Grand Jury Indicts Warren Jeffs
 
The Associated Press
KUTV Channel 2
 
The leader of a polygamous sect was indicted on charges that he arranged a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a man who was already married, prosecutors said Friday.

Warren Jeffs, president of the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was charged with conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

Jeffs, 49, didn't have sex with the teenager but arranged her marriage to a 28-year-old man who was already married, said Mohave County Attorney Matthew Smith.

"He can't marry someone else," Smith said.

The 28-year-old man, whose identity won't be released until the indictment is delivered to him, was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual conduct with a minor.

If convicted, Jeffs would face a jail sentence ranging from four months to two years.

Jeffs’ whereabouts were unknown. He hasn't been seen publicly in more than a year and is thought by some to be in Texas on a new church ranch.

Prosecutors asked a judge to allow authorities to release Jeffs’ name in hopes that it would help apprehend the church leader, Smith said.

Polygamy is practiced openly in Colorado City, a remote enclave in Arizona on the state line with Utah that is dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

The fundamentalist group touts plural marriage as a key to reaching the highest place in heaven.

Gary Engels, an investigator for the Mohave County Attorney’s office, said there are "probably hundreds" of other cases like this one that authorities haven't found enough evidence to prosecute in the twin-border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

Authorities said the girl is no longer a member of the church and that she is being protected.

The indictments against Jeffs and the 28-year-old man were made Thursday.

Ross Chatwin, an excommunicated church member, said the criminal charges weren't entirely unexpected.

"We've been waiting for this to happen," he said. "I knew it would happen sometime, but I didn't know when."

But Chatwin said he didn't expect any short-term changes in the polygamous sect as a result.

He didn't expect Jeffs to show up to defend himself on the charges – especially after the prophet stopped defending himself and the church in lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse and the wrongful banishment of teenage boys.

"He’s in hiding now, and he'll never come out," he said.
 
KUTV.com
Originally broadcast June 10, 2005
 
Back