Little Girl, Lost
 
God & Consequences
StoryHunters.com
 
There's another Mormon girl gone missing, and the police don't seem to care.

Janetta Jessop, 17, allegedly called her sister to come rescue her from the FLDS, a splinter Mormon sect run by Warren Jeffs, the prophet who keeps kicking members out of his tight little community for questioning him - or just because he wants their wives or property. (The FLDS is a polygamous church.)

Jessop's sister, Suzanne Johnson, has been disfellowshipped by the church, which means that she's basically persona non grata as far as FLDS members are concerned. Johnson thinks that perhaps Jessop has been "given" to Warren Jeffs as another one of his brides - and she's worried, because the FLDS won't give her the time of day. And the cops? Well, they called Jessop's parents, who claimed she was "fine" - and that was apparently that.

"I could tell something was wrong (when Jessop called)," Johnson said. "I had a bad feeling."

Now Sam Brower, a private investigator hired to find Jeffs and who has also been helping Johnson with this incident, is upset, saying the Washington County Sheriff has failed in his oath to protect the innocent and the public because he has taken the parents' word on Jessop's whereabouts without checking.

"I don't know what everyone wants me to do ... we deal with fact, we don't deal with innuendo and I'm not (going to) allow this group to push their agenda," Smith said.

A sister is concerned, and that's great, Smith said, but the parents said Jessop was fine.

"We can't take some sister who hasn't seen her in awhile ... Mom and Dad say she's fine and I'm going to defer to Mom and Dad," he said.

Brower expressed dismay because Johnson took a risk by making a report, he said, and now the police won't do anything.

"If she's there, go take a look and prove us wrong," Brower said. (The Spectrum)

You would think that the cops, who normally insist on seeing things for themselves, would have been just a wee bit less... well, credulous. How long would it take to send a squad car out to Jessop's house and confirm that the girl's there and not being held against her will by some guy who already has multiple wives? If Jeffs has indeed "married" the girl (and Johnson freely admits she's not sure, that she only thinks it could be so) and is dipping his wick, isn't it statutory rape? And shouldn't the police be concerned about investigating that?

Something doesn't smell quite right here. I don't know about Utah, but in my hometown, the cops don't just stop at a phone call- they at least try to find a missing person, or someone believed to be in danger. (Then again, the Vancouver PD is one of the finest in creation.)

On a slightly different note, FLDS attorney Rod Parker has this to say:

While allegations of this nature -- about the treatment of children in the community -- don't hurt the church as an entity or Jeffs, they do hurt the community and the people there, said FLDS attorney Rod Parker.

These allegations create a prejudice on the community, Parker said.

"(Jeffs) is focused on what he believes is a spiritual calling. The comments of the temporal world don't hurt him, but the people are hurt," he said. (The Spectrum)

If Jeffs is the "spiritual leader" of this community, then the allegations should darn tootin' hurt him. He should be horrified that anyone can think this about his Godly way of life, and let the television cameras and law enforcement come take a look, and prove his detractors wrong. After all, if he's so godly, he can afford to be transparent, right?

An attorney with the Mohave County Attorney's Office said he'd been authorized to look into the report. I hope nothing's wrong with Jessop - but either way, the cops have dropped the ball.

I wonder why?
 
StoryHunters.com
Originally published November 16, 2004
 
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