FBI offers $50,000 reward for capture of escaped polygamous sect leader

The Federal Bureau of Investigation on Monday offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of a Utah-based polygamous faith leader who escaped from home confinement ahead of his trial over food stamp fraud.

Lyle Jeffs, 56, fled confinement in Salt Lake City sometime over the weekend of June 18 - 19 and an arrest warrant was issued by a federal judge that Sunday afternoon, authorities said.

Prosecutors allege Jeffs and other leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) in Arizona and South Dakota diverted money from the federal government food assistance program for the poor.

Jeffs pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment in February and was released from jail on June 9 ahead of his October trial. Jeffs is the de facto leader of the (FLDS), an unacknowledged offshoot of the Mormon Church.

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