Warren Jeffs, 55, is being tried in San Angelo, Texas on two counts of sex with children. Earlier today, the court heard an audio recording in which Jeffs was instructing his two "spiritual wives", ages 12 and 14 at the time, in ways to please him sexually.
As the former and current leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints of Jesus Christ, Jeffs believes that polygyny (many wives for one husband) is ordained by God and provides men the highest form of salvation. Members of the sect have indicated that Jeffs himself may have as many as 80 wives, including several dozen who were married to his deceased father. Documents retrieved from the church compound in Eldorado, Texas state that at least two of the wives were the young teens to whom Jeffs gave sexual instruction.
Video that includes Warren Jeffs giving oral instructions to child brides
Child brides are common in many Middle Eastern and Asian countries. Public opinion is more inclined to see these arrangements as sex slavery, since by definition of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, minors under 18 are not able to give consent to sexual relations.
The idea of slavery is conveyed by Jeff's journals and tapes which were seized after a raid of the Texas facility based on a 2008 tip about children being forced into marriages and sexual activity with older men. In the recording, Jeffs spoke of his 14-year-old bride whom he married in January 2004 and "informed [her parents] of their girl belonging to me." The night after the "wedding", the girl and another wife were taken for a drive in the wilderness and given training on their sexual duties, with the session taped by Jeffs. In a journal entry about the incident, he said he told them they were "honorable vessels, property of your husband's kingdom and the Kingdom of God on Earth." (Emphasis added)
Not a newcomer to legal entanglements, Warren Jeffs was on the FBI's Ten Most-Wanted List in 2006 prior to being arrested for being an accomplice to rape of minors. The charge stemmed from his role as the marrying officiant within the religious group and arranging a marriage in June 2005, between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. For this he was sentenced for ten years to life for sexual assault on a minor and with conspiracy to commit sexual misconduct with a minor, but the Utah Supreme Court overturned it and called for a new trial.
- In 2004, Jeffs was accused of molesting and sodomizing boys, including his younger nephews
- April 5, 2006, the state of Utah issued an arrest warrant for Jeffs on felony charges of accomplice rape of a teenage girl between 14 and 18 years old
- On May 27, 2006 Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed accountant in charge of the FLDS' trust fund, filed civil suits against Jeffs. Wisan claimed that Jeffs is responsible for "fleecing trust assets".
- November 5, 2009, Raymond Merril Jessop was found guilty of sexual assault of a child, a 15-year-old girl to whom he was spiritually married. Sentence: 10 years in prison and a fine of $8,000.00.
- On December 18, 2009, Allan Keate was declared guilty of sexual assault of a child, a 15-year-old girl whom he impregnated. Keate had also given three of his own daughters away in “spiritual” or “celestial” marriage, two of them at 15 and one at 14, to older men. The youngest of the three went to Warren Jeffs. Sentence: 33 years in prison.
- On January 22, 2010, Michael George Emack pled no contest to sexual assault charges for marrying a 16-year-old girl. Sentence: Seven years in prison.
- On March 17, 2010, Merril Leroy Jessop was found guilty of sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. Sentence: 75 years in prison and assessed a $10,000.00 fine.
Once again, Warren Jeffs could face life imprisonment if he is convicted of the crimes of sex with children. He is acting as his own attorney, after firing at least seven lawyers on the case.
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