Idyllic times long gone in Jeffs country

By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News

Warren Jeffs ST. GEORGE — The films show another time and another place, before the police and pesky reporters came. The children laugh and make faces at the camera. The men and women wave, hug and smile like happy families do. A parade passes through Short Creek. A band rides on a flatbed trailer. Children ride on homemade floats set up on flatbed trailers, waving at the people gathered on the side of the street to watch. The prophet, Leroy S. Johnson, is the parade's "grand marshal." He smiles from the passenger seat of a car, waving an American flag. These are among the images of life inside the Fundamentalist LDS Church enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., seen on a series of 8 mm films obtained by the Deseret Morning News. They were shot sporadically from the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. The grainy films were provided by a source who wished to remain anonymous because of family still within the polygamous sect, which is now controlled by jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. They are a stark contrast to the siege mentality that seems to have set in among Jeffs' followers since he was arrested in August after a few months on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. On Thursday, Jeffs pleaded not guilty here in 5th District Court and was bound over for trial on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a 14-year-old girl into a marriage with her 19-year-old cousin. "The state has overreached," defense attorney Wally Bugden told reporters outside of court. "Shame on the state. There was no rape in this case. Mr. Jeffs is not on trial for practicing polygamy. The religious counsel he gave to this couple is no different from what religious leaders of other religions tell their faithful everyday across America." In Hildale and Colorado City, a former follower told the Deseret Morning News that Jeffs' faithful followers had been "fasting and praying" for his release. He is to go on trial for two weeks beginning April 23, 2007. Jeffs continues to exercise control over his followers from his cell in the Purgatory Jail. A law enforcement source has told the Deseret Morning News he holds church over the phone, giving sermons, and his followers sing to him. Some ex-FLDS members believe Jeffs will start to lose some of his power. "As time goes on there are fewer and fewer followers and believers of Warren," Ross Chatwin said. "They're starting to wake up and realize Warren is not what they thought he was." The community may be in the beginning stages of an exodus in Hildale and Colorado City. About a dozen homes have been abandoned and returned to the FLDS Church's financial arm, the United Effort Plan Trust. "They're doing it cooperatively," said Jeffrey L. Shields, a lawyer for the court-appointed special fiduciary of the UEP. "They're giving us the keys." It is unknown who the people are or where they are going. Some have said they are relatives of Jeffs. The FLDS Church has enclaves in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada; Eldorado, Texas; Mancos, Colo.; and Pringle, S.D., and it is expanding into Nevada. "It's hard to track because they move around so much," Shields said. In 2005, a judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court took control of the UEP amid allegations that Jeffs and other top FLDS leaders had been fleecing the $110 million trust. Bruce Wisan, a certified public accountant, has been placed in charge of the trust by the courts. He has been waging an uphill battle in getting people on UEP land to pay property taxes. They are being reluctantly paid, despite an edict from Jeffs ordering his followers to "answer them nothing." Judge Denise P. Lindberg recently signed a series of reforms for the trust, which lawyers said controls about 95 percent of the land in Hildale and Colorado City. The homes that are being abandoned are not tiny "starter" homes. One three-level home boasts 13 bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. "They're not all the teeny slums. They're some pretty nice homes that are being abandoned," Shields said. The UEP plans to find new people to occupy some of the massive homes. "They're for rent," Shields said. "You want one?" Followers of Jeffs offer little comment COLORADO CITY, Ariz. (AP) — Hours after the leader of a polygamist church sect was ordered to stand trial on rape charges, followers were saying little or nothing about it. "We don't follow the news," said a woman in a long purple dress working behind the counter of a gas station in the center of town. Colorado City and neighboring Hildale, Utah, are home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. A judge ruled Thursday that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs can be tried on charges of rape as an accomplice. A sign on a door of the gas station warned reporters against carrying cameras or recorders into the store. Dozens of shoppers at a nearby grocery store didn't respond to questions about Jeffs. Hildale Mayor David Zitting also declined comment. E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

deseretnews.com Originally published Sunday, December 17, 2006

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