Jeffs on FBI's most-wanted list
 
By Patrice St. Germain
patrices@thespectrum.com
 
ST. GEORGE - Warren Steed Jeffs, 49, the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints, is on the FBI's list of wanted fugitives for the month of August.

Jeffs was indicted by a Mohave County, Ariz., Grand Jury in June on charges of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Jeffs, whose whereabouts are unknown, is also charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A federal arrest warrant was issued on June 27.

Debora McCarley, a special agent with the Phoenix office of the FBI, said information has been received that Jeffs is either in Texas or in Bountiful, British Columbia, Canada. It's unlikely that Jeffs will be found locally.

When asked if Jeffs would be arrested if he is seen in the twin cities formerly known as Short Creek, Fred Barlow, police chief of the Hildale-Colorado City Town Marshall's Office, would not comment.

"I will not make any comment on that. If I have any comments to the newspaper, I will call you. Until then, I'm not making any comments," Barlow said before hanging up.

Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith said the search for Jeffs is higher on the radar screen now that it's a federal issue, but for his office it doesn't change much. There are no Utah charges pending against Jeffs, but Smith said his department will continue to look for him on behalf of Arizona.

"The search for Jeffs has been going on for some time and it's hard to get any intelligence on him, but I can't imagine running into him at Wal-Mart," Smith said. "It would be very foolish for him to go out in the community, at least where law enforcement is familiar with what you look like."

Smith said he hadn't heard that Jeffs was on the FBI fugitive list, but said his office is aware of the charges against Jeffs and, to the best of his knowledge, his officers are aware of the charges and what Jeffs looks like.

"If they came in contact with him they would arrest him, but for the last year or so, no one has seen him," Smith said.

According to information on the FBI Web site, Jeffs "may be traveling with a number of loyal and armed bodyguards and should be considered armed and dangerous." It also states that Jeffs may be in Leesburg, Fla., on property some believe was purchased by FLDS church members.

McCarley said the FBI got involved because Mohave County officials were unable to locate Jeffs.

"The Mohave County Attorney's Office requested assistance and we often do that when there are circumstances (like this)," McCarley said. "Most of the time, it's for more egregious crimes, but this is also one of those cases that warranted our assistance."

Since the FBI has offices across the country, McCarley said it has more resources than local law enforcement agencies. The FBI assists by distributing wanted posters and placing information on its Web site.

While the Web site states that Jeffs is traveling with loyal and armed bodyguards and should be considered armed and dangerous, McCarley said there isn't any definitive information that Jeffs or his followers are armed.

"We do know there are people who are loyal to him and, just depending how loyal they are, they may take action to protect him," she said. "We want to caution any individual that may see him not to detain him for authorities."

Last month the Utah and Arizona Attorney's General offices offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to Jeffs' arrest.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published August 19, 2005
 
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