Lyle Jeffs’ mugshot

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Lyle Jeffs was able to escape custody using what likely is a readily available product.

“He used a substance which may have been olive oil to lubricate the GPS tracking band and slip it off his ankle,” Eric Barnhart, the Special Agent-in-Charge of the Salt Lake City field office of the FBI, said in an interview with FOX 13. “The damage to the bracelet was not such to trigger the full array of alarms that law enforcement or the U.S. Marshal’s Service would have responded to.”

Jeff, whose trial on food stamp fraud and money laundering charges was delayed, was released from jail and told to wear a a GPS monitoring device as part of a home arrest.

At some point on June 18, Jeffs appeared to lather himself in oil and slide the ankle bracelet off.

“Checks were done with Mr. Jeffs and at some point, on the 18th, to a satisfactory level the bracelet was still intact where it was supposed to be,” he told FOX 13. “The evening hours, though, that changed. Attempts were made to contact him to no avail. The next day he was found to be missing.”