FBI Director Confident Warren Jeffs Will Be Caught
 
By Jennifer Dobner
The Associated Press
KUTV Channel 2
AP
FBI logo

SALT LAKE CITY -- A month after he was placed on the FBI's most-wanted list, fugitive polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is getting the full attention of federal law enforcement resources.

"He is a fugitive, and an important fugitive, which is why he's on the Ten Most Wanted list," FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said at a news conference Wednesday.

Jeffs, 50, is wanted in Utah and Arizona for arranging marriages between underage girls and much older men. On May 6, Jeffs was named to the FBI's most wanted list, along with terrorist Osama Bin Laden. He is considered armed and dangerous.

Jeffs is known to have a network of homes across in the West, Midwest region, and British Columbia. And Mueller said "every lead will be followed," but he acknowledged that finding Jeffs will take time.

"We have persons who end up on the Top Ten for 24 hours, we have persons who end up on the Top Ten for 10 years. It depends on the circumstances," said Mueller, who was in Salt Lake City as part of a tour of FBI offices nationwide.

Mueller said Jeffs belongs on a list beside Bin Laden and other because he preys on children.

"I would expect that most of the American public would view a person such as this as a person who belongs behind bars."

Last year, Arizona authorities charged Jeffs with conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, a felony punishable by up to two years in state prison. In April, Utah prosecutors charged Jeffs with rape, a first-degree felony, punishable by up to life in prison.

Since 2002, Jeffs has been the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect headquartered in the border communities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. The groups 10,000 members believe plural marriage will ensure their salvation in heaven.

Jeffs is accused of escalating the number of marriages between young girls and older men and fracturing families by pushing "unworthy" men out of the community and giving their wives and children to other men.
 
KUTV.com
Originally published June 7, 2006
 
Back