Man accused of trying to steal from compound pleads guilty to possessing meth

CUSTER, S.D. (AP) — One of two men accused of trying to steal from a polygamous compound in southwest South Dakota has pleaded guilty to possessing methamphetamine in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Twenty-nine-year-old Wade Bird and a co-defendant were accused of trying to steal trailers and other items from the compound in rural Custer County in January 2018. In exchange for his guilty plea to the drug charge, charges of attempted grand theft and others will be dismissed.

The compound is run by members of a Mormon splinter group known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS.

The Sugar City, Colorado, man entered his plea last week in Custer. Authorities say a second defendant is in Colorado facing prosecution for violating a protection order and being a fugitive from justice.