Polygamy in America 101

ANDERSON COOPER 360 DEGREES CNN

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight, tips pour in on the hunt for fugitive Warren Jeffs, as police investigate another polygamist leader. ANNOUNCER: Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Anderson Cooper. COOPER: Thanks for joining us this Friday evening. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEAN MAY, HISTORIAN, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: The people who practice polygamy in Utah today see themselves as continuing a practice that was urged upon Latter Day Saints by their earlier prophets. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: (AUDIO GAP) leader Warren Jeffs on the run and on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Why do his followers believe what they believe? We will delve into their backgrounds and their beliefs. And an exclusive interview with an ex-follower of Warren Jeffs, a guy who has about 20 wives or more, about 100 kids, and he says now the law is watching him. You're watching 360. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ROWENNA ERICKSON, FORMER POLYGAMIST WIFE: They make sure you have lots of children, which will keep you tied down and obligated to that. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: This woman and other former members of Jeffs' sect are now speaking out, and what they have to say about forced marriages and rapes and child abuse, well, it may shock you that this is happening in this day and age. And, as the manhunt continues, new reasons for concern -- some say that Warren Jeffs is preparing for a showdown in his secret compound in Texas. Find out why finding him may just spell disaster. And the man who knows Warren Jeffs firsthand -- he leads his own polygamist family in Canada, and now he says he could be in trouble with the law there as well -- next on 360. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Well, the nationwide manhunt for fugitive church leader Warren Jeffs continues tonight. In the six days since Jeffs landed on the FBI's most wanted list, the hidden world of polygamy in this country has been split wide open. It has been hiding in plain sight for more than 100 years in America, illegal and, critics say, insidious, taking root, flourishing in isolated corners of the country, operating, for the most part, under the radar. It's a story, really, as complex as it is disturbing. Tonight we're covering all the angles -- new insights on the secretive world from a man who has known Warren Jeffs for decades. But, first, polygamy in America 101. Here's CNN's Rick Sanchez. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Joseph Smith was the prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons. He founded the church in the 1830s, was said to have dozens of wives. When a newspaper exposed that secret, he was arrested in Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually killed by a mob. That forced his successor, Brigham Young, to lead his followers west to what is now Salt Lake City, Utah. And it was there, in 1852, that Young, said to have had more than 50 wives, officially acknowledged polygamy as a Mormon practice. But, in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a law criminalizing polygamy. For decades, the Mormons fought back, accusing the government of infringing upon their religious freedoms, until, finally, in 1890, they gave up the fight. Fearing they would lose their temples, and to achieve statehood for Utah, they passed the "Great Accommodation," a manifesto disavowing polygamy. Church members who disagreed with the manifesto broke away. They refused to stop practicing polygamy, and their followers continue to practice even today. DEAN MAY, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH: The people who practice polygamy in Utah today see themselves as continuing a practice that was urged upon Latter Day Saints by their earlier prophets. SANCHEZ (on camera): The first group to break away was the FLDS, or the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints. Historians say, since the early 1900s, they have believed the only way to get to heaven is to have at least three wives. One former wife, Rowenna Erickson, left her plural marriage and is now speaking out. ROWENNA ERICKSON, FORMER POLYGAMIST WIFE: They make sure you have lots of children, which will keep you tied down and obligated to that. SANCHEZ (voice-over): Members of FLDS live on the Utah border with Arizona in the towns of Hildale and Colorado City. Police say, for years, they have simply left them alone. DON WHITE, ATTORNEY: For a number of years -- and I'm going 50, 60, 70 years -- I think prosecutors had an attitude. They really -- and I used to be a prosecutor -- it will go away. SANCHEZ: But it hasn't gone away. Experts say as many as 30,000 people in the United States continue to practice polygamy. Rick Sanchez, CNN, Eldorado, Texas. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, we want to stress that Warren Jeffs and his followers are not part of the mainstream Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or LDS, which is based in Salt Lake City. If you were watching 360 Wednesday night, you saw us live from Salt Lake City. Behind me was that temple, the Mormon Temple. The LDS, the Mormon Church, understandably, is concerned that people might confuse the two groups. So, in a statement issued Thursday, the Mormon Church said references to polygamist groups as Mormons or Mormon sects are -- quote -- "misleading and confusing," since, as we mentioned moments ago, the Mormon Church outlawed polygamy back in 1890. Still, critics point out, Jeffs' sect uses the Book of Mormon and other Mormon religious materials as their central text. And many polygamists believe they are holding true to the original teachings of Joseph Smith. As for what Jeffs is up to lately, listen to what best-selling author Jon Krakauer has been hearing. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JON KRAKAUER, AUTHOR, "UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN": We are getting very credible reports for over several months now that he was separating children younger than 7 from their families -- he saw under the age of 7 as the age of innocence -- and bringing them, without their families, to Texas. (END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: To Texas, where the main headquarters right now is for Warren Jeffs. We are going to show you, coming up, Jeffs' kingdom here on Earth in three states and two countries. Plus, later on, we will talk to a man who lives to bring Jeffs to justice. He has tangled with him, has his number, and sees him as dangerous, perverted, and fanatical -- when 360 continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Warren Jeffs is on the run, but not like any other fugitive on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Jeffs really has godlike control over his thousands of followers. He's charged with an assortment of crimes, sexual conduct with a minor, being an accomplice to rape, there's also accusations of financial indiscretions as well as molestation of young boys and girls. That just scratches the surface, though, for a man that his critics say is just pure evil. Some fear he's molested countless children, turning girls into child brides and splitting up families at will. His true believers here in the U.S. and Canada obey his every command, living shuttered lives in isolated locations waiting for judgment day. Today we wanted to take a look inside his vast empire. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Warren Jeffs is preparing his followers for the kingdom of heaven. But his kingdom here on earth is shrinking by the day. For the last 50 years, Colorado City, Arizona and the neighboring town of Hildale, Utah have been home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the FLDS, a polygamist sect now controlled by Warren Jeffs. Before Jeffs ran the FLDS, his father, Rulon Jeffs, owned most of the property and controlled virtually the entire population here of polygamists. When Rulon died in 2002, Warren took total control over the sect, insisting his followers cut themselves off from the outside world. As CNN's Gary Tuchman found out this week in Colorado City, most people here want nothing to do with outsiders. GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the center of commerce here in Colorado City. This is the food town. This is where the families come to get their groceries. They won't allow us inside with the camera, but we can tell you it is very busy, as you might expect. There are many households. And you can see there are some angry people here who don't want the camera to be -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No cameras allowed here. TUCHMAN: Say that again? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry, this is private property. No cameras allowed. COOPER: It didn't matter where Gary Tuchman went, his presence was unwelcome. TUCHMAN: So now we're off the property where legally we're allowed to shoot. We can tell you that according to local authorities, the district attorney's office which pays visits with their investigators, 99 percent of the families here are polygamist families. Most of those families -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to have to ask you guys to not video by our store. Please don't point that at me. COOPER: Jeffs also has followers in Canada in a place that used to be called Creston but was renamed by the church as Bountiful. But it's in Texas that many believe Jeffs may be hiding. Facing lawsuits and prosecution, he and hundreds of his followers have settled on nearly 2,000 acres of land in west Texas. This is the new home for the FLDS. A sprawling compound in the town of Eldorado. A locked fence seals it off, but that doesn't mean those inside aren't watching. RANDY MANKIN, EDITOR, ELDORADO SUCCESS: We were there on the county road using some night-vision surveillance, looking in toward the ranch. And to see them looking back at us with night-vision surveillance was kind of eerie. COOPER: Glimpses of the ranch including this photograph of women and children working in the fields reveal what some call a cult-like existence. The pilot who flew over the ranch for us, explains why Jeffs wants his followers in Eldorado. J.D. DOYLE, PILOT: Warren tells them that the end of the world is near, and it will be so many days after the last corner is (INAUDIBLE) from the temple, and then after that, God is going to come, destroy the earth. They're going to be the only people left. COOPER: It's been well known for years that Jeffs has split up families and reassigned wives. Author Jon Krakauer now says the practice has taken an even more ominous turn. JON KRAKAUER, AUTHOR, "UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN: One of the very disturbing things is that we are getting very credible reports for over several months now that he was separating children younger than 7 from their families. Under the age of seven is the age of innocence and bringing them without their families to Texas. So there's many, many scores, maybe hundreds of these very young children that he's brought there. COOPER: Of course, Jeffs isn't the first sect to make west Texas home. Remember Waco? We've seen an explosion. COOPER: It is similarities with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians that scares so many people, who fear Warren Jeffs may bring his maniacal mission to a bloody end. KRAKAUER: If he is cornered, if he has no other way out, there's little doubt, there's no doubt that he would kill himself and take as many people with him as he could before he'd submit to the law. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, it is tough finding people who actually know Warren Jeffs firsthand. You're about to meet one man who does. A polygamist in Canada who used to be a high ranking member of Jeffs' church. Winston Blackmore, he has more than 20 wives, he has about 100 children. Tonight he talks exclusively about the man he once followed and the charges he himself may soon face. Also, a gripping story of escape. She grew up in Warren Jeffs' sect, she was married off to a 50-year-old man when she was just 18. How she finally managed to break away when 360 continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: Warren Jeffs also has several hundred followers in Canada. He used to have more, but a number of his followers there broke away several years ago saying that Jeffs was not really the prophet he claimed to be. One man who used to follow Jeffs is Winston Blackmore. In a moment, my exclusive conversation with him. Blackmore is still a polygamist. He makes no apologies about it, and now he could be the next well known polygamist in trouble with the law. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: For nearly two decades, Winston Blackmore led Bountiful's FLDS community. He was a bishop to 1,000 followers of the FLDS until Warren Jeffs ex-communicated him in 2002. Blackmore doesn't like to talk about specifics, but he reportedly has more than 20 wives and about 100 children. Look at his left hand, though, and you may notice there's no wedding ring on it. WINSTON BLACKMORE, POLYGAMIST LEADER: I'm divorced from my first wife, and none of the other ones have wife status. So I'm not even married anymore in the eyes of the Canadian law. COOPER: Polygamy is illegal in Canada, and after being ignored by authorities for years, Blackmore now says he and his family are being investigated by police. The "Vancouver Sun" reports the investigation may center on allegations he sexually exploited girls. Blackmore admits a few of his wives were younger than Canada's required age for marriage, 16. BLACKMORE: There was one that was, and one that lied about her age, but that's not unusual for women, is it? COOPER: Also it turns out not all of his wives are legally in Canada. Blackmore says three of his wives including Marsha Chatwin and Edith Barlow came from the U.S. and don't want to go back. MARSHA CHATWIN, POLYGAMIST WIFE: They'd have to drag me because I don't want to leave my children. EDITH BARLOW, POLYGAMIST WIFE: My children have every right to be in Canada, and that's where they want to be. And that's where their father wants them to be. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, Winston Blackmore is a rare find, a polygamist willing to go on camera. I talked to him earlier in a 360 exclusive interview. We began by discussing Warren Jeffs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: He claims he's a prophet. Do you think he is one? BLACKMORE: He has a pretty poor record if he is. COOPER: How do you mean? BLACKMORE: Well, if you're a prophet and you make predictions, they should come to pass, should they? COOPER: What sort of predictions has he made that have not come to pass? I mean, I've heard he's predicted sort of end of times and obviously it hasn't happened. BLACKMORE: Well, I think the first, most dramatic prediction was that his father was going to live 300 and something years into the future. You know, and then after the stroke of August of '98, you know, there was the end of the world predictions. I think there were seven or eight of them all told. COOPER: Let's talk about your faith. Because I think it interests a lot of people. It confuses a lot of people. And there is a belief system that, you know, people pay attention to the polygamy part of it, the multiple wives, but, I mean, there's a belief system behind it all. I'm just sort of interested in hearing what the belief system is. Why is it, in this faith, it important to have plural wives? BLACKMORE: Well, you know, I'm not responsible for Mormonism. But our founding principles of Mormonism included the tenant that a family was organized correctly if it had more wives than one. COOPER: And that was important because what? I mean, someone has said to me that that's the way you get into heaven by having plural wives. Is that true? BLACKMORE: Well, that's a part of our training, but that's easier said than done. And, you know, to consider that no one is going to go to heaven that doesn't have more wives than one is really not founded in our faith either. COOPER: What is the idea behind the multiple wives, then? Is there a role that that plays in heaven or in celestial kingdom for having multiple -- for having plural wives? BLACKMORE: Well, we have a revelation in our doctrine and covenants, and it came to our founding president, Joseph Smith. It's known as section 132. And he inquired as to why Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in some of the old -- New Testament -- or Old Testament prophets participated in the practice of plural marriage. And in answer to that, received what we consider to be a divine communication from the lord which not only allowed that practice, but required that people participate in that practice. And that's about as simple as I can explain it. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Winston Blackmore has a lot more to say, including this. BLACKMORE: We believe that a man will be punished for his own sins. So don't punish us for what he's doing. COOPER: Talking about -- he's talking about Warren Jeffs and how the fugitive has turned all polygamists, including Mr. Blackmore, into targets. Coming up, part two of our exclusive conversation. Plus, he used to have three wives, then he lost his faith. His mission now, he says, is stopping the spread of polygamy. His story when 360 continues. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) COOPER: We'll have a lot more on this problem of polygamy in America in the 11 o'clock hour of 360. But right now more from my exclusive interview with Winston Blackmore, a polygamist leader in Canada who used to be a bishop in Warren Jeffs' sect. Blackmore was ex-communicated by Jeffs and now leads his own polygamist community. He's seen firsthand the way that Jeffs operates, and that's where the interview picks up. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: I've also talked to a lot of people who have said, look, he has divided families, that he's reassigned wives from, you know, from one family to another. What do you think -- what do you think about that? Is that common, or is that unusual? BLACKMORE: It was very unusual prior to him, but it's very common after him. I am so, so sad that there are so many of my good friends and so many people that were very good part of our faith that have had their lives totally dismantled. It's not just hearsay, Anderson it's something that has happened so many times. I think we quit keeping track at over 100 -- 100 families. And that's -- that is a tragedy. And, you know, I'm not saying that marriages don't break down. You know, they do. And they do all throughout your society, too, and through Canada and the United States. But to actually mandate a breakdown of a marriage is horrible, in my view anyway. COOPER: What does it say about his power over the people who do still follow him that they are willing to go along with what he says? BLACKMORE: You know, I guess that's something that we'd all like to know the answer to. He has, you know, a tremendous amount of influence, but I think that a lot of that influence with those people is gained on the fact that there's a certain amount of fear that if they don't go along with this, they'll be totally, you know, cut off from any communication with their family. They go along with it, and they're cut off anyway. COOPER: Apparently you told a reporter today that you believe, in a few days, you may actually be charged for sexually exploiting underage girls in Bountiful. Is that accurate, and how concerned are you about what may happen to your group because of all this attention on Warren Jeffs? BLACKMORE: Actually, I don't have a group, Anderson. I mean, I have my family. And there's a bunch of other people that feel the same way I do about things, and we meet together. And as far as I am aware, yes, the RCMP are doing an investigation on us. The investigation is not complete. COOPER: That's the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. BLACKMORE: That's right. And from what I know of it and that's -- I don't think it has to do with sexual exploitation. They were looking at two things. They were looking at whether or not I used my authority as being an officer in our church or a bishop to encourage people to marry me. That's one. Or the other thing is, is if they could actually charge me on the grounds of polygamy. (END VIDEOTAPE) COOPER: Well, we'll continue to follow that story. As we mentioned, Winston Blackmore lives in Bountiful, British Columbia, with a large number of polygamist families. Their impact on Bountiful is clear. Here's the raw data. Bountiful has a teen pregnancy rate that is seven times that of the rest of British Columbia. From 1998 to 2004, 69 girls from Bountiful under the age of 18 had children. Of the girls who gave birth, a full third of the fathers were at least ten years older than the mothers.

CNN.com Originally broadcast May 12, 2006

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