Arvin Shreeve and the Zion Cult, 1991
*Trigger warning: child abuse*
Arvin Shreeve was a lifetime resident of Weber County and was employed as a landscaper for Ogden City. He had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for advocating practices not consistent with church teachings.
Shreeve began a cult called “The Company” that recruited mostly excommunicated LDS members. About 70 members joined, and they all lived in the same neighborhood. The group believed that all female members should engage in same sex relationships to prove her spirituality and piety. Men were assigned two or more females, aged 4 to 60, who formed “Sister Councils.” The Council ran every aspect of the women’s lives, from diet to finances. Shreeve’s council had 28 women who accepted him as their eternal male companion.
Ron Van Drimmelen, whose ex-wife was part of the cult, hired an investigator to infiltrate the group and gather information. He had video and photographic evidence of the abuse happening in the group. In 1991 the police raided seven of the members’ homes and arrested eleven members for the use of pornographic materials for instructional purposes and sexual exploitation of a child. Shreeve was arrested a week later. Nine children were taken into protective custody as they couldn’t be entrusted to their mothers’ care.
Eight members pled guilty to the charges. Shreeve pled guilty to two counts of sodomy on a child and two counts of sexual abuse of a child. He agreed to a plea so that the children didn’t have to testify and so that no other charges would be brought against him. Shreeve was sentenced to 20 years in prison and died in 2009.
Police raid the Zion Society homes on August 2, 1991
Arvin Shreeve arrested after several days on the run
Judy Heninger, Scott Christofferson and Kori Christofferson (Zionist member). Kori’s courage to tell her story about the cult brought Shreeve to the attention of authorities.