Affidavits About FLDS Pecan Farm

Case 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 137 of 165, Exhibit BCase 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 138 of 165, DECLARATION OF ALYSSA BISTLINE I, Alyssa Bistline, declare as follows: . FS My dec of birth is ee (BB an currently 20 years old. 2 J was born and raised in Colorado City, Arizona, where I was a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints (“FLDS Church”) until January 2014, when I was nineteen years old. 3. Beginning when I was 13 years old, I worked at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch (SUPR”) every year through the 2012-2013 harvest. For five years I was part of the main crew and along with other girls would work every day in the sorting shed, where we ‘would sort, hull and bag, the nuts, also sometimes helped the crews on the ground, pruning and picking up nuts. 4, When working in the sorting shed, we began work at 7:00 or 8:00 am, and worked until around 10:00 p.m. During the 2012 summer, there were five to ten other girls working with me between the ages of 12 and 20. 5. Lyle Jeffs, who is the current bishop of the FLDS Church, would assign people to work at SUPR during weekly church work project meetings. This included boys to help with the shaking, which involved driving tractors, and other tasks. During the summer of 2012, there were five or six boys working at SUPR. Most of them were over 18 years old, but a couple of boys were younger than 15. The boys all drove forklifts and sometimes the tractors. 6. ‘When it was time for the nuts to be harvested from the ground, Lyle Jeffs would use the FLDS Church’s voicemail system to alert families that the harvest would begin. For: ‘acouple of years after I received my driver's license, I helped drive vans full of members from the FLDS ChurchCase 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 139 of 165 to help with the nut harvest. The ground crew would come to SUPR about a week or two after the shaking began and would work for about two montis. They worked six days per week from around 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m, a 7. Dale Barlow is in charge of the day to day activities at SUPR and provides the training and instruction to people for the tree harvest and ground harvest. He also provided access to the property at SUPR. 8. During the 2012-2013 harvest, I had more limited role because I was tending to children, and only went to SUPR approximately four to seven times. The times I was at the harvest that year, I would estimate there were usually around 300 people working, but some days there were more than a thousand people working. One day a count was taken and there were around 3,000 people working, The people performing the work ranged in age from four through adult. The ‘majority - probably around 70% — were children between the ages of eight and 14. The work was done during schoo! days; Lyle Jeffs would say this work was more important than school. The families and children working on the pecan harvest were not paid. 9. Mystepfather, James Jessop is the vice president of Paragon Contractors (“Paragon”). I worked for Paragon from 2009 to 2010, performing office work for approximately five or six hours per day, but did not receive any wages. Although I was only 15 years old at the time, I was not in school because most FLDS Church members my age were just put to work. In 2011, although Ino longer worked for Paragon, I was still frequently in the office because my stepfather worked there, 10. I know that Paragon held the contract to perform work at SUPR. Dale Barlow wasin charge of the aut harvest and he would complete his paperwork in the Paragon office and discussCase 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 140 of 165 ‘matters related to the harvest with Brian Jessop. They would discuss the daily progress, how many people were working, how many nuts had been collected, and things along those lines. 11. During the collection of the ground muts, the workers were instructed to sign in on sheets. During the 2012 harvest, we filled out the sign-in sheets in the vans on the way to the harvest. Those sheets were collected by Dale Barlow and brought back to Paragon’s office. I personally saw those sheets retumed to Paragon’s office in 2011. 12, ‘When | worked for Paragon doing office work in 2009, I filed checks for the work at ‘SUPR that were deposited into Paragon’s business account. However, I understand that all the money from SUPR would later go to the church storehouse. The storehouse is a FLDS Church organization, Everyone is supposed to give all oftheir finances to the storehouse and then obtain all of their needs, such as food and clothing, from the storehouse. 13. ‘Also when I worked for Paragon in 2009 | was instructed by Brian Jessop and my step-father, James Jessop, that if'anyone ever asked me if Paragon is associated with the nut harvest to say no and pretend I didn’t know anything. 14, Brian Jessop was also informed about the work being done at the SUPR because his minor children, including some between ages six and 12, worked at SUPR during the ground nut harvest almost every day in 2012, as well as previous harvests. When I reviewed photographs of the 2012 harvest, | identified two of Brian Jessop’s daughters, Flossy and Annie, in a photograph. They were approximately thirteen or fourteen at the time. 15. Brian Jessop has high standing within the FLDS Church. He worked closely with Lyle Jeffs for a number of years and he re-baptized everyone in the community in approximatelyCase 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 142 of 165 Exhibit CCase 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 143 of 165 DECLARATI OF SHERYL BARLOW 1, Sheryl Barlow, dectare as follow: LL side a TS 2. was bor on 3. My family, including myself, were members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (“FLDS Church”) until December 2013, when Ieft the community with my children. My husband, Dowayne Barlow, had been sent out of the community a year and a half before that. 4. Anumber of my children (as well as nieces and nephews) worked at the nut harvest at the Southern Utah Pecan Ranch (“SUPR”) in 2010, 2011, and 2012, while they were underthe age of 16 and some of whom were as young as six years old, 5. Some of my children worked in pre- and post-harvest activities, as well as in collecting the ground nuts. None of my children were paid for their work at SUPR. 6. Myjob during the nut harvest at SUPR was to tend to the children who did not work on the harvest. On two days during the 2012 harvest I drove down to SUPR to help deliver hunches. 7. LyleJeffs, the bishop of the FLDS Church, told us during Church meetings that Dale Barlow would be in charge of the nut harvest. 8 _Alllof the home schools, of which there are 30 to 40 in the community, were shut down fora month and a half during the pecan harvest specifically so that the children and families could participate in the mut harvest. Even when the schools reopened, some of the older children continued to go down to SUPR to finish up the last details. 9. Twould estimate that at least 50% of the people working atthe nut harvest were under the age of 12 years old.Case 2:06-cv-00700-TC Document 30-1 Filed 09/08/15 Page 144 of 165 Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1746, Ideclare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing statements are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Executed this 12 day of August 2015.

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