Polygamous Mormon Sect Is Actually a Sex Trafficking Cult: Lawsuit

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Source: Daily Beast

Polygamous Mormon Sect Is Actually a Sex Trafficking Cult: Lawsuit

Utah’s Kingston group allegedly forced young girls into marriages—sometimes incestuous—and told them they must submit to sexual abuse by their husbands.

Amanda Yen
Breaking News Intern
Published Mar. 02, 2024 6:08PM EST

A polygamous religious community in Utah is actually a criminal cult that trafficked young girls and forced them into early marriages that were sometimes incestuous, a new lawsuit alleges.

Ten women who left or escaped the alleged sect led by Paul Elden Kingston on Wednesday filed a federal complaint against Kingston, thirteen of his family members, and several other members. The complaint, which is nearly 140 pages long, also names as defendants dozens of businesses and entities ranging from restaurants, grocery stores, the Mormon fundamentalist denomination Latter Day Church of Christ, and an allegedly fake “bank” operated by the cult.

The complaint alleges that the cult actively practices sex trafficking, sexual abuse, child abuse, and forced labor. In some cases, Kingston forced girls to marry men they were related to and suffer repeated domestic abuse, the lawsuit claims.

“Some Plaintiffs were forced to ‘marry’ close relatives, who then beat and raped them,” the complaint alleges. “Almost all were denied an ordinary education, physically abused (or threatened with abuse), taught to fear outsiders, and forced to work for years of their childhoods, often in grueling jobs, with little or no pay.”

The complaint describes a Handmaid’s Tale style of governance ...

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/polygamous-mormon-sect-is-actually-a-sex-trafficking-cult-lawsuit

Alternate link: https://news.yahoo.com/news/polygamous-mormon-sect-actually-sex-230855951.html