SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors say they took aerial videos and installed surveillance cameras at a polygamous town’s general store to gather evidence in a multimillion-dollar food stamp fraud case.
Prosecutor Robert Lund said Wednesday in a Salt Lake City courtroom that the FBI got permission to use the cameras inside and outside the store on the Utah-Arizona border.
The revelation provides new insight into how authorities carried out a multiyear investigation that led to charges for 11 people in one of the biggest crackdowns on a group led by Warren Jeffs. All the defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Lund offered the information after U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart questioned why the government hadn’t turned over all its evidence by an April 15 deadline.
Lund says the video takes up massive amount of data and is part of evidence still being processed by investigators.
