PAULA ZAHN NOW

CNN August 30, 2006

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good evening. And thanks, everyone, for joining us. Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is in custody tonight. Next, in our "Top Story" coverage: the state trooper who pulled him over on what it's like coming face to face with one of the FBI's most wanted. Plus: a rare glimpse of the mood inside one of Jeffs' polygamist compounds. Stay with us. ROBERTS: Tonight, polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is just hours away from his first court appearance. Our "Top Story" coverage now turns to the fugitive who has been on the FBI's most wanted list for nearly four months, and who is a self-proclaimed prophet to a community of some 10,000 followers. We get the very latest from Ted Rowlands in Las Vegas. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Warren Jeffs' brother had nothing to say to reporters after leaving the Las Vegas main jail, where Jeffs, the polygamist prophet, is now an inmate. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No comment. ROWLANDS: After more than a year as a fugitive and four months on the FBI's most wanted list, Warren Jeffs was captured during a routine traffic stop. There are an estimated 10,000 members in Jeffs' breakaway Mormon sect devoted to him and to his beliefs that men should have multiple wives. Jeffs himself is believed to have as many as 40 wives. Authorities say, given the support Jeffs was getting from his followers while he was on the run, his arrest was almost a fluke. STEVE MARTINEZ, FBI SPECIAL AGENT: I can't think of a better way that it could have gone down, because it went down safely. ROWLANDS: The FBI had been concerned that Jeffs' arrest could be violent. His most wanted poster warned, "Jeffs may travel with a number of loyal and armed bodyguards." MARTINEZ: There was some intelligence that we might expect something like that. I'm happy to say that we didn't encounter that, and found no vehicles in the vehicle. ROWLANDS: When caught, Jeffs was in this luxury SUV with his brother Isaac and one of his wives. The group had no weapons at all, only cell phones, computers, cash, and disguises, including wigs and sunglasses. The state trooper who made the arrest sensed that Jeffs was more than a little uneasy. EDDIE DUTCHOVER, NEVADA STATE TROOPER: I noticed Warren was extremely nervous. He was sitting in that -- behind the right -- right front passenger side, and wouldn't make eye contact with me. ROWLANDS: Jeffs faces charges in Arizona and Utah. Prosecutors from both states have agreed that Jeffs will be transferred first to Utah, where he faces two counts of rape as an accomplice. Each count carries a maximum sentence, on conviction, of life in prison. (END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Ted Rowlands is live in Las Vegas with us now. Ted, what went into the decision to extradite Jeffs to Utah before Arizona? ROWLANDS: Well, clearly, John, the charges in Utah were much more severe. I talked to a member of the prosecution team in Arizona tonight. They said they fully support the decision to go to Utah first. They also said that they will relish and they will still take their crack at Jeffs when the time is right. ROBERTS: All right. Ted Rowlands in Las Vegas for us tonight -- Ted, thanks. Joining me now is someone who has tracked Warren Jeffs for three years. Sam Brower is a private investigator working for the legal team representing some of the people who say they were Jeffs' victims. Sam Brower, how would you describe the society that Warren Jeffs has created and surrounded himself with? SAM BROWER, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: The society here in Colorado City and Hildale is just a very, very closed society. The people are very secretive. They mistrust the outside world, especially law enforcement. And they -- they try and stay to themselves, and -- and secrete themselves from the outside world. ROBERTS: How -- how hard is it for an investigator, such as yourself, to -- to penetrate that what you call secret society? Some people have said, it's almost like an organized crime family. BROWER: That's the best way to compare them. It's -- it's very closed, very secret. And it has been very, very hard to try and penetrate it. It's just taken perseverance. You just stay at it. And, over -- over the years, I have been able to make contacts, and -- and so forth inside, but -- but it -- it has been one of the hardest cases I have ever worked on. ROBERTS: We have heard from wives that were involved in polygamist relationships of tales who -- who have escaped -- of tales of abuse there. How widespread is the abuse, and -- and what form does it take? BROWER: The abuse happens, and -- and many of the people here, because they're so -- it's such a closed society, aren't even aware that they're being abused. And it -- it happens regularly. The -- the forms are anything from sexual abuse, child abuse, to breaking up families, avoiding due process in the law by breaking up families. And, when Warren wants something done, the question isn't asked whether it's legal or not. It's just -- it just happens. ROBERTS: Right. I see. BROWER: So, abuse takes place in -- in every available form there is. ROBERTS: So -- so, what's going to happen there in Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, among the membership of the FLDS, now that Warren Jeffs is in custody? BROWER: Well, I think that there's a -- you know, on the outside, there's a lot of people here that are, you know, saying that, well, you know, we hope the prophet is going to be fine, and -- and -- but, secretly, on the inside, they're breathing a -- a sigh of relief that it's -- it's the beginning of the end. And -- and, of course, there's going to be an element that's going to be very fanatical and protective of Warren Jeffs. But, hopefully, this will be the -- the time when things can start getting on track, and start to -- to heal and get better here. ROBERTS: Well, we will also see if somebody steps up to take his place. Sam Brower, private investigator who has been doing some investigation into the FLDS and Warren Jeffs' cult -- thanks very much, Sam. Appreciate it. More of our "Top Story" coverage ahead. ROBERTS: Warren Jeffs' followers don't talk to reporters. But, next in our "Top Story" coverage, what happened when a Texas sheriff told some of Jeffs' people that their leader was under arrest? And later: a health controversy. If you could make your child taller, would you try, despite the costs? We will be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: We're continuing our "Top Story" coverage of the arrest of alleged polygamist Warren Jeffs. Back in 2004, Jeffs started a new community in rural Texas. Like all his followers, they're extremely secretive, but at least one outsider has spoken with them since Jeffs' arrest, and has some interesting insights into what they're thinking. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS (voice-over): It's a strange sight in this isolated part of west central Texas, a four-story temple that towers over the desert, surrounded by a 1,700-acre compound called Yearning for Zion. Near the temple, there's a housing complex for some 70 people, a water tower, a school and community center, a dairy and cheese factory, as well as a concrete mill. The nearest town is Eldorado, Texas, from where Sheriff David Doran phoned Warren Jeffs' followers to tell them that their leader is under arrest. DAVID DORAN, ELDORADO, TEXAS, SHERIFF: You could tell it was hard to swallow. There was no comments otherwise, other than they appreciated the information. ROBERTS: There were suspicions that Jeffs might have been hiding out at this two-year-old compound. But Sheriff Doran says, there was never probable cause to go in and look for him. After his phone call, however, he asked for an aerial flyover, which obtained these pictures. DORAN: Just so we can scan through those photographs to see if -- if there's been any mood change or anything different happening. ROBERTS: Some people in the town fear that Yearning for Zion could be the next Waco. That was the scene of a notorious and deadly standoff in Texas between law enforcement and a different religious sect, the Branch Davidians, in 1993. DORAN: Eventually, there might be a standoff, or some kind of a situation, with law enforcement here locally was the town's fear. And, so, I think a big stress level has been raised off the community, now that he's in custody. ROBERTS: Townspeople in Eldorado say, Warren Jeffs' followers keep to themselves, believing they will be spared when God comes to destroy the Earth. Opinion is divided on whether Jeffs' arrest will change anything. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's kind of been a circus since they have come to town here. And maybe that will take care of itself and be over with. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're going to still operate, I'm sure, regardless of what he was -- he's there or not. ROBERTS: Even though Warren Jeffs is in jail, his followers show no sign they intend to leave West Texas. (END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: We can get even more insights into what Jeffs' followers are thinking tonight from our next guest. Filmmaker Laurie Allen escaped from a polygamist sect at the age of 16, and just recently made a documentary entitled "Banking on Heaven: Polygamy in the Heartland of the American West." Laurie, what do you expect is going on in the communities of the Warren Jeffs' FLDS, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, communities tonight? LAURIE ALLEN, FILMMAKER: Well, I would suspect that there's a mixed bag of emotion there. Some people, I think, are relieved. Other people, I believe, are probably horrified. Many are scared. Some people are angry. I have gotten a few calls from people, expressing their -- a -- a variety of emotions along those lines. ROBERTS: Mmm-hmm. You were in a different polygamist sect, but what's your reaction to Jeffs' arrest? ALLEN: Well, I was surprised. I thought it was going to take them a while longer to catch him, but I did predict that it would be a traffic stop. So, it's -- it -- it was -- it was -- I was relieved, because I think a lot of the people up there are going to get some pressure taken off of them because of this arrest. And I was also concerned about the people up there... ROBERTS: Mmm-hmm. ALLEN: ... because the -- we don't have the kinds of programs set up for these people that they desperately need. ROBERTS: Now, you were -- you were in this cult from the age of 3 to the age of 16, when you finally escaped. Give us -- give us some inside insight. At the -- the very root, what are these cults about? ALLEN: The biggest problem that I perceive is the fact that they're not getting education to the children, because educated people make their own choices. And, when you have children that don't get education, then, people can just indoctrinate them. And they're taught to believe what to think or how to dress, what to do. And this is a major problem. The -- the number-one key to the cleaning-up of these fundamentalist sects is to get education to the children. ROBERTS: Right. You have -- you have also said that this -- this is all about the denigration of women. And I want to play a short little clip from your documentary "Banking on Heaven," which really speaks to that aspect of it. Let's take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "BANKING ON HEAVEN") UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He hit me twice. Once, it was in front of my whole -- all of my children. And he hit me over and over and over again. The thing of it is, is, whenever I was hit, I honestly thought it was something -- that I was bad. So, when women are abused here, it's really interesting. Instead of going and turning in the abuse, we take it within and say that I'm bad. God hates me. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: So, Laurie Allen, how -- how do these women become so trapped in these relationships? How do the men get so much power over them? ALLEN: Because these people are in their seventh generation of systematic abuse of human rights, and indoctrination, mind control. And they really don't -- like Sam Brower said, they really don't even know a lot of the times that what's being done to them is wrong or illegal. And this is the problem, because we do not have police protection in these communities, and we're not getting education to these children. ROBERTS: And how difficult is it for people to escape, such as you did? ALLEN: It's very difficult. I actually jumped out of a second-story window onto a flatbed truckload of pigs to get out, and -- you know, and was chased for many, many miles, and had a heck of a time. I was in Central America. And it was extremely difficult for me to get out. But the most difficult thing is, it takes -- it took me almost 20 years to get over... ROBERTS: Right. ALLEN: ... the mind control and the things I had been taught, because I never finished the fourth grade. ROBERTS: And -- and what do you expect is going to happen now that Warren Jeffs is in custody? Will -- will more people be able to escape? Will the FLDS begin to fall apart, as Sam Brower suggested? Might another leader step in? ALLEN: I think there's a lot of possibilities. And I think the important thing is to -- for these people to know that the American people care about them, and, no matter what happens, that we're going to support them, and get the program set up for them that they desperately need, because they are going to -- there's going to be a lot of tension, a lot of rivalry, and a lot of people branching off into different directions. And we need to make sure that there's protection in that town for these families, American families and children. ROBERTS: Laurie Allen, thanks -- Laurie Allen, filmmaker. The film is called "Banking on Heaven: Polygamy in the Heartland of the American West," a shocking look inside polygamist cults. Laurie, thanks again. ROBERTS: Before we go, this hour's top weather story. Tropical Depression Ernesto is near Cape Canaveral, Florida, moving back into the Atlantic Ocean. It is expected to strengthen, perhaps become a tropical storm, and head for the South Carolina coast. A much more powerful storm, Hurricane John, is moving parallel to Mexico's west coast in the Pacific. It's a very dangerous Category 4 storm, with 135-mile-an-hour sustained winds, headed perhaps for a direct hit on Cabo San Lucas. That's all for tonight -- John Roberts, in for Paula Zahn. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts right now.

CNN.com Originally broadcast August 30, 2006

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