Listen as someone who is deep within Mormon and their fringe sects lore, and by extension was already familiar with the glass cannon corruption the police departments across Utah engage in.
I am not surprised at how Reckless Ben has been treated by the authorities there, and as awful as it is I’m fucking glad more people are becoming aware of how shitty and corrupt the cops are in Utah. But I wish people would understand that shit like this isn’t the extent of it, and by far isn’t the worse show of it.
The amount of victims of abuse known—and unknown—they’ve failed is immeasurable. So please if the Reckless Ben stuff has made you more aware of Utah’s corruption and you are interested in learning how deep this goes in going to list some easily accessible place to start learning. But also if you aren’t interested in it that’s totally fine. Just if you ever have the chance to educate people please do.
So if you want to learn how deep this goes I recommend watching/listening to:
First, probably the most entry level is the docuseries: keep sweet; pray and obey which is about Rulon’s death and Warren’s subsequent claim to prophethood. It covers multiple different survivors who chronicle their story and how they escaped and it is impactful and the editing is done so effectively you feel as if you were dropped into their shoes. I could go on and on about it but I won’t. Watch with caution.
The former I mentioned certainly features police corruption but this is one the most transparent in my opinion which is trust me; the false prophet. The fact that two civilians had to do all of the work to protects these women and children truly fucking disgusts me and every single cop in that police department should be fired. They knew, and did nothing. Again, watch with caution.
If you prefer some humor injected into something so dark I recommend The Cult Podcast’s coverage of the FLDS and Utah in general. You have a lot to choose from.
If you prefer to hear stories from the survivors then Cults to consciousness is a good one, they interview many survivors of cult/high control groups. But specifically for Mormon and FLDS I recommend Lyle Jeffs, Warren’s son, as one of his stories is about how cops failed him, and especially his sisters. Nomz’s interview is a good one. But for corruption Christine’s is a good one as she is the central figure in trust me; the false prophet.
Finally I recommend Alyssa Grenfell who is a former mainstream LDS Mormon. She also has covered the bricks and minifigs situation so in hindsight she should have been at the top of the list since she’s more of entry point into this but whatever.
If you’ve read to this point thank you for reading.
