Jeffs moves, awaits trial
 Church head transferred to Schleicher Co.
 
By Matthew Waller
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas — Warren Jeffs has moved closer to his own.

The head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been transferred from the Reagan County Jail to the jail in Schleicher County, where the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch is located.

"He is here now," Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said Friday.

Jeffs, charged with sexual assault of a child and bigamy, was moved April 20, having been at the Reagan County jail since late November.

Doran did not comment on why Jeffs was transferred.

"I'm sure that there were a lot of factors that came up, but it came time for a change, sharing the burden and responsibility," Reagan County Sheriff Jeff Garner said, noting that Schleicher County made the decision to transfer Jeffs.

Jeffs' trial dates are set July 25 for the count of sexual assault of a child and Oct. 3 for felony bigamy. He will be the eighth of 12 men to be prosecuted as a result of evidence collected on a raid at the YFZ Ranch.

The raid was based on a call received from a woman claiming to have suffered abuse at the ranch. Defense attorneys in previous cases of FLDS members have argued to the jury that the call was a hoax, and the prosecution and law enforcement have not countered that idea.

Jeffs' stay in Reagan County was uneventful, Garner said.

The only change Garner's office expected to see after Jeffs' removal is a decrease in the amount of mail it must process and check, Garner said.

Compared to the Reagan County Jail, the Schleicher County Jail is about 26 miles closer to San Angelo, where Jeffs has had several pretrials.

From his jail cell in Reagan County, Jeffs allegedly excommunicated members of his church and sent documents hundreds of pages long to President Barack Obama and other politicians.

Schleicher County doesn't have any special arrangements for Jeffs, Doran said.

"He has a regular cell just like anyone else that would come in," Doran said.

The 15-bed facility held six inmates this week.

Visitation lasts two hours on Sundays and Wednesdays, with two visitors per visitation for 20 minutes, Doran said.

The inmates have phones in a common area between cells that is cut off at 10 p.m., and inmates can purchase phone cards, Doran said.

Garner has said Jeffs had unlimited phone access in the Reagan County Jail.

Supplies to send mail are also available to the inmates, Doran said, and inmates get one hour of recreation time a day.

Jeffs has behaved well during his jail time in Texas, Garner has said, not as he reportedly did while in jail in Arizona — during which time he engaged in debilitating fasting and prayer that caused knee sores.

"We have had no problems," Garner said. "He is eating well and getting fresh air and sunshine."

Jeffs technically has been an inmate of Schleicher County since he arrived in Texas, Doran said.

"We have a contract with Big Lake, and they do hold all of our overflow," Doran said.

The switch in jails comes amid a struggle for control over control for the FLDS church.

FLDS member William E. Jessop has filed paperwork through the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code stating that Jeffs had made him the prophet in 2007.

Jeffs' followers maintain that Jessop is no longer a part of the FLDS church, and also filed an affidavit stating 4,000 people unanimously supported Jeffs in a congregational meeting.
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published April 29, 2011
 
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