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Infamous Mormons
Latter-day Saints who have behaved very badly, notorious criminals
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Photo: America's Most Wanted |
Jason Brown
first-degree murder, armed robbery and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution
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Robert Keith Palomares was shot five times in the head on 24 Nov 2004 at 10:00 AM outside the AMC Theater Multi-Plex in Ahwatukee, Arizona,
a suburb of Phoenix, while picking up the weekend receipts as part of his job with the Dunbar Armored Car Service.
The armed robber got away on a bicycle with $56,000.
When police found the bicycle, fingerprints came back positive for Jason Derek Brown.
His last know location is the Portland International Airport, where his car was recovered in long term parking on 16 Jan 2005.
Police suspect he may be in Mexico; western Canada; Salt Lake City; Redding, California or Portland, Oregon.
Source: America's Most Wanted
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He served in the France Paris Mission from 1988-1990.
Source:
France Paris Mission Alumni News
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Ted Bundy
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He was attractive, smart, and had a future in politics. He was also one
of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history. Ted Bundy screamed
his innocence until his death in the electric chair became imminent,
then he tried to use his victims one more time to keep himself alive.
His plan failed and the world got a glimpse of the true evil inside him.
crime.about.com In late 1974 Bundy moved from Seattle to Salt Lake
City, where he attended law school and became a Mormon convert.
converted to Hinduism on death row. |
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Butch Cassidy
(1866-1909)
bank robber |
Born Robert LeRoy Parker in Beaver, Utah on April 13, 1866, Cassidy was the first of 13 children.
His Mormon parents had come to Utah from England in 1856.
His first run-in with the law occurred after he let himself into a closed shop, took a pair of jeans, and left a note promising to return later to pay his debt.
By 1884, Roy was rustling cattle from Parowan and his life on the lam had begun.
The first major crime attributed to Cassidy is the robbery of the San Miguel Valley Bank in Telluride, on June 24, 1889.
He and three cowboys got away with $20,000.
His last big job was a hold up of a Rio Grande train near Folsom, New Mexico, $70,000.
As his fame grew, more officers were after him.
He fled to Bolivia, where he briefly lived in peace before returning to his lawless ways.
Source: Utah.com
Since
the start of the Famous Mormons web site I have been searching for proof that
Robert Leroy Parker better known as Butch Cassidy was actually baptized a
Mormon. He was named after his two grandfathers both were
named Robert. Both parents were Mormons and most children in The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are baptized at eight years of age. So it is likely “Butch” was baptized when he
was eight years old. I have not come across any record showing a
baptism. So we treat him on the Famous Mormons site or in this case he is on
the “infamous” Mormons section, as a probable member of the church.
Ron
"The best way to hurt them is through their pocket book.
They will Holler louder than if you cut off both legs.
I steal their money just to hear them holler.
Then I pass it out among those who realy need it."
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The Outlaw Trail: A History of Butch Cassidy and His Wild Bunch
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Byron Crutcher
thief
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He was convicted of robbery, but because the victim was older than 65, it was classified as a felony,
and because he was classified as a habitual criminal, his sentence was severe.
He has been sentenced to life. His other crimes include possession of stolen property and burglary.
He has appealed to the state supreme court that his sentence be changed to death stating that it is
cruel and unusual to spend the rest of his life in prison for a non violent crime.
He is eligible for parole in Jan 2007.
The court has denied his appeal stating there is no legal basis to change his sentence.
Nevada allows the death sentence only for those convicted of first-degree murder.
Source:
Nevada Supreme Court rejects inmate's request to die, Associated Press, Carson City, Nevada, 26 Nov 2004
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Habitual criminal's request for execution denied by court, Las Vegas Review-Journal, 27 Nov 2004
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Photo: Crime Library |
Arthur Gary Bishop
(1951-1988)
serial killer |
Served a mission in the Philippines. Excommunicated in 1974.
In 1983, when questioned by police regarding the disappearance of a neighborhood boy he knew, he confessed to having killed him and four others.
Alonzo Daniels was killed in 1979 at the age of four after being kidnapped from
the courtyard of his apartment complex.
Kim Peterson was killed in 1980 at the age of eleven after being lured into Bishop's house to
sell roller skates.
Danny Davis was killed in 1981 at the age of four after being kidnapped from a grocery store.
Troy Ward was killed in 1983 at the age of six.
Graeme Cunningham was also killed in 1983 at the age of thirteen.
Arthur Gary Bishop was executed by the State of Utah by lethal injection.
Source: The Wacky World of Murder
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In prison, Bishop prepared for his death by reading the Book of Mormon
ten times from cover-to-cover.
He used TV headphones to shield himself from the profanity of fellow inmates.
He spent his last hours in fasting and prayer.
Source: All About Arthur Bishop by Michael Newton, Crime Library
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Photo: Fox News |
Mark Hacking
murderer |
Mark Hacking reported his wife missing on 19 Jul 2004.
She was five weeks pregnant.
Two weeks later, he was arrested when police found a witness to whom Mark had confessed that he had killed his wife in her sleep and dumped her body in the trash.
Her body was found three months later (01 Oct 2004) in a Salt Lake landfill.
His trial is set to begin 18 Apr 2005.
Sources: The Mark Hacking Case and
Hacking Trial Appears Set for April Start Date, Associated Press, Salt Lake City, 05 Jan 2005
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CBS News timeline
Hacking spent 2 years in Winnepeg as Mormon missionary by Katie Chalmers, Winnepeg Sun, 27 Jul 2004
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Photo:
Serial Killers
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Glenn Taylor Helzer
serial killer |
He; his brother, Justin; and their roommate, Dawn Godman, killed five people in the San Francisco area during the summer of 2003.
They conspired to fund a self-awareness program to bring "joy, peace and love" to the world by extorting money from Glenn's former clients.
Godman plead guilty and agreed to testify against Justin in exchange for a sentence of 38 years.
Justin claimed it was all his brother's idea, but he was convicted and sentenced to death in Aug 2004.
Glenn pled guilty, and a jury recommended death on 17 Dec 2004.
His defense attorney argued that he spent his boyhood as a Mormon surrounded by religious influences so outside the mainstream that
acquaintances and family members made him believe God chose him as a prophet.
Sources:
Killer was mentally ill, lawyer says by Bruce Gerstman, Contra Costa Times, Contra Costa, California, 09 Nov 2004 and
Contra Costa jury recommends death for quintuple murderer by Kim Curtis, Associated Press, 17 Dec 2004
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Details of bizarre plot to kill in God's name By Demian Bulwa, San Francisco Chronicle, 24 Jun 2004
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Mark Hofmann
murderer and forger
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He was raised in a "devout" LDS family.
He served a full-time mission.
He married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1979.
He has four children.
His most notorious forgery is known as the Salamander letter.
It depicted Joseph Smith as a practitioner of folk magic, and related a very different account of how he obtained the Gold Plates.
In 1985, he planted two bombs which killed Steven Christensen and Kathy Sheets.
He was badly injured while transporting a third bomb.
During the investigation, police discovered Hofmann's studio where he had created his forgeries and other incriminating evidence.
He was arrested for the murders and forgery in February 1986.
He pled guilty to lesser charges to avoid the death penalty, and was sentenced to life in prison.
Source: Wikipedia
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Hofmann fooled some very renowned people with his forgeries.
Ironically, two of his most outspoken critics were Jerald and Sandra Tanner, who are sometimes described as "professional anti-Mormons".
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Richard Floyd McCoy, Jr.
(1943-1975)
highjacker |
He was a Vietnam veteran, a helicopter pilot, and a
capable skydiver. He was 29 years old. He was a police
science major at Brigham Young University, and he was having serious
financial problems. On April 7, 1972, he hijacked United Airlines
Flight 855, a Boeing 727 en route from Newark, New Jersey, to Los
Angeles, California, with 85 passengers and a crew of six, after their
stopover in Denver, Colorado. Approximately 20 minutes after
takeoff, at 5:18 p.m., he was observed in his seat holding a hand
grenade. When an off-duty pilot attempted to asses the situation,
he pulled out a handgun and an envelope with instructions. He
demanded $500,000 in cash and four parachutes. The crew complied
with his demand and the passengers were released in San Francisco.
He then instructed the crew to fly to Utah, and he bailed out over
Provo. He was arrested two days later. He was tried,
convicted and sentences to 45 years in prison.
Source: FBI Famous Cases
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Bernie Rhodes, the chief U.S. probation and parole officer for the District of Utah in 1972, believed that Richard McCoy and D.B. Cooper were the same man.
D.B. Cooper hijacked an airplane for $200,000 and jumped out over the Pacific Northwest in 1971.
He was never apprehended. The money was never recovered.
Source:
D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy, by Bernie Rhodes. Research by Russell Calame. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press (1991)
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Photo: CNN |
Brian David "Emmanuel" Mitchell
kidnapper |
In 2002, Mitchell was a homeless man who worked a few days for a man named
Ed Smart.
One night he returned to the Smart home and kidnapped fourteen-year-old Elizabeth from her bedroom.
Elizabeth's sister witnessed the crime and identified the kidnapper.
Still it took nine months to find Elizabeth and return her to her family.
Mitchell was scheduled to stand trial in Feb 2005, but repeated
outbursts in court have made it impossible.
Multiple competency hearings have failed to resolve the question.
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Mitchell returned to the Church at age 30.
He served as a high councilor and a temple worker.
In 2002, he finished writing his revelations.
He was excommunicated in 2003.
Source: The Making of Immanuel by John-Charles Duffy, Signature Books, issue 129, October 2003
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