Property in Cook County tied to Warren Jeffs’ group reportedly sells

Duluth, Minnesota -- Reports on the Real Estate website Zillow.com say the property at 932 Pike Lake Rd, Grand Marais, MN sold for $130,000 on August 4, 2023.

That property was tied to to a polygamous sect once led by Warren Jeffs.

The according to the Zillow listing the asking price for the property was $189,000.

It was described in part as, “40 gorgeous, partially developed acres await your vision! Less than 20 minutes away from downtown Grand Marais. The property has been improved with a nice gravel driveway, selective tree and brush clearing, and many newly planted pines, maple seedlings and all the beautiful prairie grasses.”

Seth Jeffs was convicted in 2006 of concealing his brother, Warren Jeffs, who was sentenced in 2011 to life in prison for sexually abusing underage members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose members consider him a prophet.

Seth Jeffs pleaded guilty to food stamp fraud in 2016 in a scheme to divert benefits to church members.

The FLDS split from the main Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the Mormon church, after the latter renounced polygamy in 1890. Seth and Warren Jeffs’ father, Rulon Jeffs, held leadership roles in the FLDS church for many years.

Property records show Seth Jeffs also bought 80.5 acres of land near Menomonie, Wisconsin, in 2020.

A compound that he once led in South Dakota’s Black Hills was bought at auction in 2019 by three former members who broke with the sect years ago.

A judge had ordered it sold to pay for a lawsuit settlement.

Nothing was ever built on the Minnesota property, said Tim Nelson, Cook County’s land services director.

The county ordered Emerald Industries in 2019 to stop working on the site because of land-use and septic permit violations. The issues were resolved, but Seth Jeffs did not reapply after the permits expired.

The Associated Press contributed to part of this story.