LibriumArcana.Games

ELDORADO — The Defense Department awarded $1.2 million in contracts to an aircraft parts supplier linked to the West Texas polygamist retreat that has been unraveled by a massive child welfare investigation, according to a newspaper report.

New Era Manufacturing, based in Nevada, where the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is primarily based, also received a $900,000 federal small-business loan in 2005, according to records found by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

The money is among the millions in taxpayer dollars that have apparently helped finance the religious sect, whose property includes a compound in Eldorado where state officials are investigating allegations that children have been physically and sexually abused, the newspaper reported.

"It makes me very uneasy," said U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee. "It needs to be investigated without a doubt."

Steve Barlow, human resources manager for New Era, told the newspaper that it would be inappropriate to comment "given everything that's going on."

Texas officials on Monday sent away most mothers of the 416 children taken from the Eldorado retreat that was first raided on April 3.

Government officials say the ability for the church to operate and grow is largely dependent on contributions from its members and the businesses they control. The president and chief executive of New Era is John C. Wayman, who the newspaper says has been identified as an FLDS leader and a close associate to polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

New Era was given government contracts to make wheel and brake components for military aircraft. Wayman said on his company's Web site that New Era is an "honorable and valuable asset to our country." He does not mention ties to FLDS.

Wayman did not return calls from the newspaper seeking comment.

John Nielsen, a former employee who worked for the company when it was known as Utah-based Western Precision in 2005, said in a 2005 affidavit as part of a civil lawsuit that church members were made to work for little or no wages.

Nielsen said in the affidavit that he and other sect members thought their work would bring them redemption, while $50,000 to $100,000 in company profits were given each month to the church "and/or" Jeffs.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported last year that JNJ Engineering, another company owned and operated by church leaders, won $11.3 million in government contract work from the Las Vegas Valley Water District. All but one of the contract workers came from Hildale and Colorado City, Ariz., where most of the sect's 10,000 members live.