Polygamous Sect Leader Won't Talk
 
The Associated Press
Washington Post
 
HURRICANE, Utah -- A polygamous sect leader on Friday refused to divulge the location of an ex-follower's wife and child, an attorney said.

Warren Jeffs was questioned by attorneys for Wendell Musser in the Washington County jail, but provided no substantive information, attorney Roger Hoole said.

"He pulled out a piece of paper and read: 'I'm not going to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me,'" Hoole said. "He apparently concludes that his actions are criminal, although this is a civil case."

Musser served as a caretaker to Jeffs' many wives in a string of Colorado houses while the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints was on the run from police in 2006.

Musser said he was kicked out of the church after a drunken-driving arrest a year ago and cut off from his wife, Vivian Barlow Musser, and son, Levi, who turns 2 on Monday.

Musser, 22, sued Jeffs in May, seeking information about his family. Musser claims the separation was ordered by Jeffs. Musser had a brief reunion in late May, but his wife rejected him, refused to say where she was living and wouldn't allow him to hold Levi.

A district court judge ordered Jeffs to provide information by July 25 or face a deposition by Musser's attorneys.

The interview inside a tiny room at the jail lasted about an hour, Hoole said. Jeffs was represented by his Las Vegas-based criminal attorney Richard Wright, who did not return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment.

"It's extremely sad that he has chosen to go to this length to keep separated a father and son and not even explain why," Hoole said.

Jeffs, 51, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of rape as an accomplice for the 2001 religious marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

Based in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., the sect of nearly 10,000 members practices polygamy in arranged marriages.

Jeffs took over the church in 2002 after the death of his father. Under his leadership, it has become common for men excommunicated from the church to be separated from their families. Insiders say the women and children are typically reassigned to new husbands and fathers.
 
WashingtonPost.com
Originally published Saturday, July 28, 2007
 
Back