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 SALT LAKE CITY -- The FBI is revealing how Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Lyle Jeffs managed to escape from custody. 
 
 "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." 
 
 Jeffs, a bishop in the FLDS Church, was released from jail last month by a federal judge after his trial on food stamp fraud and money laundering charges was delayed. He's among 11 people charged in a massive food stamp fraud scheme where prosecutors allege FLDS members were ordered to hand over food stamp benefits to leaders to do with as they wished. Prosecutors claim the scheme exceeds $12 million in taxpayer dollars. 
 
 Federal prosecutors tried to keep Jeffs in jail, arguing he was a flight risk. After U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart ordered Jeffs released, he was told to wear a GPS monitoring device and serve home confinement. Barnhart said FBI agents believe that at some point on June 18, Jeffs oiled himself up and slid out of the ankle bracelet. 
 
 "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." 
 
 Jeffs was staying at a home in the northwest part of Salt Lake City. When FOX 13 visited the property, people who appeared to be members of the church -- girls wearing the distinctive prairie dresses and boys in long-sleeved shirts -- were outside. They ran inside. Neighbors said they have been living at the home for nearly a year now. 
 
 "A lot of polygamists coming and going," said Anthony Thomasson. 
 
 Barnhart said the night Jeffs vanished from the home, a newer-model Mustang pulled into the garage. 
 
 "The garage door went shut. At some point, that vehicle left. We don't know who was driving it, we weren't able to get a plate, we don't know who else was in that vehicle," he said. "If that happens to jog any memories, we just urge the public don't self-select, don't filter stuff out, contact us." 
 
 Thomasson told FOX 13 he saw a green-colored Mustang. 
 
 "You could see two people in the car. I waved at them, got a wave back like your neighbor, 'See you tomorrow,'" he said. "Then on the news it came out he fled." 
 
 The FBI said it has been in contact with people in the FLDS strongholds of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., about Jeffs and his whereabouts. Barnhart said he did not believe Jeffs would travel down there, given the scrutiny on the communities. Law enforcement in other states have said they have been on alert since Jeffs vanished; the FLDS Church has compounds in Pringle, South Dakota; Mancos, Colo.; and Bountiful, British Columbia in Canada. 
 
 Barnhart refused to say if FBI agents had questioned Lyle Jeffs' brother, imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who is serving life in a Texas prison for child sex assault related to underage "marriages." 
 
 "We will take every investigative avenue that we think will bring Lyle Jeffs into custody," he said. "We'll just leave it at that." 
 
 The FBI said anyone with information on Lyle Jeffs' whereabouts is urged to call 801-579-1400. ||||| On June 9, U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart freed Jeffs from jail, but he told Jeffs to remain at home in Salt Lake City, more than 300 miles from his community on the Utah-Arizona border. 
 
 Jeffs was ordered to wear a GPS monitor and stay home, except for a few reasons such as work, doctor's appointments and court hearings. He was prohibited from talking with witnesses, co-defendants and his brother, imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs. The judge also ordered him to surrender his passport. 
 
 Word of Lyle Jeffs' flight angered many former FLDS members who didn't think he should have been released from jail in the first place. 
 
 "Blame the judge for this," said Wallace Jeffs, one of Lyle's half brothers. "Everybody knew that he was going to do this. Everybody." 
 
 Wallace Jeffs on Monday worried Lyle would never be captured, saying he likely has fled to Mexico or South America. Lyle Jeffs' ex-wife, Charlene Jeffs, has stated in a court filing that her ex-husband owned a ranch in South America. 
 
 But Matthew Jeffs, a 23-year-old son of the fugitive, believes his father will be captured, just as Warren Jeffs was. Running will prove to be a big mistake that will earn Lyle more incarceration, the son said. 
 
 "It's a matter of time," Matthew Jeffs said. "He's not going to be able to run forever." 
 
 At the June 9 hearing, Lyle Jeffs' attorney, Kathryn Nester, asked that her client be allowed to speak with his immediate family while out of jail, but Stewart denied the request after deciding it was too difficult to determine who would fit in that "family" category. It is not known how many wives and children Lyle Jeffs has, but top-ranking leaders commonly have more than a half-dozen wives and dozens of children. 
 
 During the hearing, which was attended by nearly 30 sect members, Stewart cited the fact that the other 10 food-stamp-case defendants already released had complied with conditions set by the court. There was no indication Monday that any of Lyle Jeffs' co-defendants had absconded. 
 
 Stewart also acknowledged that Jeffs' jail time would be longer than expected because the trial had been pushed back to October. Nester said Jeffs' constitutional rights would have been violated if he were jailed until trial. 
 
 Federal prosecutors argued that Jeffs should remain behind bars because witnesses would be scared to cooperate with government investigators out of fear that he would send them away on repentance missions or order other punishment. Prosecutor Tyler Murray said Jeffs already talked to dozens of people daily from jail about every aspect of their lives, including work and where they live. 
 
 "If he can wield that power in detention, the threat is much greater when he is out," Murray said during the hearing. 
 
 Federal prosecutors also argued that Lyle Jeffs had aided his older brother, FLDS President Warren Jeffs, when he ran from law enforcement a decade ago. Warren Jeffs eventually was placed on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives. He was apprehended outside of Las Vegas in 2006. 
 
 In 2011, a Texas jury convicted Warren Jeffs, now 60, of sexual-assault charges related to his taking underage girls as brides. He is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years. 
 
 Stewart, who at two previous detention hearings had sided with prosecutors in denying Lyle Jeffs' request to be let out, said on June 9 that he didn't think the defendant would have any more influence while on home confinement than he did in jail. ||||| "Investigators did see a newer model dark [Ford] Mustang pull into the garage at the house at about 10:30 p.m. on June 18," Yi Barker said. Witnesses saw the vehicle leave the residence later that night, though they "could not identify who was in the car," she said. 
 
 The FBI issued an arrest warrant for Jeffs the next day. 
 
 Jeffs was prohibited from talking with witnesses, co-defendants and his brother, imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs. The judge also ordered him to surrender his passport. 
 
 Lyle Jeffs and 10 others have pleaded not guilty to fraud and money-laundering charges alleging they diverted at least $12 million worth of federal benefits. 
 
 Sect leaders instructed followers to buy items with their food-stamp cards, prosecutors say, and give them to a church warehouse, where leaders decided how to distribute the products to followers. 
 
 They say food stamps were cashed at sect-owned stores without the users getting anything in return. The money was then diverted to front companies and used to pay thousands for a tractor, truck and other items, prosecutors say. 
 
 Yi Barker urged anyone with information on Lyle Jeffs' whereabouts to call the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office at 801-579­-1400 or a local FBI office. 
 
 nparker@sltrib.com 
 
 Twitter: @NickParkerSTET ||||| SALT LAKE CITY — Lyle Jeffs, the acting leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church and a defendant in a far-reaching fraud case, likely used olive oil as a lubricant to slip out of his ankle monitor and flee federal authorities' reach last month, the FBI said Monday. 
 
 Investigators believe Jeffs removed the GPS tracker from his ankle on June 18, sometime after federal agents communicated with him earlier that day, said Sandra Yi Barker, spokeswoman for the FBI's Salt Lake City Division. 
 
 Because Jeffs slid off the monitor, instead of cutting it, there wasn't sufficient damage to set off any automatic alerts, Barker said. 
 
 "It wasn’t enough to actually sever the fiber-optic connection," she said. 
 
 Authorities who contacted Jeffs earlier in the day didn't physically visit the house where he was staying, according to Barker, but "did have some communication with him." 
 
 Neighbors reported seeing a dark-colored, newer model Ford Mustang pull into the garage of Jeffs' current residence in Salt Lake County on the evening of June 18, Barker said. Neighbors also said the garage door closed, and sometime later the Mustang left the residence, she said. Witnesses had no further description of the vehicle. 
 
 Jeffs and 11 other FLDS leaders were federally indicted in February in an alleged multimillion-dollar food stamp scheme. U.S. District Judge Ted Stewart released him June 9 in advance of his criminal trial, which was slated to begin in October, on the condition that he live in Salt Lake County, wear a GPS monitor and refrain from all contact with any witnesses, victims or co-defendants in the case. 
 
 Prosecutors say Jeffs was instrumental in a scheme designed to divert FLDS Church members' benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to church leaders. 
 
 The federal indictment also states that Jeffs and others instructed church members to use their SNAP cards as though they were making purchases from church-owned businesses in instances where no actual transactions took place. 
 
 Jeffs, who is believed to be running the FLDS Church on behalf of his imprisoned brother Warren Jeffs, was released after defense attorney Kathryn Nester argued it would violate his rights to hold him in custody until his trial. 
 
 Prosecutors had previously contended that Lyle Jeffs, if released from custody, would utilize extensive resources at his disposal designed to give him safe havens in the U.S., Canada and South America. 
 
 Prosecutors also argued that Lyle Jeffs was a flight risk because he has lived in a motor home and used aliases in order to avoid detection, among other elusive behavior. Leroy Jeffs, an estranged son of Warren Jeffs, said at the time of Lyle Jeffs' arrest that it was "a given" his uncle would flee authorities if granted bail. 
 
 A federal warrant seeking Lyle Jeffs' arrest remains active. Barker said it's possible he is living in one of his "hideout locations out of the country." 
 
 "(But) we're definitely not ruling out the possibility that he’s still in the U.S.," she said, particularly in the West. 
 
 The FBI has received "some valuable tips" but is in need of more information, Barker added. 
 
 "We’d definetely like to remind the public just to remain vigilant," she said. 
 
 Anyone with any information about the case is asked to call the FBI's Salt Lake City Division at 801-579-1400. 
 
 Email: blockhart@deseretnews.com 
 
 Twitter: benlockhartnews
– The brother of jailed polygamous Mormon sect leader Warren Jeffs is on the run from the FBI after using "some sort of lubrication, possibly olive oil," to wriggle out of his ankle monitor, say police. Lyle Jeffs, one of 11 leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints facing fraud and money-laundering charges, had been ordered to remain at his Salt Lake City home except for work, medical appointments, and court hearings, says the FBI. However, a warrant was issued for his arrest last month when the 56-year-old leader vanished from his home. Investigators say a Ford Mustang pulled into Jeffs' garage around 10:30pm on June 18, then left later that night, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The next day, agents found the GPS monitor but couldn't locate Jeffs. "He used a substance which may have been olive oil to lubricate the GPS tracking band and slip it off his ankle," an agent tells Fox 13. "The damage to the bracelet was not such to trigger the full array of alarms that law enforcement or the US Marshal's Service would have responded to." A judge ordered Jeffs be released from jail on June 9 when his trial for a $12 million food stamp fraud and money-laundering scheme was delayed. Prosecutors—who say food stamps were cashed at sect-owned stores and the money diverted to the church—had argued Jeffs was a flight risk. "Blame the judge for this," one of Jeffs' half-brothers tells the Tribune. "Everybody knew that he was going to do this." Jeffs, who surrendered his passport, could be hiding in FLDS havens in the US, Canada, or South America, reports the Deseret News.