Arvin Shreeve and the Zion Society: Abuse, Raid, and Guilty Plea

Arvin Shreeve was the founder and leader of the Zion Society, a polygamous cult based in Ogden, Utah, that sexually abused women and children under the guise of religious doctrine. A 1991 police raid on the group’s neighborhood compound led to charges against Shreeve and ten of his followers. Shreeve pleaded guilty to child sodomy and sexual abuse, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, and died there in 2009 at age 79.¹

Who Arvin Shreeve Was

Shreeve spent his life in Weber County, Utah, and worked as a landscaper for Ogden City, designing and maintaining the municipal gardens.² He belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until roughly 1962, when he was excommunicated for espousing polygamist beliefs.³ After the excommunication, he began claiming to receive revelations from God and drew followers, mostly other excommunicated Latter-day Saints.⁴

Inside the Zion Society

Shreeve founded the group around 1981. Members called it “The Company,” the Sisterhood, or the Zion Society. At its height it drew more than 100 followers and about 35 children.¹ They clustered in homes in the Northwood Subdivision of northern Ogden, with elaborately landscaped yards that reflected Shreeve’s day job. The neighborhood ran off a single street, and members reportedly monitored everyone who came and went, reporting movements back to leadership.⁵ Some neighbors posted signs reading “We are not one of them!”

Shreeve preached that the world would soon collapse and that only his followers would survive. Investigators later found guns, survival gear, hidden rooms, and a bomb shelter at the group’s headquarters.¹ He controlled members’ finances, education, and daily routines, using the Latter-day Saint idea of a single prophet to cast himself as God’s sole earthly voice.⁴

Sister Councils and the Abuse of Children

The group organized itself around “Sister Councils,” groups of two or more females assigned to a male member as companions. Shreeve said the councils would shield members from divine wrath in the last days. He presided over a council of 28 women who treated him as their “eternal male companion.” The females in these councils ranged in age from four to sixty, and the councils dictated every part of their lives, from diet to money.²

Shreeve taught that sexual growth and spiritual growth were the same thing. Female members were required to have sexual relationships with one another to prove their “spirituality and piety.” The group also practiced what it called the “Five Arts of Stimulation,” which involved training women and children as young as nine in sexual techniques, including erotic dancing taught by a professional stripper. Former member Kori Christofferson described these teachings as part of a system meant to groom children into what the group called a “sexual way of life,” and said children were exposed to pornographic material.⁶ Prosecutors said at least ten children were molested by Shreeve and his followers.¹

How the Case Broke

Ogden police had heard rumors about the Zion Society for roughly a decade before acting.³ Two things opened the case. Ron Van Drimmelen, whose ex-wife belonged to the group, hired a private investigator to infiltrate it and gather video and photographic evidence.² Around the same time, Christofferson, a 23-year-old who had served as Shreeve’s secretary for 15 months, fled the group in May 1991 and gave a sworn deposition in a civil case detailing the cult’s sexual practices, including a game members called “Rape in the Dark.”⁷

The formal investigation accelerated on July 10, 1991, when another former member, Erin Anderson, walked into the Weber County Attorney’s office and told Detective Mike King she needed to talk about “a cult I have been a member of that is sexually abusing children.”⁵ Her four-hour confession drove an investigation led by King and Weber County Attorney Reed Richards, along with a four-week undercover operation inside a lingerie store owned by the cult.⁸

On August 2, 1991, 53 officers raided ten homes in the Northwood Subdivision. The force was that large because investigators believed members were armed and prepared for a siege.³ Officers found loaded assault weapons, handguns, and rifles hidden in the homes. State social workers removed nine children into protective custody.²

Eleven members were arrested initially on charges of sexual exploitation of a child and use of pornographic materials for instructional purposes. Shreeve was not among them. He evaded police for several days before turning himself in⁴ and was arraigned on August 12, 1991, on four felony child sex charges.⁹ King said his office ultimately compiled 600 felony complaints against group members.³

Shreeve’s Guilty Plea and Sentence

On November 7, 1991, Shreeve pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court before Judge David E. Roth to two first-degree felony counts of child sodomy and two second-degree felony counts of sexual abuse of a child. The plea spared the child victims from testifying and foreclosed additional charges.² On December 23, 1991, Judge Roth sentenced him to 20 years to life. He would not have been eligible for a parole hearing until 2012. His defense attorney, Gary Gale, acknowledged the sentence effectively amounted to life in prison given Shreeve’s age of 61.⁶

The Followers Who Were Charged

Ten of Shreeve’s followers were also charged. None went to trial. Their outcomes:¹⁰

Sharon Kapp, 36, pleaded guilty to sodomy on a child, attempted aggravated sexual abuse of a child, sexual exploitation of a minor, and dealing harmful material to a minor. Sentenced to 10 years to life.
Jennifer Shreeve, 25, pleaded guilty to attempted sodomy, sexual abuse, and sexual exploitation. Sentenced to 90 days in the Weber County Jail.
Amy Partridge, 27, pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and sexual exploitation. Sentenced to six months in jail.
Troylene Brown, 25, pleaded guilty to attempted sexual exploitation and dealing harmful material. Sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Rebecca Johnson, 44, pleaded no contest to forcible sexual abuse. Sentenced to 60 days in jail, plus probation, counseling, a $740 fine, and restitution.
Michael Shreeve, 36, was charged with first-degree felony sodomy on a child; the charge was dismissed.

The remaining defendants also pleaded guilty under an agreement in which prosecutors agreed not to file additional charges.

What Happened After the Raid

The group did not immediately fall apart. In July 1992, Weber County Attorney Reed Richards confirmed that several members still lived in the Northwood Subdivision, and a March 1992 letter from a member named “Helen” said “preparations are going forward” at the group’s headquarters.¹¹

Christofferson, whose testimony helped trigger the investigation, later helped authorities interview the children removed from the homes during the raid.⁷

Shreeve spent the rest of his life behind bars. He was housed in the special service dorm for sex offenders at the Utah State Prison and died of natural causes on August 10, 2009, at age 79 in the prison’s Wasatch Infirmary in Draper.¹

Lead investigator Mike King later wrote a memoir about the case, Deceived: An Investigative Memoir of the Zion Society Cult, which includes a 30-year follow-up with victims discussing how the criminal justice system handled child witnesses.⁵ In late 2025, the Gamut Podcast Network premiered a true crime series called Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult.¹² King also appeared in an April 2026 episode of The Fox True Crime Podcast to describe the undercover operation and the hundreds of felony charges it produced.⁸

1
The Salt Lake Tribune. Zion Society Leader Arvin Shreeve Dies in Prison
2
Weber State University. Arvin Shreeve and the Zion Cult
3
Deseret News. Doctrine Still Endangers Children of Cult, Investigator Says
4
Newsweek. The Prophet and His Sisters
5
Police1. Book Excerpt: Deceived
6
Deseret News. Shreeve Is Sentenced to 20 Years to Life for Molesting Children
7
Deseret News. Ex-Member Recalls Bizarre Sexual Tenets of Purported Polygamist Group in Ogden
8
Fox News Radio. Undercover in a Cult: Inside the Zion Society Investigation
9
Los Angeles Times. Utah Polygamist Sect Leader Arraigned on Child Sex Charges
10
Deseret News. Child Abuse Defendant Gets 60 Days
11
Deseret News. Letter Indicates Polygamist Cult May Still Be Alive
12
WTOP. Introducing Gardens of Evil: New True Crime Series