New charges filed against polygamous leader
 
By Jennifer Dobner
The Associated Press
The Arizona Republic
 
SALT LAKE CITY - Fugitive fundamentalist church leader Warren Jeffs has been charged with a pair of new first-degree felonies for his role in arranging a marriage between a teenage girl and an older man.

The two charges of rape as an accomplice, both of which carry a penalty of up to life in prison, were filed Wednesday by Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap in St. George's 5th District Court.

Jeffs, 51, is the leader of the Hildale-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which practices polygamy.

The case is not about religion or polygamy, Belnap said in prepared statement.

"This case is about a violation of the law by a person in a position of power and authority over a vulnerable young girl," he said. "Mr. Jeffs is not exempt from the law despite his position or beliefs."

Court documents filed Wednesday allege that Jeffs arranged and performed a religious marriage ceremony between the teenager, who is identified only as Jane Doe, and a man identified as John Doe in Nevada. The girl objected to the marriage, the documents state, telling Jeff's she believed she was too young to marry.

But Jeffs allegedly told the girl, who is said to be between 14 and 18 years old, it was her "spiritual duty" to marry and to have children, the documents said. It is unclear how old the man is, although the documents said he was three years older than the girl when the marriage took place.

It is unclear when the marriage occurred, or if it was part of a polygamous relationship.

Prosecutors believe the girl was forced to have sex against her will, according to the documents, and that later she told Jeffs she wanted out of the marriage. Court documents indicate that he refused and said that the girl's religious salvation was a stake if she left the marriage.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Belnap said some of the information in the charges remains deliberately vague in order to protect the identity of the girl.

He would not give the exact date of the girl's alleged marriage, but indicated that it had happened within the 4-year statute of limitations window allowed for first-degree felonies.

It is the first time the county has filed criminal charges against Jeffs, Belnap said, adding that there are ongoing investigations into many different faces of the FLDS community.

An arrest warrant with a $500,000 cash-only bond has been issued for Jeffs, although he hasn't been seen publicly in more than a year. According to the warrant, Jeffs is believed to have so-called safe houses in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota and Canada.

The warrant also states that Jeffs "is known to travel with bodyguards and is considered by the FBI to be armed and dangerous."

Investigators, who have been working on the case since January also say in court documents that members of the FLDS community have said Jeffs will not be subject to "earthly courts" and will not "allow himself to be taken alive."

Jeffs is also wanted on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on an Arizona charge that he arranged for a 16-year-old girl to enter a plural marriage with an older man.

Last year, the Utah attorney general's office asked the courts to remove Jeffs and other church leaders as the controlling trustees of a multimillion church trust on the grounds that they were misusing its assets. The trust, which is made up entirely of property donated to the church by its members, is now in the control of a court-appointed accountant.

The FLDS church is not affiliated with the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The LDS church disavowed polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members found to be practicing polygamy.
 
azcentral.com
Originally published April 6, 2006
 
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