PAULA ZAHN NOW Polygamist Leader Heads to Utah

CNN August 31, 2006

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you for joining us on a busy news day that has seen major developments in one of this year's most important top stories, the looming showdown over Iran's nuclear ambitions. ROBERTS: Another "Top Story" we're following tonight: the capture of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. We got our first close look at him today during a quick, but important court appearance -- coming up, where Jeffs goes next and the charges that he will face. Earlier today, we finally got a good look at the man who has been the subject of a nationwide search. Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs' future remains one of the nation's top stories. We will have the very latest for you in just a minute. We're also going to take a closer look at one of the most successful tools for catching fugitives, including Warren Jeffs. Jeffs was caught this week in a routine traffic stop in Nevada. And, today, he appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom. He declined to fight extradition to Utah, where he will face charges of being an accomplice to rape. Jeffs leads a community of 10,000 fundamental Mormon followers, who consider him a prophet. Authorities say he has almost total control over those followers. Ted Rowlands joins me now with the latest developments in Las Vegas from Las Vegas. And, Ted, Jeffs didn't look much like a prophet in the courtroom today. TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, John. There -- you know, there was a lot of concern about this first court appearance. Would Jeffs recognize the authority of the court? Would his followers show up to try to disrupt the proceedings here? It turns out, a lot of people were very surprised with what they saw, after getting their first real close look at the prophet Warren Jeffs. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ROWLANDS (voice-over): Under heavy security, polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was brought into a Las Vegas courtroom. He was shackled and wore blue jail-issued clothing. Appearing meek and, at times, confused, Jeffs politely answered questions from the judge. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you Warren Jeffs? WARREN JEFFS, DEFENDANT: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. ROWLANDS: Jeffs, who didn't have an attorney for the short hearing, stood and listened, as the judge explained that he was wanted in both Utah and Arizona. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you understand everything I just explained? JEFFS: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. What would you like to do? JEFFS: Go ahead and be extradited is fine. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to waive your rights in regards to extradition and go back as -- as quickly as they can have the -- as they can come pick you up? JEFFS: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. ROWLANDS: Jeffs will be transported to Utah, where he faces two counts of being an accomplice to rape. Prosecutors there say they are ready for him. RYAN SHAUM, UTAH PROSECUTOR: We have an opportunity now to present our case. We have an opportunity to go forward with the evidence that we believe we have. ROWLANDS: Jeffs had one unidentified supporter in the courtroom, this man. After the hearing, he was followed by a crowd of journalists, but had nothing to say as he left the courthouse. Warren Jeffs is believed to have as many as 10,000 loyal followers across the Western United States, Canada, and Mexico. Many of them live in the Colorado City-Hildale area, which is very close to where Jeffs will be held in Utah. GARY ENGELS, MOHAVE COUNTY, ARIZONA, INVESTIGATOR: I think the community there, you know, the ones that are his loyal followers, are going to stay loyal to him. And they're going to support him. And they will provide him with any amount of money or anything else he needs. ROWLANDS: Flora Jessop, a former member of the FLDS, says she's concerned about Jeffs' followers and what they may do, with their prophet in jail. FLORA JESSOP, FMR. FLDS MEMBER: They're going to look at him as a martyr. He's been the one that's wronged. As a child I was taught and they're still teaching these children that law enforcement is our worst enemy and that the streets would run red with the blood of our enemies. ROWLANDS: So far though there's been little reaction from the secretive communities where, until now, Jeffs has held almost complete authority. (END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Ted Rowlands, the prosecutors in Utah seem pretty anxious to get Warren Jeffs into a court of law. How much jail time could he face if convicted? ROWLANDS: Well, the charges that he's facing has a maximum sentence, if convicted, of life in prison. The conviction is going to be the hard part, however. This allegation is that Jeffs did not take part in any type of rape, but rather ordered one of his church members. So he's been charged with rape by association, if you will, and today prosecutors admitted that they have never prosecuted anyone under this Utah law. So clearly their work is just beginning. ROBERTS: All right, Ted Rowlands for us live from Las Vegas. Ted, thanks very much. We're going to meet Flora Jessop, who you just saw in Ted's piece, in just a moment. Next in our top story coverage a woman's dramatic visit to one of Warren Jeffs' polygamist communities. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mom, please come out. (END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: She fled Warren Jeffs' sect years ago. Stay with us for her emotional return. Later, how the FBI goes about filling the vacancy that Warren Jeffs capture creates on its most wanted list. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: In this half-hour an in depth look at the FBI's most wanted list. Who gets on it and how amazingly effective it has been. More now on our top story, outside the law, the arrest of fugitive polygamist Warren Jeffs. He's now in a Las Vegas jail awaiting extradition to Utah where he'll face charges that he was an accomplice to rape. My next guest says she was raised in Jeff's polygamist community, which is home to some 10,000 people and she managed to escape at the age of 18. Today she went back to Colorado City, Arizona. Joining me now Flora Jessop. Flora, 15 years ago you risked it all to escape from Colorado City. Why go back today? JESSOP: I came back today to try and find my mother who hasn't been seen by anyone for over a year and a half. ROBERTS: You were on her doorstep at the front gate of her house, I guess just a little while ago. Tell us what happened then. JESSOP: Well, they refused to open the gate. They refused to open answer our phone calls. They refused to allow my mother to come out and say anything to her children. ROBERTS: So you believe your mother is still there, she just hasn't been seen? JESSOP: Yes. ROBERTS: What's that all about? JESSOP: I'm not going away until you come out here. ROBERTS: Flora why haven't they let her out? JESSOP: That's what this community is. They claim that it's about free choice and yet mothers aren't allowed to see their children, aren't allowed to see their mothers. It's the only town in America where the law that's enforced is slavery. ROBERTS: Some people say that the FLDS is all about raising children in close knit, old fashioned family values. You say it's more about slavery, though? JESSOP: Do old fashioned families not allow mothers to see their children? ROBERTS: Right. What do you think is going on with Warren Jeffs' followers right now that he's in jail and facing extradition to Utah where he will face charges? JESSOP: Well, where do I think the people are at? ROBERTS: What do you think's going through their mind right now? Are they upset that he's in jail? Are some of them fearful of what could happen to them if they were ever called to testify against him? JESSOP: Oh, I don't think they're afraid of whether they would have to testify or not, I just think they wouldn't show up. I think that they're very afraid, and they're very angry because they don't think the law has the right to step in on Warren Jeffs. ROBERTS: Earlier today you took the media on a tour of a cemetery where you say there are an inordinate number of children buried. What do you think has been going on? JESSOP: Well, we know that there's a lot of accidents, a lot of children born with birth defects. We don't know the exact causes of all these deaths, and that's something we've been trying to find out. We just know that 60 percent of the graves in this community are children ten and younger. ROBERTS: When you say accidents, is that accidents legitimately or accidents in quotation marks? JESSOP: In quotation marks. ROBERTS: Right. What do you think is going to happen with the FLDS, with that sect, with Colorado city, Hildale, and the other compounds, now that Jeffs is in jail? Will someone else step up to take over? JESSOP: Yes, if he gets convicted somebody else will definitely step into his place, whether remains in place or whether they just wait for him to get out of his 60-day jail sentence remains to be seen. ROBERTS: Who do you think would take over? Who are the likely candidates? JESSOP: Wendell Nielson or Merrill Jessop, I believe. ROBERTS: And compared to Warren Jeffs they are? JESSOP: Worse. ROBERTS: In what way? JESSOP: Because they wouldn't do things the way Warren Jeffs did. Warren Jeffs had such an ego that he believed he was untouchable and he acted on that belief and it got him caught. ROBERTS: Well, Flora Jessop, thanks very much for being with us. We with you look trying to find your mother, appreciate it. JESSOP: Thank you. ROBERTS: A turning point in the Warren Jeffs saga came when the FBI put him on its most wanted list. Next in our top story coverage, an in- depth look at the list, who gets on it, and how long they stay. Also, the stop story in medicine. A doctor's amazing recovery -- or discovery, rather, of a way to train our bodies to fight cancer with our own natural defenses. (COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Continuing with our top story, "Outside the Law." The arrest of polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs leaves a vacancy on the most famous top 10 list in the world, the FBI's 10 most wanted. The list has included fugitives from bank robber Willy Sutton back in the 1950s to Osama bin Laden today. So what does it take to make the list? Here's justice correspondent Kelli Arena. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are hundreds of them, fugitives considered armed and extremely dangerous, like Justin Solondz, an alleged eco terrorist and arsonist, or Michael Johnson, wanted for his alleged role in three execution-style murders in New Mexico. They are among the possible candidates for Warren Jeffs' spot on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list. MICHAEL MASON, FBI EXEC. ASSIST. DIRECTOR: The field offices all know the value of the top 10 list, and they all would like to get their most dangerous person or the criminal that they want the most on the top 10 list. ARENA: Mike Mason oversees the FBI's criminal division. He says each of the bureau's 56 field offices can submit candidates for the list. A committee at headquarters goes over the choices, and the deputy FBI director gets the final say. MASON: It has to do with dangerousness, number one, and number two, the likelihood that the publicity is going to increase the probability of their apprehension. ARENA: True enough, of the 482 fugitives who have made the list since it began in 1950, 453 have been caught, a 94 percent success rate. On average, it takes about 121 days. But then there's Donald Webb, who allegedly murdered a police chief in Pennsylvania. The FBI's been hunting him for 25 years. The types of criminals on the list have changed over the years from bank robbers to drug kingpins to terrorists. MASON: It's a reflection of what society deems is important as well, I mean, because again, there are more bad guys than -- it would take a hundred top 10 lists to put them all on it. ARENA: Veteran FBI agent Brad Garrett explains the advantages when you're chasing down someone on the top 10. BRAD GARRETT, FBI AGENT: Particularly when you get a lead of a potential that the person might be in your territory, it's very easy so get help, both from other law enforcement agencies, but there's a certain energy I guess about my, we might find somebody or catch somebody on the top 10 today. ARENA: Garrett nabbed Mir Amil Kasi in Pakistan in 1997. He was on the top 10 for the politically motivated shooting spree outside CIA headquarters in Virginia. GARRETT: The reward was substantial, and I think that was the driving force for the sources to give us the correct information. ARENA (on camera): FBI officials insist that politics has nothing to do with who makes the top 10, and that factors such as race are not involved. (voice-over): They expect to name the newest addition in the next few weeks, but so far there's no obvious frontrunner. Kelli Arena, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE) ROBERTS: Not all the best-known fugitives make the list. Those who were never among the top 10 include the mysterious skyjacker D.B. Cooper, Patty Hurst, and the Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.

CNN.com Originally broadcast August 31, 2006

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