Warren Steed Jeffs (born December 3, 1955, in San Francisco, California) was, and possibly may still be, the leader of a controversial Mormon fundamentalist polygamist sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church) from 2002 to 2007.Jeffs' position in this organization was reportedly that of absolute ruler.Jeffs gained international notoriety in May 2006 when he was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution on Utah state charges related to his alleged arrangement of extralegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls. He was arrested in August 2006 in Nevada, and agreed to be taken to Utah for trial. In May and July of 2007 the State of Arizona charged him with eight additional counts—including sexual conduct with minors and incest—in two separate cases. His trial, begun early in September of 2007 in St. George, Utah, lasted less than a month, and on September 25 the verdict was read declaring him guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice.On November 20, 2007 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years to life and has begun serving his sentence at the Utah State Prison.
Jeffs reportedly resigned from the presidency of the FLDS Church on the day he was sentenced, but due to this narrowly crafted statement by his attorneys: "Mr. Jeffs resigned as President of the Corporation of the President of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Inc., on November 20, 2007." it is possible that Warren Jeffs is still heading the FLDS church, as the statement does not report that he stepped down as prophet of the church. Alternately, there are reports that Warren Jeffs admitted his position of prophet in the FLDS church was false in a conversation to William E. Jessop, and declared that "Brother William E. Jessop has been the prophet since [my] Father's passing" in a conversation to his brother Nephi Jeffs, though Warren Jeffs' attorneys have claimed he misspoke
1 comments:
Your title for this post is very misleading. Jeffs is not a Mormon (aka Latter-day Saint). His sect is an extreme break-off of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a member of the the LDS Church, I can firmly say that neither Warren Jeffs, nor any of his followers have anything to do with the Church. The Church actually discontinued polygamy in 1890. Check out this link for the Church's official stand on the issue:
http://newsroom.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/eng/commentary/polygamy-investigation
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