Senator Harry Reid: Polygamous sects are ‘form of organized crime’
Posted by: joshuah in Harry Reid, Organized Crime, polygamous sectsInterestingly enough, one can say the same about human governments…they are a form of organized crime as well. I guess that makes Harry Reid the pot calling the kettle black.
Via: CNN.com
Polygamous sects that have spread throughout the United States and beyond are “a form of organized crime,” largely unchecked by law enforcement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday.
Sen. Harry Reid says polygamous sects have “wrongly cloaked themselves in the trappings of religion.”Sen. Harry Reid says polygamous sects have “wrongly cloaked themselves in the trappings of religion.”
He is proposing a federal-state partnership aimed at policing such communities.
“The lawless conduct of polygamous communities in the United States deserves national attention and federal action,” Reid said before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sects such as the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have “wrongfully cloaked themselves in the trappings of religion” to conceal crimes such as bigamy, child abuse and statutory rape, the Nevada Democrat said. In such communities, teenage or preteen girls are forced to marry older men and bear their children, he said.
Reid is a member of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon church. The Mormon church has renounced polygamy.
While those offenses are the most obvious, Reid said, other criminal conduct occurs — “welfare fraud, tax evasion, massive corruption and strong-arm tactics to maintain what they think is the status quo.”
Reid said he is sponsoring legislation that would create a federal task force aimed at polygamous sects and provide grants for law enforcement agencies investigating and prosecuting crimes committed in the communities, as well as grants to provide assistance to those who testify against them — paying for witness protection, child care and counseling, for instance.
“I am not saying they are the same thing as the crime syndicates were in Las Vegas,” said Reid, a former chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission. “But they engage in an ongoing pattern of serious crimes that we ignore at our peril.”
Other committee witnesses, however, questioned whether a federal task force would be appropriate in targeting polygamous sects, which are often isolated and insular, and whose members mistrust outsiders, especially government agencies.
“Task forces may not be a good fit in this particular context,” said Brett Tolman, U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah. It can be difficult for law enforcement to infiltrate such communities, he said, and a task force “may be too blunt an instrument” when “subtler and more covert” tactics would be more effective.
Loading ...
Entries (RSS)