy Attorney General "on the immediate staff" of the Deputy Attorney General of the United States (1988-1989).

Parker is with the Utah law firm Snow, Christensen and Martineau, which represents the State of Utah, yet Parker acts as registered agent for the FLDS Corporations and Twin City Academy in Hildale -- all entities in good standing in Utah. Parker defended polygamist judge Walter Steed and polygamist cop Rodney Holm in court. Steed has since been unseated and Holm relieved of duty and convicted.

Mike Leavitt served as Utah governor for eleven years while polygamy was in full bloom throughout the1990s. During that time he saw to it that $405,000 was awarded in federal housing grants to refurbish homes on [FLDS] church-owned land, as reported by Tom Zoellner in the Salt Lake Tribune: "Polygamy on the Dole" Hildale mayor, David Zitting, a member of the FLDS, sat on Utah's State Housing Development Advisory Council at the time.

Jay Beswick commented in a 2003 email to Jerry Howe, a lawyer for Utah's Senate Judiciary Committee, that the key to the polygamy jauggernaut is "local corruption". He cited the case of Colorado City Polygamist Sheriff Sam Barlow winning his court battle against decertification.

An Arizona judge ruled there was "no evidence" to suggest Barlow was unable to do his job after Barlow produced 87 witnesses supporting his case, most of them local law enforcement.

Click to view original article

Here's Beswick's email to Howe:

"In the 1987 Arizona DPS investigation, 87 witnesses for Sam Barlow completed affidavits. The State Deputy Attorney was Jameson. The list reads like who's who in Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. Jim Gober of BATF, Phil Jordan of DEA, Bob Rehm of Arizona DPS, the same agency investigating Barlow? A Utah legislator, the Cedar City Chief of Police, the elected Sheriff of Iron County, hey [Mike] Leavitt was in town back then!

The DA of Mohave County, Arizona, William Ekstrom who on April 10, 2003 admits he has a conflict of interest. Ekstrom didn't tell us that when he investigated the Lenore Holm case, but a thug for the group -- why should he?

40 from Law Enforcement violated their "Oath of Office" in endorsing the lawless law breakers. It's one thing to live polygamy discretely and another to get endorsed by those acting under the collar of authority. It's called connecting the dots and it's huge when you can tie both the governor of Utah [former governor Mike Leavitt] and US Senator Orrin Hatch to a known relationship with guys like Fred Jessop [a former FLDS leader, since deceased]. It was beyond Ludlow's ability to override the power base, but then no guts no glory!

I have the Arizona file and I want to see public officials charged and in jail. I have thousands of emails. I can keep going. If I give you enough, will you be honor-bound to address it or like Ludlow, is it too big to tackle?

Mike Otterson at the LDS Church ran from it, but it will get exposed, now or in court. Personally, I think Utah should lose its statehood over what exists in court records."

Unfortunately, US statehood appears to be an irreversible thing. But if Utah entered into the Union falsely claiming it had banned polygamy when it hadn't -- as is the case -- perhaps statehood could be revoked. In any event, the above officials have all helped to keep a lid on the problem through their connections higher up in Washington as well as in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, again, from which the US intelligence agencies have recruited heavily through the years.

However shocking, the LDS church still has embedded in its scripture the following language endorsing polygamy from its late prophet Joseph Smith, who was first inspired to start the Mormon religion by a visit from an angel in upstate New York in the 1820s.

Some years later Smith concocted Doctrine & Covenants 132, which has led to the physical and emotional ravaging of ten generations of women throughout the Western US:

"if any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins, and have vowed to no other man, then is he justified, he cannot commit adultery . . . And if he have ten virgins given unto him by this law, he cannot commit adultery . . . therefore is he justified."
- Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith, who drew additional inspiration for the Mormon religion from occult Mason rituals, ran for US President in 1844 and was not long after gunned down by Mason muskets even as he flashed the Mason distress signal before falling from the window of a jail into the crowd below.

Also astonishing is that as late as last year Utah AG Mark Shurtleff annnounced and posted on his official web site that he would only address domestic violence inside polygamy cults, in other words letting those locked in misery in the sex cults languish. How many lives have been destroyed on his five-year watch is anyone's guess. But let the unmarked baby graves attached to the FLDS cult in the canyonlands serve as a reminder.

The Senate Judiciary Committee should promptly commence proceedings on the DOJ/FBI in relation to the polygamy issue - with Orrin Hatch on the other side of the table.

Suzan Mazur has traveled through the western US covering the polygamy story, contributing a series on the subject to the Financial Times, writing for the editorial pages of Newsday and the Philadelphia Inquirer, as well as Maclean's, CounterPunch and Scoop. She has been a guest on Fox Television News with Paula Zahn and Bill O'Reilly discussing the issue and on numerous radio shows. Email: sznmzr @ aol.com Email: Jay Beswick: patches @ as.net

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