Texas takes DNA from sect leader

[awakening2lite]

May 30, 2008, 11:30AM

SAN ANGELO, Texas — Texas investigators collected DNA samples from jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, accusing him of sexual assault of a child stemming from so-called "spiritual" marriages with girls as young as 12 years old.

Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office, said the samples were taken Thursday at an Arizona jail where Jeffs awaits trial on charges of being an accomplice to incest and sexual conduct. He was previously sentenced to prison in Utah as an accomplice to rape in arranging a marriage between a 14-year-old and 19-year-old.

The samples were taken as part of an investigation into whether Jeffs sexually assaulted four girls at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in west Texas in January 2004 and July 2006. Placed on the FBI's most-wanted list in May 2006, he was arrested outside Las Vegas that August.

Investigators have wedding photos and church records indicating he had spiritual unions — marriages recognized by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints but not legal marriages — with four girls ranging in age from 12 to 14, according to an affidavit filed by Denis Gilbert, an Arizona officer aiding Texas law enforcement. At least one girl conceived a child at 15, the affidavit says.

Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot consent to sex or marriage.

continued at source: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5809734.html

[awakening2lite]

It appears the photo's of Jeffs and his child brides will be used against him.

[SavannahStar]

It appears the photo's of Jeffs and his child brides will be used against him.


As they should be......but not used against an entire group.

[Cat]

It appears the photo's of Jeffs and his child brides will be used against him.

Good. He is a mean man, and that's not just my opinion. His own brother or half brother said that. I don't have a link; I read it in a book.

[awakening2lite]

Good. He is a mean man, and that's not just my opinion. His own brother or half brother said that. I don't have a link; I read it in a book.

I'm wondering what impact, if any, there might be on the photos having been collected as a result of the children being removed. Because the removal of the children was ruled against, might the evidence recovered and the results of that, the warrant for dna, be deemed inadmissible?

[Details]

Nope. The warrents to get the information, the decision to remove the children from the home are separate. Nor did the supreme court rule that much against CPS. All they said was that measures short of removing the children should have been used first. FLDS was celebrating - but it was a very small victory.

This could have some good implications - there's a lot they can say about not letting your children communicate with, have pictures of sex offenders. It wouldn't change much - they teach their religion without a picture of Jeffs everywhere, without having the children listen to his tapes until they are 18 - but it might help the FLDS reverse course - they were a minor religion, Jeffs turned them into a cult (a path they'd been slowly travelling down, but he did a complete transformation) - they might be able to get back to being a religion.

[awakening2lite]

Nope. The warrents to get the information, the decision to remove the children from the home are separate. Nor did the supreme court rule that much against CPS. All they said was that measures short of removing the children should have been used first. FLDS was celebrating - but it was a very small victory.

This could have some good implications - there's a lot they can say about not letting your children communicate with, have pictures of sex offenders. It wouldn't change much - they teach their religion without a picture of Jeffs everywhere, without having the children listen to his tapes until they are 18 - but it might help the FLDS reverse course - they were a minor religion, Jeffs turned them into a cult (a path they'd been slowly travelling down, but he did a complete transformation) - they might be able to get back to being a religion.

Here's an interesting excerpt demonstrating some of the influence Warren Jeffs has had:

Warren Jeffs assumes leadership of the FLDS after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs.
•By 1995, Warren Jeffs is becoming a subtle, but more powerful presence.
•He has rigid rules against women becoming obese.
•Warren Jeffs is the son of deceased FLDS polygamist leader Rulon Jeffs.
•Warren Jeffs bans the color red. It is reserved for Jesus Christ.
•The obedience Warren Jeffs’ preaches is a woman’s complete submission to her husband.
•Women are not to go into town without the company of a man.
•Warren’s father, after he became the prophet, put a stop to higher education.
•Television, radio and the Intranet are completely off-limits, except for business purposes.
•Clothing is limited to only pastel colors in a few styles.
•Domestic violence increases after the release of Warren’s tapes, calling for even more obedience among women toward their husbands.
•Warren Jeffs takes sex away from the community by decreeing that it can only be used for procreation.
•Warren decrees in 1998 that all worldly reading materials are to be eliminated.
•Education has almost no value in Warren Jeffs’ FLDS.

List compiled by Karla Mass with notes taken from book "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer.

source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/354/story/411207.html

[awakening2lite]

EXCERPT

The samples were taken Thursday in Arizona from Jeffs, the sect's jailed 52-year-old "prophet," said Jerry Strickland, spokesman for the Texas attorney general's office.

Jeffs is leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The criminal investigation moved to the forefront as attorneys for the state and FLDS families gathered in court to discuss terms under which some of the children removed from the sect's ranch last month would be returned to their parents.

In the criminal investigation, marital records -- known as bishop's records -- were seized April 3 from the sect's Yearning for Zion ranch, according to an affidavit for a search warrant seeking the DNA samples. The records show that Jeffs married a 14-year-old girl on January 18, 2004, in Utah, the affidavit says.

Jeffs also "married" three other underage brides -- two 12-year-olds and a 14-year-old -- at the sect's 1,700-acre ranch near Eldorado, Texas, the affidavit says.

The court document refers to photos of Jeffs with his alleged child brides. In one picture, the affidavit states, he is kissing one of the 12-year-olds. In another, he is with a 15-year-old wife at the birth of their child in October 2004, according to the affidavit.

Jeffs is believed to have "committed the felony offense of sexual assault of a child," the affidavit says. One of the 12-year-olds, who was believed to have married Jeffs on July 27, 2006, allegedly was sexually assaulted by him later that day, the affidavit states.


The DNA samples will allow authorities to determine whether he is the father of the children born to underage mothers, according to the court documents. Jeffs' Arizona attorney, Mike Piccarreta, was not available for comment on Friday, according to his office.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/05/30/texas.polygamists/?iref=hpmostpop



This "leader" may never see day again. I wonder if he will become a martyr.

[Cat]

Here's an interesting excerpt demonstrating some of the influence Warren Jeffs has had:

Warren Jeffs assumes leadership of the FLDS after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs.
•By 1995, Warren Jeffs is becoming a subtle, but more powerful presence.
•He has rigid rules against women becoming obese.
•Warren Jeffs is the son of deceased FLDS polygamist leader Rulon Jeffs.
•Warren Jeffs bans the color red. It is reserved for Jesus Christ.
•The obedience Warren Jeffs’ preaches is a woman’s complete submission to her husband.
•Women are not to go into town without the company of a man.
•Warren’s father, after he became the prophet, put a stop to higher education.
•Television, radio and the Intranet are completely off-limits, except for business purposes.
•Clothing is limited to only pastel colors in a few styles.
•Domestic violence increases after the release of Warren’s tapes, calling for even more obedience among women toward their husbands.
•Warren Jeffs takes sex away from the community by decreeing that it can only be used for procreation.
•Warren decrees in 1998 that all worldly reading materials are to be eliminated.
•Education has almost no value in Warren Jeffs’ FLDS.

List compiled by Karla Mass with notes taken from book "Escape" by Carolyn Jessop with Laura Palmer.

source: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/354/story/411207.html

That is some list. Thanks for posting it, awakening.

[Walton]

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060408dntexpolygamists.59202c61.html

While 397 of the sect's 440 children in the custody of Child Protective Services had been released by late Tuesday, Mr. Jeffs' daughter was the only one accorded special protections, said her lawyer, Natalie Malonis of Flower Mound.

State District Judge Barbara Walther of San Angelo allowed the girl to be released to her mother, Annette Jeffs, at a Midland foster care facility after ordering the mother to keep her in the San Antonio area where she lives – and away from the alleged perpetrator, a 38-year-old sect member.