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Polygamist's year on lam ends

Accused of arranging underage marriages, the leader of a sect was on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 30, 2006

LAS VEGAS - The charismatic leader of a polygamous Mormon splinter group was captured during a traffic stop three months after being put on the FBI's Most Wanted List and faces charges that he arranged marriages between underage girls and older men.

Warren Steed Jeffs, 50, was arrested without incident just outside Las Vegas late Monday after more than a year on the run, the FBI said. No weapons were found, but the 2007 red Cadillac Escalade he was riding in was filled with items including three wigs, 15 cell phones and tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gift cards, authorities said.

Jeffs has led the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2002 and is said to have at least 40 wives and nearly 60 children. Church dissidents say that underage marriages - some involving girls as young as 13 - escalated into the hundreds under his leadership and that he broke apart families by casting out married men and reassigning their women and children to others.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said that Jeffs' arrest marks "the beginning of the end of ... the tyrannical rule of a small group of people over the practically 10,000 followers of the FLDS sect." He predicted it will lead more people to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse.

Most of the church's members live in Hildale, Utah, and adjoining Colorado City, Ariz., but authorities have said they believe Jeffs had "safe houses" in four other states and Canada.

Jeffs' vehicle was stopped on Interstate 15 for having a temporary Colorado license tag that wasn't easily readable, FBI and Nevada Highway Patrol officials said.

John E. Lewis, special agent in charge of the FBI Phoenix division, said the trooper became suspicious when Jeffs identified himself as John Findley using a contact lens receipt from Florida as identification.

Jeffs confirmed his identity to an FBI agent who was called to the scene. He said he was being subject to religious prosecutions, Lewis said.

Former members of the group and state investigators, describe it as a tyrannical theocracy. Certain "missionaries" were sent door to door to see whether people were engaging in forbidden acts, such as listening to music or watching television.

Members lived largely rent-free, but were at the church's mercy. They were required to tithe 10 percent of their income and, in addition, give $1,000 per month, per family, witnesses said, as Jeffs' calls for money "to build up the kingdom" increased.

Jeffs was being held Tuesday in Clark County jail, awaiting a court hearing on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He is wanted in Utah and Arizona on charges of arranging two marriages between underage girls and older men.

Information from the Los Angeles Times was used in this report.

[Last modified August 30, 2006, 01:00:48]