Wanted: Polygamist leader
 
By Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
 
For the first time in Arizona history, the attorney general's office is offering a reward to track down a fugitive.

Wanted posters were distributed Wednesday offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Warren Jeffs, the self proclaimed prophet and leader of a polygamous sect of Mormons who was indicted last month on child-sex charges.

"We simply need to zero in on this guy," Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said in a news conference. "This is part of a long-time effort-a slow and methodical effort-to put pressure on this individual."

Jeffs, 49, president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has been in hiding for two years as authorities work to dismantle his financial control over the school district, municipal government and most of the property in the isolated towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

"Jeffs' influence over the members of the FLDS church has led to numerous child abuse charges," Goddard said. "His hold on the community continues to hurt its members, and it is time he answered to these charges in a court of law."

Goddard acknowledged that the wanted poster and the reward are extraordinary, but said they were warranted because of Jeffs' influence over as many as 10,000 followers and his repeated disregard of the legal system.

Arizona and Utah have agreed to put up the joint $10,000 reward. Goddard said Wednesday that the bounty could grow as several citizens in Utah have agreed to add private donations in an effort to capture Jeffs.

"Mr. Jeffs is not above the law," Goddard said.

The wanted poster, which will be distributed in at least three states features a five-year-old picture of a smiling Jeffs dressed in a black suit, white shirt and white tie. He is described as 6-feet-4, 150 pounds, with brown hair and eyes.

Goddard said the wanted poster harkens back to Arizona's territorial roots. He said it used to be an effective way to hunt down fugitives, and he hopes it will bring an end to Jeffs reign.

"The frustration we all feel is further exaggerated by the fact that there has been no sightings," Goddard said.

Jeffs was indicted in June by a Mohave County grand jury on one count of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Authorities said Jeffs did not have sex with the teen but arranged for her to be married to another man, who was already married at the time.

Jeffs' whereabouts are unknown. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is seeking Jeffs on a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, said last week that he has been in Colorado and at another polygamist community in Bountiful, British Columbia, since being indicted.

But Goddard said Jeffs might now be in Mexico or at a compound in Schleicher County, Texas, where the sect is building a four-story temple.

"We feel like he has been on and off the property, but we have no evidence he is there," Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said Wednesday.

He said neither the hunt for Jeffs nor the reward will prompt him to take any action on the compound, which has never been searched or raided.

"That would only happen if we have evidence that he is there," Doran said, adding that his office will continue to be "vigilant" but has no plans for any further action.

Doran said the sect, which has no connection to the mainstream Mormon Church, appears to be caving in to legal pressure.

"Eight of them turned themselves in this week. So, with the exception of Warren, they know that they are wanted and they are turning themselves in," Doran said.

On Monday, eight FLDS leaders surrendered themselves to Mohave County authorities in Kingman on sexual misconduct charges stemming from their relations with underage brides.

That was the latest in a series of legal blows to the FLDS church. Last month, a Utah court removed Jeffs and five trustees from a $100 million church trust, which included most of the sect's land, housing and assets.

Authorities in Arizona and Utah have accused Jeffs of using his position as head of the trust to silence critics. They say he excommunicated dozens of the sect's highest-ranking officials, ordering them out of their trust-owned homes, kicking them out of the community and reassigning their multiple wives to other men.

In May, the Arizona attorney general's office served a search warrant on the Colorado City Unified School District, where church leaders allegedly used school funds for personal benefit while putting the district in a financial hole. The state has passed laws that will allow the school district to be put in receivership in August.

Legal proceedings are also underway to strip two members of Colorado City residents of their law enforcement powers.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published July 13, 2005
 
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