Texas evidence could help Utah bring more charges against Jeffs, FLDS Church
 
Ben Winslow
FOX 13 News
KSTU-TV
 
SALT LAKE CITY --- Evidence used to convict polygamist leader Warren Jeffs in Texas could bring a new round of prosecutions against Fundamentalist LDS Church members here in Utah.

Exhibits entered into Jeffs' trial on child sex assault charges are also being looked at by Washington County prosecutors, who say they are "very interested" in seeing more.

FOX 13 has obtained a number of documents that were used in Jeffs' Texas trial, including a spreadsheet that lists hundreds of marriages. Texas prosecutors compiled "State's Exhibit 992," which details 550 marriages that they claim were illegal in some way -- either polygamous or involving underage brides.

"They have the smoking gun, and the bullets and the body and everything else," said Sam Brower, a private investigator who has pursued the FLDS Church for years.

State's Exhibit 992 lists names, dates and places of marriages within the FLDS Church. It spans from 1989 to 2006, when Jeffs was convicted in Utah on a charge of rape as an accomplice. (His conviction was later overturned by the Utah Supreme Court.) According to the 55-page document, Jeffs was involved in all of the marriages either by performing them, witnessing them or, in some cases, as the groom.

"I think about my 12-year-old grand niece in the temple with Warren Jeffs, doing his dastardly deeds...," said Janet Johanson, who left the FLDS Church years ago. "I was sick to my stomach. Disgusted. Angry. Reflecting on all the things that could have been done to stop that from happening, then trying to think of what's next?"

Many of the marriages in State's Exhibit 992 took place in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. It was compiled from billions of pages of church records, documents and photographs seized in the 2008 raid on the FLDS Church's Texas ranch.

"It was wonderful to see it in black and white," Brower said. "To see what happened, how the FLDS thumb their nose at the law and operate with impunity."

Brower, who has worked for lawyers suing the FLDS Church, recently published a book about his experiences entitled "Prophet's Prey."

"The amount of evidence seized was just unparalleled," he said. "It's just unbelievable. And if there's not more prosecutions, there should be."

FOX 13 showed State's Exhibit 992 to Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap, who called the document "really interesting."

"The fact that we have that information is very interesting and we'll definitely look into it," he said.

But bringing criminal charges over the alleged marriages may be easier said than done. The Texas Attorney General's Office has agreed to share all 1.7 billion pages of evidence it seized from the FLDS Church's Yearning for Zion Ranch -- but only after it finishes prosecuting a dozen members for various crimes linked to underage marriages.

"We've been trying for 11 years to get evidence," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told FOX 13.

Jeffs is currently serving a life, plus 20 year sentence in Texas for child sex assault, related to underage marriages.

Utah marriages named in State's Exhibit 992 appear to grind to a halt in 2004, when a law took effect in the state making child bigamy (a polygamous union involving a child) a second-degree felony.

"I suspect it had something to do with the various warrants outstanding against Warren Jeffs in Arizona and Utah, as well as the increased penalties from the legislature's changes in the law," Belnap said.

Instead, marriages took place in other states like two in California, a pair in Colorado, and a dozen at the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas.

"It appears that there were maybe five that still happened in Hildale after 2004," Belnap said after reviewing the document.

But while there may be potential evidence of a crime, Belnap cautioned that Utah's statute of limitations on a felony is about four years. Also, witnesses and more evidence would be needed in order to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

"It may be that we've obtained that information too late for us to specifically do something with regard to those specific cases," he said. "But we're going to look into it. We're going to see if there are possible exceptions, locate witnesses and corroborate evidence that we can use in court."

Critics have said the state waited too long to investigate allegations of abuse.

"They're cowards," said Johanson. "Why didn't they speak up and save my kids? And all the other kids?"

Johanson left the FLDS Church before Warren Jeffs took power, saying it was becoming too controlling at the time. Her sister also left, but returned when she was dying of breast cancer. After her sister's death, Johanson waged a legal battle with FLDS members for custody of her nieces and nephews. The case ultimately found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where she lost. The court, Johanson said, ruled that being a polygamist did not preclude one from adopting.

Johanson said she hopes that the state of Utah does launch new investigations. Shurtleff said the trouble has been getting evidence that is admissible in court from a closed society like the FLDS Church.

"We followed up on everything," he said. "We never had enough to take it to court."

Belnap told FOX 13 he would not rule out bringing more charges against Warren Jeffs, if he were to get the evidence.

"I would not rule out anything that has to do with child sex abuse cases," he said.
 
fox13now.com
Originally broadcast November 7, 2011
 
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