Potential new FLDS leader believed to have Valley ties
 
By Nora Drenner
Wet Mountain Tribune - Westcliffe, Colorado
 
A senior leader of the FLDS Utah-based church trying to replace jailed polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs is believed to have ties to Westcliffe.

Custer County sheriff Fred Jobe said earlier this week that he has been investigating to see if William E. Jessup, 41, lists Westcliffe, Colo., as his home.

A few years ago, members of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints acquired property here in the Bull Domingo subdivision and South Colony area, and began moving in.

Jobe said that while they primarily stay out of the public eye, men and women from the two compounds are sometimes seen in town.

Members of the FLDS should not be confused with the Amish families, and they are not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon Church.

FLDS leader Warren Jeffs is currently serving a prison sentence in Utah for two felony convictions of rape as an accomplice. He is also waiting trial in Texas on bigamy and aggravated sexual assault charges.

While Jeffs was on the lam from authorities in 2007, it is believed he was hiding out in Custer County from time to time to visit his wives who had been secretly moved here.

At that time, the FBI alerted Jobe to be on the look out for Jeffs.

Earlier this year, Jessup filed papers in Utah to take over as president of the FLDS church, said Jobe, and those within the church opposed to that action reportedly are making threats against him.

Jobe said he has confirmed that Jessup is living in the Bull Domingo compound according to papers filed in Utah.

Previous news reports indicated that Jessup was living on an FLDS ranch compound in South Dakota.

Jeffs assumed the role as FLDS prophet and president in 2002 following the death of his father.
 
WetMountainTribune.com
Originally published May 12, 2011
 
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