Warren Jeffs 'notified by publication' in connection with federal civil suit
 
By Tom Vaughan
Mancos Times Editor
 
Warren Jeffs is back in newspapers again. This time the prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-day Saints is in the legal notices, instead of the front page.

For the second time, Jeffs is being served notice by publication that he is being sued in a Utah court, and he needs to make his whereabouts known to defend himself. The first time this happened was in late November, when legals relating to the sexual molestation charges brought by Brent Jeffs in a civil suit in Utah state court were published in the Cortez Journal, as well as in newspapers in St. George, Utah; Creston, British Columbia; and Eldorado, Texas.

In the present instance, the notification relates to a federal civil suit brought by Shem Fischer in Utah, alleging religious discrimination on the grounds that he was fired from his job because he became an apostate from the FLDS group. This notice was not run in British Columbia.

No such notice has been seen yet for a third civil suit, the "Lost Boys" suit, brought in a Utah state court on behalf of six young men who allege Warren Jeffs and other defendants wrongly excommunicated them from the FLDS and damned them to perdition. The "lost boys" claim they were kicked out to reduce the competition for young FLDS women to be taken as plural wives for older men in the polygamous sect.

JEFFS CONTROLS FLDS

Warren Jeffs rose to the top position in the FLDS congregation (thought to number 10,000 or more in all its locations) by first serving as the closest aide of his prophet father, Rulon Jeffs, then stepping into the prophet post when Rulon Jeffs died in 2002.

The FLDS is but one of a number of offshoots of the main LDS body, which outlawed polygamy in 1890. Each of the splinter groups lays claim to being the "true" inheritors of the LDS faith, as the result of divine revelations to the male heads of the patriarchal groups.

The FLDS denomination has long been centered in the community historically known as Short Creek, actually the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. Satellite communities were established in Bountiful, British Columbia, and in 2003, in Schleicher County, Texas. Also in 2003, FLDS member David Allred (who is married to a daughter of Warren Jeffs, according to Winston Blackmore, the former FLDS bishop of Bountiful) bought a 60-acre parcel in the Mancos Valley, followed by another 60-acre parcel in 2004.

There is also alleged to be an FLDS community of unknown size near Beryl, Utah, and there are rumored to be FLDS holdings in Mexico, as well.

Perhaps as a result of the lawsuits in Utah and pressure on several fronts from Arizona law enforcement authorities, development of the 1,691-acre Texas compound near the city of Eldorado has proceeded at a feverish pace. Perhaps a dozen buildings have been constructed there since the purchase of the property, several of them 20,000 square feet or more in floor space. Workers are allegedly working around the clock on both a 25,000-square-foot home for Jeffs and a four-story temple. The compound as a whole is owned by the YFZ Land Corp. (YFZ is thought to be an acronym for "Yearning for Zion").

At the same time, Warren Jeffs has consolidated his control of the FLDS denomination by eliminating competitors. Before his father died, Warren Jeffs is accused of causing the ouster of Winston Blackmore from the FLDS on May 30, 2002. In January 2003, he excommunicated 20 FLDS men in the Short Creek community, including some of the leaders of the group. The wives, children and property of the men were reassigned by Warren Jeffs to other FLDS men.

Further excommunications of men who might challenge him are reported, both in Short Creek and at the YFZ compound in Texas. Winston Blackmore told The Mancos Times Monday that two leading adherents in Texas, patriarch Allan Steed and Bishop Ernie Jessop, have been excommunicated and stripped of their families.

WHO CONTROLS THE ASSETS?

Control of FLDS financial assets may be even more pertinent than spiritual control. FLDS assets in Short Creek and Bountiful have been held in common since 1942 in a trust called the United Effort Plan.

According to the Mohave County, Ariz., assessor's Web site, the UEP holds title to 116 parcels of real property in the Colorado City area. The Mancos Times totaled the first 20 parcels in the list, and they aggregated 105.62 acres, at a full cash value of $11,079,083. If those 20 are typical of the whole 116 parcels, then the Colorado City real property owned by the UEP would be worth $64,258,664. With two other properties registered in the name "UEP Trust," not UEP, the total real property value would be $64,304,038.

The cash values listed by the assessor range from $367 for .3 acres of vacant land to $1,578,373 for a residence on more than five acres. Three of the 20-parcel sample of properties were million-dollar residences, and the average parcel value in the sample was more than $550,000.

In addition to real property, the UEP owns 96 pieces of personal property in Colorado City, all of which appear to be mobile homes, plus improvements in some cases. Again using the first 20 parcels listed as a sample, the aggregated cash value comes to $199,371. If this sample is typical of the whole, UEP personal property holdings in Colorado City approximate $1 million ($957,024).

While the individual values of the mobile homes in the sample of 20 vary from $1,988 to $36,059, there are three mobile homes, each valued at $17,976, listed as being on the same lot.

Using these estimates, based on samples of the lists, the UEP holds title to more than $65 million in real and personal property in Colorado City. That doesn't include UEP holdings across the state line in Hildale, Utah, which is also largely owned by the UEP.

We also do not have a fix on the value of the UEP properties in Canada. In addition to the properties and businesses remaining under the control of Winston Blackmore and his followers after they were excommunicated, the FLDS members loyal to Warren Jeffs have other businesses and land, including at least one sawmill.

Winston Blackmore notes, in the March 25, 2004, issue of The North Star, that "The cabins built in Cranbrook by the 'B Boys' have been discovered in Texas. ... The 'B Boys' are sons of Brandon Blackmore, and are residents of the Kootenays in British Columbia. They are known for being thrifty, industrious and diligent master craftsmen. They built these lodges on site in Cranbrook, B.C., then dismantled them and shipped them. It was fun to watch." The "cabins" are shown in the newsletter - they are the three-story, 21,000-square-foot residences built first at the YFZ compound in Texas.

In his newsletter, Blackmore frequently laments the "looting" of the UEP. None of the recent FLDS acquisitions in the Mancos Valley or in Texas have been put in the name of the UEP trust. Top dollar was paid for the Mancos properties and huge amounts of money are being spent at the YFZ compound in Texas, with no revenue being visibly generated for the FLDS at either location.

At press time, Warren Jeffs has not responded to any of the civil suits filed against him.

The Times continues to hope for an opportunity to have a conversation with some associated with the Mancos FLDS properties.
 
cortezjournal.com
Originally published February 8, 2005
 
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