SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - One of Warren Jeffs’ closest confidants who is accused of playing a key role in a food stamp fraud scheme in a polygamous community on the Utah-Arizona border will remain behind bars as the case moves forward, a federal judge ruled Friday.

During a hearing in Salt Lake City, U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Pead rejected the argument from John Wayman’s attorney that his client was being held simply because of his religious beliefs.

Pead said the prosecution presented enough evidence to suggest Wayman is a devout follower and close associate of Jeffs - who teaches his members that government orders take a back seat to his edicts.

That, coupled with Wayman’s role in helping Jeffs remain a fugitive during the mid-2000s when he was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, makes him a flight risk, Pead said.

Wayman is among the highest-ranking leaders in the sect, who handles legal and tax issues for the group, according to prosecutors. He is one of 11 people indicted earlier this week on food stamp fraud and money laundering charges.

Lyle Jeffs, who runs the day-to-day operations of the sect in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, is in custody pending his own detention hearing in early March.

Defense attorney Jim Bradshaw argued that Wayman should be allowed out because he has no criminal history, a long history of being a hard worker and nothing to suggest he wouldn’t follow orders of his release and come to hearings. Bradshaw called the allegation that Wayman only goes out in public in disguise is ridiculous.

“He’s like the responsible brother,” Bradshaw said. “He’s the face that deals with the outside world.”

He said it would be shaky ground for the judge to keep someone behind bars based solely on their religious allegiance and speculation about what Jeffs would instruct his members to do.

Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for sexually assaulting two young girls he considered brides. He is considered the prophet of a group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The sect is a radical offshoot of mainstream Mormonism, which disavowed polygamy more than 100 years ago.

Prosecutors have agreed to allow five of the suspects out on supervised release, but argue that Wayman and three other top-tier leaders should remain in custody because if allowed out, they will go into hiding in a network of houses the sect has around the country. They must follow Jeffs order, or risk losing everything, said prosecutor Robert Lund.

“We’re talking about them losing their eternal salvation if they don’t follow the prophet,” Lund said.

Prosecutors brought only one witness at Friday’s hearing: Willie Jessop, a former bodyguard for Jeffs who left the sect several years ago and has been cooperating with investigators.

Jessop said Wayman gave more money to Warren Jeffs than any other member, helping him reach to elite status as a special assistant to Jeffs. Wayman is also a world class chef, Jessop said, which helped him cement a spot in Jeffs’ inner circle.

“There’s never been a time where he’s wavered or deviated from an order that Mr. Jeffs gave him,” Jessop said. “Mr. Wayman is a very high risk of running at the beckoning of Mr. Jeffs.”

Under cross examination, Bradshaw argued that Jessop doesn’t have a special ability to know Wayman’s current level of devotion to Jeffs. Bradshaw also suggested Jessop is biased toward Wayman, offering as evidence a lawsuit Jessop brought against Wayman over a business issue.

Jessop acknowledged that he doesn’t talk much anymore with Wayman, but said his opinion is based on years of knowing Wayman who he said he “once loved dearly.” He said one of Wayman’s sisters is his mother-in-law.

Jessop testified that the religion he was raised in has been hijacked and turned into a cartel. He said Wayman is a broken man whose loyalty to Jeffs has decimated his character.

Another detention hearing for Wayman was scheduled for March 10.

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