This is Later with Lee Matthews The Lee Matthews Podcast more what You Hear weekday
afternoons on the Drive. Matt Browning is a nationally recognized retired undercover law enforcement
who spent a considerable amount of time assigned to the FBI, working both in
the Joint Terrorist Task Force and Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force. He's got over
twenty years investigating extreme groups and is part of a new series on A and
E called The Secrets of Polygamy. It is now on A and E and
exposing the realities of life with one particular fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints. I must say that more than once, Matt Browning, because
we're not indicting the entire faith. No, no, no, this the
FLDS is is a breakoff. They're not mainstream Church of Jesus Christ Ality Saints.
They are a breakoffs. So I can't imagine this is all about can
be multiple wives. Whereas some men would say touching two or three for the
price of one, I would say, I have a hard enough time keeping
one woman happy. Yeah, you know what I think when you talk about
polygamy, it's really not about the I think it's the whole thing is about
keeping the kids and the women's and the victims and survivors safe and taking care
of those who are truly getting hurt and harmed by this. You know,
this this harmful religious practice and it just needs to stop. Well in this
day and age, I can't imagine why it's still going. Is it all
about control? Well, it is about control, and you know, I
said it best, Rachel on the show that aired on Monday. Last Monday,
Rachel said, it's a bunch of men that are just wanting to have
sex with as many young girls as they can. And a lot of it
has to do with sex, a lot of it has to do with control.
Money. Money is a huge factor in this is an organized crime at
its best. Well, and how young are some of these women when they
are indoctrinated into a polygamous marriage. Well, Warren Jeff he had a twelve
year old wife, and Sam Bateman is sub sub twelve. So I mean
it's getting pretty pretty twisted and pretty sick and wrong when you're you know,
when your your wife is is you know, not even twelve years old.
That's just ridiculous. I should say. She should still be playing with dolls,
uh and so uh eat. Yeah, Matt Browning is with us the
Secrets of Polygamy. It's on A and E, a series about investigating into
this sect of the LDS Church that still practices polygamy. And I would think
that in this modern day and age of modern digital communication, that there would
be fewer and fewer women that would put up with it and more and more
women that would that would leave. Is that the case? No, you
know what, there should be more and more women that want to leave,
you would think. But the problem is when it comes to this control factor
when these women and I tell you what, these the women are truly amazing
people. They stand up and they want to help everybody out and and but
it's getting them to the point where they they know if they leave, they
will have a life they when they're when they're kicked out or when they leave,
you know, their family stay. They have absolutely nothing when they leave,
they have no money, they have no friends, know anything. And
so sometimes they figure off that it is best to stay because if they leave,
they'll go to hell. Also reminds me very much of the early American
Puritan communities. Oh yeah, yeah, you know what, when you when
you start diving into the practice of polygamy, it pulls in from all aspects
of of history and religion and twist and organized crime and just And that's why,
you know, that's why Toddy and I my wife Tanya, that's why
we do what we do. We want to help these people. We don't
tell people that they need to leave or force them to leave, but they
want helping hand or or they reach out to us asking for help them.
We give them the help they need. And that's what they're needing, is
the help, and that it reassures that if they leave, they're going to
be all right. Matt Browning of Ane's Secrets of Polygamy where he looks into
the FLDS Church and there have been had been some inkling that members of this
faith were trying to either move or spread. We had reports of them coming
into some of the smaller communities in the Panhandle of Oklahoma in the past couple
of years. Do they have a desire to expand? Oh yeah, constantly
having a desire to expand you got to look at it like this, when
you have a church, an organization that that is built upon the backs of
these women and children and men and young men because a lot of the boys
are getting kicked out because they're just you know, competing for the women.
You know, they have to expand. The women are bringing more babies into
the organization. They have to move out. They don't want to be you
know, persecuted or or found out about. So they're moving all over the
place. I'm not going to give any any spoilers here, you know,
for the upcoming shows that are still about the air, but just watch,
you know what I'll tell you. We're going to be in North Dakota.
We're going to be all over different places where there's other organizations besides the FLDS
that we're looking into and that we're talking about. And our goal here is
to bring awareness when they do expand and when they do move. You know,
let the people decide, Let the viewers decide on how they want to
react and how they want to take care of this. You know, I
was a cop for twenty years and there are some twisted things going on within
these organizations that just needs to be stopped and addressed. And so let's let
the viewers decide what we should do, and everybody should decide what they can
do to help Matt Browning of any secrets of polygamy. A deeper dive into
the FLDS and what biblical texts are is the organization relying on to justify all
of this behavior? Great question, and I'm still trying to find it.
How can you justify the Bible that it's okay to have a nine or twelve
or eleven year old wife? Tell me where is it justified in the Bible
that you can when there's more young men in the church, that you can
kick them out because you're worried about them stealing the the young girls away from
you. As a seventy sixty year old man. This stuff is twisted and
wrong. That's why we want people to watch. We want people to see
what is really happening in these groups. And do we see the emergence in
these groups of any genetic abnormalities. I would think that with the limited amount
of sperm going around, eventually some would raise their heads. Well, if
you're talking about, you know, is there a problem with incest and birth
defects? All I gotta tell you is watch the next couple weeks. Good
teaser from that. I'm not gonna spoil it. I'm not I'm spoil it
for anything you got. You got to tune in, man, you got
to tune in. And I apologize for sounding like I'm noodling you to reveal
secret. I'm genuinely interested. No, you gotta watch because I'll tell you.
We're We're diving into incest, We're diving into frauds, We're diving into
criminal activity. We're diving into, you know, corruption on all levels of
government. We're diving into all kinds of things that that that, and we're
I'm investigating it with the help of these brave women who stood up and said,
yeah, not anymore. We're doing something about this. Nobody has to
suffer the way that I suffered. It is a fascinating topic. I bet
you will enjoy it. And it's on A and E. Secrets of Polygamy.
Matt Browning, thank you for joining us and for bringing the story to
life. Oh you bet, Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening
to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen
to The Drive Live weekday afternoons from five to seven and Iheartsmedia Presentation