For centuries polygamous families in America pretty much stayed under the radar.

But while some Fundamentalist Mormon sects have received unwanted attention with the prosecutions of adherents who had married underage girls, other such groups -- who shun child marriages -- have become more vocal in the defense of their beliefs and practices with regard to polygamy.

ABC News says

The polygamist lifestyle is illegal in all 50 states, but residents of Centennial Park say they allowed our cameras into their home because they want to show just how average and normal their lives are. The Cawleys will also appear on TV's "Polygamy USA," which airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on National Geographic Channel.

"We would like to start having the debate nationally about the decriminalization of polygamy," Michael Cawley said. "If I had my choices, I would like to see it done right now. I don't see there is any reason for this lifestyle to be a crime. It's a religion. Not a crime."

Centennial Park is home to about 1,500 fundamentalist Mormons. There are sharp contrasts between this sect and members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a religious cult whose ruthless leader has been sentenced to life in prison for taking underage girls in 'spiritual marriages.'

Residents of Centennial Park have been among the most vocal supporters of polygamy.

Child marriage is out of the question in this group.

The Salt Lake Tribune quoted Marlyne Hammon, a spokeswomen for the group on this subject:

By custom, it is usually girls who take the initiative in choosing a mate, Hammon said, which affords the best chance of success for the marriage. The process begins with the girl first approaching her parents, then clergy and, if all those parties are supportive, the man she is interested in.

"This is usually the process for either a first or a plural marriage," Hammon said. "There may be variations, but this is most commonly the way our marriages happen."

But ABC News also notes that

While more tolerant than the FLDS, the Centennial Park polygamist community is not quite as laid back as the polygamy family featured on TLC's "Sister Wives" either.

Women in Centennial Park get the inspiration for who they will marry, but then they can't say no to an additional wife if one gets an inspiration to join their family. [...]

There is no dating allowed. Women have to be at least 18 years old to marry, and God can tell them to marry just about anyone in town, even if they were many years older.

Polygamy was 'most holy and important doctrine ever revealed'

To Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, polygamy was one of Mormonism's most sacred credos.

As Jon Krakauer points out in his book, Under the Banner of Heaven,[ref]In Under the Banner of Mormonism Jon Krakauker examines Mormon Fundamentalist groups, in the process taking a look at Mormonism's violent past, "and finds a distinctly American brand of religious extremism." [/ref] Smith described plural marriage as part of "the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on earth" and taught that a man needed at least three wives to attain the "fullness of exaltation" in the afterlife.

According to Smith, "if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."

But faced with the disincorporation of the LDS Church, and the forfeiture to the Federal Government of all church property worth more than $50,000, in 1890 Mormon leaders claimed God revealed to them that polygamy was out.[ref]The background to this change -- and countless other changes in Mormon doctrine, claims and history -- is documented in the online book, The Changing World of Mormonism[/ref]

The Birth of Fundamentalist Mormonism

That major change in doctrine led many conservative Mormons to withdraw to remote sections of the American West, where they continued to practice what they called "The Principle" -- plural marriage.

There are many polygamous sects of the Mormon Church. Nowadays their followers are often referred to as Fundamentalist Mormons, since they hold on to what they consider to be the fundamental doctrines of the Mormon faith.

The best known of these sects is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

Prosecuting Underage Marriage

In 2008 an FLDS compound near Eldorado, Texas was raided by authorities over concerns that children were being abused.

Based in part on evidence obtained during that raid, FLDS prophet and leader Warren Jeffs was convicted for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed "spiritual marriages." In August, 2011 he was sentenced to life plus 20 years.

Jeffs was one of 11 FLDS men indicted and prosecuted after the raid.

Earlier, independent Mormon polygamist Tom Green, prosecuted after he boasted about his lifestyle and beliefs on national TV, was sentenced for bigamy, criminal nonsupport and child rape.

While most of the polygamous sects of Mormonism reportedly do not practice or otherwise condone underage marriage, these two cases brought fundamentalist polygamous groups and their beliefs and practices back into the spotlight.

Most of these groups had 'gone underground' after the ill-fated 1953 Shortcreek raid, when families were split up as Arizona authorities tried to combat polygamy in a heavy-handed manner.

Sixty years later, the polygamous families at Centennial Park say, as ABC News reports, "they are tired of living in secret and want to demonstrate plural marriage as the way they say it should be seen."

Hammon said that the stereotype that women in polygamist marriages have no rights, no freedom to leave the community and are only there to have babies is false, as far as he is concerned.

"I can tell you that my door swings both ways," he said. "If they come in, they can go out. I know of no greater freedom for a woman than living in a responsible, caring polygamist home."[ref]Arthur Hammon is one of the town elders and a husband to three wives with more than 20 children[/ref]

Research resources on Polygamy
Polygamous Sects of the Mormon Church

Full story: Polygamous sect on charm offensive

A polygamous cult of Mormonism, whose prophet is serving life in prison, is coming under increased scrutiny by U.S. authorities.

• Arizona Attorney General announces criminal probe

  Authorities believe marshals in Colorado City, Arizona -- a town dominated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints -- are preventing women from leaving the polygamous sect.

  "Women who wanted to escape have been forcibly held by the marshals against their will," Attorney General Tom Horne said during a news conference.

  In February 2012 authorities were so concerned about the behavior of police officers in Colorado City that the Arizona Legislator discussed a bill which would force the city to disband its police force.

  At the time the Arizona Republic wrote,

  Investigators and former church members complain that town officers ignore the law and instead carry out directives from spiritual leaders.

  According to Arizona's Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, Colorado City averages 10 officers at any one time. A half-dozen of them have been decertified in recent years, some for misconduct with minors and others after declaring their allegiance to the FLDS prophet above the law.

  That bill was rejected, as was a similar bill that targeted the police force in Colorado City's twin city of Hildale, Utah.

• Regarding the announced criminal probe the Associated Press says
  

  The church does not have a spokesman to speak on its behalf, and [Warren] Jeffs, who is said to still rule the sect, is imprisoned for life in Texas after convictions on child sex and bigamy charges.

  The criminal probe announced Tuesday mirrors the one that landed Jeffs in prison.

• At the news conference in which he announced the probe, Horne was joined by a young mother with six children who fled the cult.

  Ruby Jessop Barlow, sister of anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop -- herself a former FLDS member who escaped the cult in 1986 -- told state authorities she was forced into a marriage at age 14 and held against her will for 12 years before escaping in December.

  According to the Arizona Republic Flora Jessop said Barlow's ordeal illustrates the cultish control exercised by self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who continues to lead the church from behind bars.

• Meanwhile Salt Lake Tribune reporter Lindsay Whitehurst reports on her Polygamy Blog that a Utah-based group called the Sound Choices Coalition has organized a petition to oppose the decriminalization of polygamy.

  Called "Stand Against Legalizing the Subjugation of Women Through Polygamy," the petition is hosted by Change.org.

  The petition is in response to an attempt by the Kody Brown family -- stars of the pro-polygamy reality show Sister Wives -- to have polygamy decriminalized in Utah.

  The Sound Choices Coalition is led by Kristyn Decker, a former polygamist wife who is now a polygamy opponent.

  Earlier this month the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Decker is trying to buy a group home for other women and children trying to leave polygamy.

  The paper writes she hopes to orchestrate a fundraiser through the HOPE Organization, a southern Utah-based nonprofit dedicated to assisting survivors of abuse within polygamous relationships on their courageous journey to personal freedom.

The paper says the 'Sister Wives' arguments covered old polygamy ground, and Whitehurst provides more details of the hearing on her blog.

• In other FLDS-cult related news, Ron and Jinger Cooke -- citizens of Colorado City, but not members of the abusive church -- have filed civil rights lawsuits against the municipal governments and utilities in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.

  For the last four and a half years they have been trying to get a water hook-up to the Northern Arizona home they share with their three children, but the FLDS refuses to hook them up.

  Arizona TV station KTVK reports that

  The Cookes have also documented with their own cameras several incidents in which FLDS men and boys have come to their home to harass and intimidate them.
  During one such incident an FLDS man drove a backhoe on to their property and started digging up their front yard while FLDS cops stood by protecting the backhoe driver.

• By the way, FLDS attorneys now have until Jan. 28 to respond to the attempts by the State of Texas to seize their Yearning for Zion ranch.

About the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

With an estimated 10,000 followers, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) is the largest among dozens of Mormon splinter groups.

Most of these groups separated from the Mormon Church after it was forced to abandon polygamy in the mid-1800s.

Until then, polygamy had been one of founder Joseph Smith's most important doctrines -- so much so that it is canonized as Section 132 of The Doctrine and Convenants, one of Mormonism's primary scriptural texts.

In his book, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith, Jon Krakauer writes

The revered prophet described plural marriage as part of "the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed to man on earth" and taught that a man needed at least three wives to attain the "fullness of exaltation" in the afterlife. He warned that God had explicitly commanded that "all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same ... and if ye abide not that covenenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."

While Mormon doctrine has undergone significant changes throughout the church's history -- based on its belief that God provides ongoing revelations which may or may not contradict his earlier ones -- it is the abandonment of the doctrine of plural marriage that led to the formation of a number of splinter groups.

Members of these groups are known as Mormon fundamentalists. They believe that in keeping what they consider to be the fundamental doctrines of Mormonism, plural marriage included, they hold to a purer form of the faith than the mainstream Mormon Church. In all, there are an estimated 37,000 Mormon Fundamentalists.

Meanwhile, despite its officially name -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) -- is itself considered to be theologically a cult of Christianity, because its core teachings and practices violate the essential doctrines of the Christian faith.

Most Mormon Fundamentalist splinter groups fly under the radar, but a few have had run-ins with the law. Of these, the FLDS has captured much attention for its practice of forced marriages, including marriages arranged between underage females and older followers.

Due to the extreme hold the leadership of the FLDS has over its followers, the group is not just theologically a cult of the Mormon Church (and by extension also a cult of Christianity), but can be considered a cult in the sociological sense of the term as well. [Understand the differences between theological and sociological definitions of the term 'cult']

In August 2012, a jury in Texas sentenced FLDS leader Warren Jeffs to life in prison for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed "spiritual marriages."

Despite being imprisoned, Jeffs still rules his followers with an iron fist -- aided by the fact that they believe him to be a prophet sent by God.

Full story: Increased scrutiny for polygamous FLDS cult

The State of Texas on Wednesday took steps to seize the 1,691 acres Yearning For Zion ranch where underage girls were involved in marriages to adult followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).

Theologically the FLDS is a cult of Mormonism. Sociologically the group, believed to have some 10,000 members, is a cult as well.

In August, 2011, the cult's leader, Warren Jeffs, was sentenced to life plus 20 years in prison after his conviction for sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed "spiritual marriages."

Evidence obtained during 2008 raid

On April 3, 2008, Texas authorities raided the ranch and took 400 children in protective custody.

The raid was sparked by what was later determined to have been a hoax phone call in which the caller claimed she was forced to have sex and was beaten regularly.

Texas courts rejected arguments that the group's belief system is itself a dangerous form of abuse and later ordered the children to be returned to their parents.

However, 12 men -- including the cult's leader, Warren Jeffs -- were indicted for crimes including child sexual assault, bigamy and performing an illegal marriage.

All have now been prosecuted, but it is believed that Canadian authorities are also investigating allegations that underaged girls have been trafficked between the sect's Canadian outpost and US bases for the purpose of 'spiritual marriages' to older FLDS men.

Much of the evidence used to convict the men came from materials seized during a search of the cult's sacred temple -- one of many buildings on the sect's property.

Under Texas law, law enforcement can try to seize property that was used to commit or facilitate certain criminal conduct.

Authorities say compound's temple used to commit crimes

A press release from the Attorney General's office says

In a 91-page affidavit that was submitted to the court along with the search and seizure warrant, a law enforcement officer with the Texas Attorney General's Office describes how proceeds from illegal activity were used to purchase the ranch, which FLDS leaders bought in a failed attempt to establish a remote outpost where they could insulate themselves from criminal prosecution for sexually assaulting children.

According to ABC News

Authorities say Jeffs used the compound's temple to commit his crimes, saying it "was constructed in a special manner so that Warren Steed Jeffs could perpetuate sexual assaults in the Temple building."

And they quote from Jeffs' own designs and the group's "Priesthood Records": "There is a table, but it will be made so it can be a table or it can be a bed. It should be made so the tabletop can come off. It will be on wheels€¦ This will be made so that it can be taken apart and stored in a closet where no one can see it. When I need it, I will pull it out and set it up€¦ It will be covered with a sheet, but it will have a plastic cover to protect the mattress from what will happen on it."

Authorities detail Jeffs in his own words to make their case that the compound's very existence was centered around protecting criminal activity.

The Associated Press says

Rod Parker, a Nevada attorney for the FLDS, did not immediately return a phone message Wednesday from The Associated Press. He told the Salt Lake Tribune that it seemed the state's purpose was to take the land and sell it to the highest bidder, which would result in sect members living at the ranch likely being evicted.

"They're punishing the victims. These aren't the people who committed the crimes," Parker told the newspaper.

When a court hearing is scheduled, "FLDS will be given an opportunity to oppose the seizure and submit evidence supporting its case," a news release from Abbott's office stated. The proceeding is a civil, not criminal, matter.

In a post on her Polygamy Blog at the Salt Lake Tribune, Lindsay Whitehurts has some questions about the proposed seizure, including:

• What does Texas have to prove to win ownership of the trust? Do they have to show that everyone who bought/worked on the ranch knew Jeffs and others were sexually assaulting underage girls?
• Over the last five months or so, just about everyone has cleared out of the ranch, apparently to smaller FLDS outposts and houses of hiding around the country. How does that change the dynamic? Does it make it more difficult to investigate potential ongoing problems? [...]
• What the heck is the state of Texas going to do with a 1,600-acre ranch, complete with an enormous limestone temple and open-air auditorium, in the middle of nowhere?

Observers say Warren Jeffs continues his iron-fisted rule over members of his cult from prison.

Read the Search And Seizure Warrant and Affidavit

Search and Seizure Warrant
Affidavit for Search and Seizure Warrant

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See Also

Texas spent $4.5M+ on FLDS prosecutions
Yearning For Zion: From Hunting Ground To Polygamist Ranch
Research resources on the FLDS

Full story: Texas authorities move to seize FLDS cult ranch

The state of Utah must help pay more than $5.5 million in past-due bills owed to an accountant appointed to run a polygamous sect's property trust after it was taken over by the state, the Utah Supreme Court decided Friday.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports

The high court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling ordering Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff to kick in money to help pay the four years of debts, which are primarily owed to attorneys for accountant Bruce Wisan.

"Under the highly unusual circumstances surrounding the UEP trust ... both the award of fees and the amount of the award were just and equitable," according to the high court. Shurtleff initiated the takeover of the $110 million United Effort Plan trust in 2005 amid allegations of mismanagement by Warren Jeffs and other Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints trustees.

The justices came down firmly in favor Wisan, who argued it was unfair to expect private citizens to go years without being paid for court-appointed work. He was supposed to be paid from the trust itself, but has been legally barred from selling its property to pay himself since 2008.

Wisan's "expenses were incurred for the benefit of the state because they were in the administration of a charitable trust," the justices wrote, saying he has increased the value of the trust by more than his fees by seizing property that FLDS leaders tried to transfer out. [...]

The Utah Supreme Court justices in Monday's opinion faulted the attorney general who, they said, "undercut" Wisan's efforts to collect money for his fees over the years, including Shurtleff's 2009 offering of aproposed settlement that would have given almost all the trust back to the sect.

United Effort Plan

The United Effort Plan (UEP) property trust was created by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) in 1942 on the concept of a "united order," allowing followers to share in its assets.

Ex-members claim that FLDS cult leader Warren Jeffs has used the UEP to control the sect's members.

Utah courts seized control of the trust in 2005 amid allegations by state attorneys that Jeffs and other faith leaders had mismanaged its assets.

Ever since, the trust has been the subject of ongoing legal battles.

Deseret News explains

Valued at more than $110 million, the trust holds most of the property and homes in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. The church also holds property in Bountiful, British Columbia, and Eldorado, Texas.

Members consider sharing its assets a religious principle and see state intervention in the trust as a violation of their religious rights. They have long been challenging the state takeover of the trust in both state and federal courts, where there have been different, conflicting rulings, leading the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to take the case and issue an injunction to freeze all assets until the matter is resolved.

Meantime, the court-appointed special fiduciary, Bruce Wisan, and those working for and with him to manage the trust have gone unpaid, accruing bills totaling $5.7 million for the period of May 2008 to September 2011 alone. [...]

When the state took control of the trust, Wisan and other managers were to be paid from funds generated by the trust itself, but that option has stalled due to the ongoing litigation.

The Salt Lake Tribune says

'Interim Payment'

In its opinion, the Supreme Court of Utah says it does not disagree with Shurtleff's argument that the fees incurred in administering the trust should ultimately be paid from the trust assets if at all possible.

As Deseret News points out, in theory the Utah Attorney General's Office payment would be an interim payment until the trust itself can repay the fees.

Despite the now-epic and expensive court battle, Shurtleff said the takeover was still the right move.

"I don't regret having gone and asked the court to remove Warren Jeffs," he said Friday, though he added that more FLDS involvement from the beginning would have made things go more smoothly.

Jeffs, 56, is now serving a life prison sentence in Texas for sexually assaulting two underage girls he took as polygamous wives but is said to still control the sect and orchestrate the increasingly frequent excommunications of members.

'Taxpayers shouldn't have to pay this'

[Update, August 4, 2012] KSL TV says

As it stands, Shurtleff said his office will have to go to the Utah Legislature and ask for an appropriation of funds to pay what is owed. Shurtleff said he's contacted the presidents of both the Utah House and Senate. But whether a special session will be needed is unclear.

"I'm disappointed, obviously," he said Friday. "Because we obviously felt very strongly that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay this or loan this money temporarily when the fiduciary understood it was to be paid out of the trust itself. But we lost and I respect the process."

Shields said Wisan is "delighted" to have a unanimous decision on their side. He said those involved continued to work on the case out of a sense of duty to see the job through and echoed Shurtleff that the ultimate goal is to return the trust and its assets to the FLDS people.

"Our goal is to distribute the property to the people who built that property," Shields said. "It's going to be in the control of the people who built the property and they can do with it what they want."

He said they are "optimistic" payment will come quickly.

Read the Supreme Court's Opinion, 2012 UT 47
More about the United Effort Plan
Research resources on the Warren Jeffs and other Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Full story: Utah AG ordered to pay for takeover of FLDS sect’s property trust

Willie Jessop, the Former spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), has won a $29,493,000 default judgement against church leaders Lyle Jeffs and John Wayman who failed to respond to a lawsuit.

KCSG reports

Jessop sued after he was excommunicated, alledging he was blackmailed and pressured to lie for Warren Jeffs, who faced charges of under age marriages and child sexual assault. The lawsuit said the FLDS leaders retaliated against him burglarizing his Hildale construction business and forcing his employees to quit.

Fifth District Court Judge Rand Beacham ruled in Jessop's favor Monday after Lyle Jeffs, Warren Jeffs' brother and John Wayman did not respond to the lawsuit.

Ben Winslow reports that

in an interview with FOX 13 on Thursday, Jessop said it was no consolation for the "tragedy" unfolding in the fundamentalist communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

"There (are) people that are trying to survive the act of a religion that has been basically turned over to a cartel," he said. "Religious leaders are excommunicating people to cover up the sexual assault of little children."

Jessop was a loyal defender of Jeffs, until he learned of the sexual assault of children in the aftermath of the raid on the FLDS Church's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas. Jeffs is serving a life, plus 20-year sentence for child sex assault stemming from his "spiritual marriages" to a 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl.

Since he's been incarcerated, Jeffs has excommunicated nearly 2,000 people for unnamed "sins." Jessop called it a "social tragedy."

"We've got a long ways to go out of this mess and it's a heartache on an hourly basis," he said.

Jessop said he wanted to see FLDS leaders besides Jeffs held accountable for their involvement. Law enforcement authorities in southern Utah have told FOX 13 their criminal investigations into members of the FLDS Church are not over.

Jessop's lawsuit is also not over. He has served a number of people — including Warren Jeffs himself.

Default judgement in favor of Willie Jessop
Research resources on the FLDS

Full story: Ex-FLDS spokesman wins $30 million judgment against church leaders

The appellate saga of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs' sexual assault conviction has ended, says Matthew Waller in the San Angelo Standard-Times:

His appeal was refused by Texas' highest criminal appeals court Wednesday.

Jeffs, who has represented himself during and since his trial last year after firing high-powered attorneys, sent a variety of letters addressed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in April, purporting to be revelations from God making demands of freedom for himself and for other members of Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Jeffs is serving a sentence of life plus 20 years in Palestine for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and a 15-year-old girl.

"You have only authority to fully dismiss the present cases now before prosecuting court and past court actions, thus preserving thy nation from full whirlwind judgment," one of the letters states.

The paper quotes Patrick Metze, a criminal law professor at Texas Tech University School of Law as saying Jeffs should have let his attorneys file the appeal, and that judges most likely will not be amenable to pleas from Jesus Christ for Jeffs' release.

Lindsay Whiteburt, in her Polygamy Blog at the Salt Lake Tribune, comments

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has generally been savvy in the courts over the years, hiring top-notch attorneys. So why the rejection of that strategy?

You could say there are mental issues at work, or point to the fact that Warren also took the "answer them nothing" approach around 2005 as lawsuits were filed against the FLDS property trust.

Or you could argue, as Willie Jessop told me for this story, that he's trying to avoid a re-airing of the damning facts of the case and confronting his own guilt.

But it also occurs to me that a release won by an attorney doesn't fit into Warren's myth-making. An opinion wrung from a government court (assuming it could be won) doesn't exactly measure up to the prison walls crumbling and Warren walking out a free man, does it?

Whitehurts maintains a Google calendar tracking Jeffs' 'revelations.' (Click on 'More details' at each entry).

Read Warren Jeffs' 'revelations' as mailed to the Texas high court
Research resources on the FLDS

Full story: Warren Jeffs’ appeal is rejected by Texas state court

The conviction of a polygamist serving 17 years in prison for sexual assault of a child was upheld in a Texas court Thursday.

The Salt Lake Tribune says

Abram Harker Jeffs, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who had lived at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, appealed the 2010 conviction, but the decision was upheld in the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Austin on Thursday. [...]

He said that the state had insufficient evidence to prove that a sexual relationship had occurred between him and his wife, whom he married when she was 14 years old. The girl gave birth to a son when she was 16, and DNA tests prove that Jeffs is the biological father.

However, Jeffs said in the court documents that this alone does not prove sexual relations, and that artificial insemination could have been used.

The district judge ruled that the circumstantial evidence — that the couple were united in a marriage ceremony, lived as a married couple and gave birth to a son — was enough to establish that a sexual relationship occurred.

Abram Harker Jeffs was one of 12 men indicted for crimes including child sexual assault, bigamy and performing an illegal marriage after an April 2008 law enforcement raid on the sect's Ranch to check on accusations of sexual assault.

At his trial, Texas prosecutors said that Jeffs assaulted a girl with whom he was in an FLDS "spiritual" or "celestial" marriage on May 12, 2006, when Jeffs was 34 and already legally married and when the girl was 15.

Full story: Conviction upheld in FLDS sexual assault case

The Washington County (Utah) Attorney has a series of criminal investigations under way into members of Warren Jeffs' polygamous church on the Utah-Arizona border, Ben Winslow reports at KSTU Fox 13.

"Law enforcement is interested in, and is investigating allegations of wrongdoing by members of the community out there," Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap said in an interview with FOX 13.

While confirming he has a number of criminal investigations under way into members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, Belnap would not reveal what those investigations were for. However, he said he is not likely to pursue another case against Jeffs.

"The focus of my attention right now is not with Warren Jeffs," Belnap told FOX 13. "And the reason for that is because there are plenty of other things to be focused on while he is sitting in prison on a life, plus 20 year sentence. It's not the (best) use of our resources."

Jeffs was one of 12 men indicted for crimes including child sexual assault, bigamy and performing an illegal marriage after an April 2008 law enforcement raid on the sect's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas to check on accusations of sexual assault.

WARREN JEFFS
Last August Warren Jeffs Warren Jeffs was convicted of sexually assaulting two underage followers he took as brides in what his church deemed "spiritual marriages."

Warren Jeffs is the leader and 'prophet' of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Though jailed, he still maintains his iron-fisted rule over the FLDS.

Media outlets affiliated with the LDS (Mormon) Church consistently refer to the FLDS as the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

The Mormon Church does not recognize members of the FLDS -- theologically a sect of the Mormon Church -- as Mormons. At the same time, members of the FLDS say that they are 'Mormons, too' -- given that the FLDS and the LDS share a common Mormon history. [Details]

RAPE AS AN ACCOMPLISH CONVICTION OVERTURNED
In July, 2010 the Utah Supreme Court overturned Jeffs' rape-as-an-accomplice on conviction on a technicality.

In a unanimous decision, justices found that jurors in the case were given improper instructions by Washington County Judge James Shumate before reaching their verdict that Jeffs contributed to the 2001 sexual assault of teenage victim Elissa Wall, then 14, by directing her marriage to an adult cousin.

Ben Winslow quotes Benlap as saying

authorities in Texas have begun sharing some of the billions of pages of evidence seized in the raid. FOX 13 reported last year on a spreadsheet that outlined hundreds of polygamous marriages — including some involving children — between FLDS members in Utah and Arizona. [...]

Washington County's focus on FLDS Church members comes amid a number of investigations. Canadian authorities have said they are renewing their look at allegations of trafficking child brides across the U.S.-Canadian border, as well as polygamy itself. [...]

Research resources on the FLDS

Full story: New investigations into FLDS Church members, prosecutor says

A sharply divided Arizona House on Wednesday rejected a bill to allow Mohave County officials to abolish the police department in a northern Arizona community with a polygamous enclave.

The Associated Press says

The House voted 28-25 against the bill as a lawmaker who represents the remote area on the Arizona-Utah line called Colorado City "a different type of community" while acknowledging that some residents practice a form of polygamy.

"These are not multiple married individuals. They are married to one individual and the others are celestial, spiritual wives," said Rep. Doris Goodale, R-Kingman.

State Attorney General Tom Horne had championed the bill, saying Colorado City officers who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints flout the law and are simply replaced by other followers of imprisoned FLDS leader Warren Jeffs if removed individually. [...]

The bill would have set up a process for a local police agency to be replaced by the county Sheriff's Department if at least half of its officers have lost their law enforcement certifications in an eight-year period. [...]

Horne's office said the marshal's office in Colorado City already met that threshold with multiple revocations between 2003 and 2007, while Rep. Nancy McLain said current officers have either been cleared by investigations or are newly hired.

"Things are changing up there and it just doesn't seem fair to go backward in time when things are opening up," said McLain, a Bullhead City Republican who also represents Colorado City.

Opponents also argued that the bill unconstitutionally targeted a single community. [...]

Colorado City officers also police neighboring Hildale, Utah. A twin bill that would have disbanded the department on the Utah side was dead on arrival in the Utah Legislature last month.

Colorado City police torn between religion and law
Have the cops in Colorado City become "Lawless" lawmen?

Full story: Arizona House rejects bill to disband Colorado City police

Religion News Blog -- Warren Jeffs, the imprisoned cult leader of the polygamous FLDS sect, has filed a new appeal of his child sex assault conviction, threatening God's wrath if he is not freed from prison.

Acting as his own attorney, Jeffs filed his appeal in the form of three 'revelations' from God.

The revelations suggest that 'Jesus Christ, even Son Ahman' is asking the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to release him. 'Son Ahman' is terminology used in the Mormon Church, of which the FLDS is one of many sects.

According to Jeffs the Mormon version of Jesus Christ wants the Court to know that

"My people have endured persecution by government powers since Joseph Smith's day on earth; and this nation is ripened for my full judgments, living in corruption," Jeffs writes. "Let my servant and his brethren of my Church in Texas prisons be released, for they are prosecuted for abiding my law of Celestial Eternal Marriage of Plural Marriage Celestial; my most holy pure law of salvation, necessary for them and all others to receive full salvation."

Jeffs, who is serving a sentence of life plus twenty years, has issued lots of similar revelations, which have been sent to various government officials. Lindsay Whitehurst, who writes The Polygamy Blog at the Salt Lake Tribune, has created a Google Calendar that includes links to the full text of Jeffs' creative writings.

She says Jeffs' latest revelations were sent directly to the court, and come about a month after the Third Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal against his conviction because he missed several deadlines for paperwork to be filed.

Whitehurts writes

In the new filing, Jeffs, who is acting as his own attorney, tells us he decided to skip the lower court and go straight to the top. He wants the judges to drop all the charges and let all the FLDS men in prison go free, especially Merril Jessop (who he seems quite concerned about these days.)

The revelation threatens God's "full whirlwind judgements" if it doesn't happen.

Read Warren Jeffs' revelations to Texas high court
Research resources on the FLDS

Full story: Warren Jeffs appeals conviction, threatens God’s wrath if he’s not freed