Warren Steed Jeffs: a child molester and evil incarnate

There are three kinds of child molesters. The first kind is the sexual predator who physically seizes a child who is initially a stranger to him and then he sexually abuses the child. These kinds of abusers are not common. Then you have the child molester who fosters a relationship with his young victims who are initially strangers to him and at the same time, are not in any manner related to him. After sexually abusing them, he then awards them with money or other favours for having sex with him. The third kind of child molester is the one who is a member of the child’s family. It could be a brother, a cousin, an uncle, a step father, a father and even a grandfather.

Warren Steed Jeffs was born on December 3, 1955 and is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). The Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does not recognize this man’s church. Jeffs' breakaway sect is believed to have about 10,000 followers. Their practice of polygamy, which the mainstream Mormon Church renounced more than a century ago, is part of Jeffs’ sect's doctrine. His followers believe that polygamy brings exaltation in heaven. They see Jeffs as God's spokesman on earth.

Police raided the group's remote West Texas ranch in April 2008, finding women dressed in frontier-style dresses and hairdos from the 19th century as well as seeing underage girls who were clearly pregnant.

Witnesses at his trial spoke out, revealing a world of manipulation and control saying that Jeffs not only banned followers from 'parades, dances, music, and even the colour red, he banished hundreds of teenage boys so that he wouldn’t have to compete with them for the young girls in his commune. Warren Jeffs is obviously the third kind of child molester.

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 illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls. He was arrested in August 2006 in Nevada, and agreed to be extradited to Utah for trial. In May and July 2007 the State of Arizona charged him with eight additional counts, including sexual conduct with minors and incest.

Jeffs was on the FBI's Most Wanted list but had evaded arrest for years before his capture in 2006. He had surrounded himself with doting believers and underage wives who he bred to service his sexual desires. Of his 78 wives, 29 are said to have been former stepmothers—having previously serviced Rulon Jeffs, Warren Jeffs' father and predecessor as the church's ecclesiastical leader. 56 of the girls were each other's sisters and 24 were under the age of 17.

His Utah trial, which began early in September 2007 in St. George, Utah, lasted less than a month, and on September 25th, the verdict was read declaring him guilty as an accomplice to two counts of rape. On November 20, 2007 he was sentenced to imprisonment for 10 years to life and began serving his sentence at the Utah State Prison. Jeffs' conviction was reversed by Utah's Supreme Court on July 27, 2010 because of incorrect jury instructions.

Rather than try him again, the Utah authorities willingly extradited him from the Utah prison to Texas, where he was tried and found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and sexual assault of two children in connection with a raid of an FLDS Church-owned and occupied West Texas ranch in 2008.

The FLDS Church's traditional headquarters is along the Utah-Arizona border, but it established the Texas remote compound in the western part of Texas in 2004. Police raided the compound in April 2008, finding women dressed in frontier-style dresses and hairdos from the 19th century as well as seeing underage girls who were clearly pregnant.

Jeffs, who defended himself for most of the trial, had walked out on the sentencing portion of the case in protest after reading out a statement threatening a 'whirlwind of judgment from god if his humble servant (Warren Jeffs) was not released from custody’.

Under Texas law, juries decide prison sentences after they hear testimony and evidence of other so-called bad acts. After less than half an hour of deliberations, the jury of ten women and two men at the court in Texas sentenced polygamist leader, Warren Jeffs to the maximum possible time behind bars that was available to the court for his crimes. He was given life behind bars for the first count of aggravated sexual assault on a 12-year-old girl and an extra 20 years, to be served consecutively, for the second count of (non-aggravated) sexual assault on a 15-year-old girl. It is the maximum allowed for each count. He was also handed a $10,000 fine.

In Texas, the sentence of life imprisonment is as follows:

For serious crimes committed on or after September 1, 2005, the sentence is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. For serious crimes committed on or after September 1, 1991 but prior to September 1, 2005, the sentence is life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, but the offender must serve 40 calendar years before parole can be considered. For crimes committed prior to September 1, 1991, the sentence is life imprisonment with the possibility of parole, with no minimum calendar time required to be served.

I don’t know if the two children were sexually assaulted prior to September 1, 2005 but if they were, he would still have to serve 40 years of that life sentence. That would make him 95 years of age at the end of that sentence. Then he would have to serve the 20-year sentence. That would mean that he would be 115 years of age before he would be eligible for parole. In essence, he is going to be serving the rest of his natural life in prison. When he was serving his sentence in Utah, he was in solitary confinement. No doubt he will also be in solitary confinement in the Texas prison because if he was put in the general prison population, he would be subjected to what would be tantamount to being a death sentence. Warren Jeffs should have been caged in a zoo. His ignorance would be less conspicuous amongst the other animals in the zoo.

Seven other men in the church have already been prosecuted, with each receiving convictions and sentences ranging from six to 75 years.

At present, there is no known heir to Jeffs' role as prophet.

Now I will give you more details of this nefarious man which will explain why the jury came down so hard on Jeffs with respect to his sentence.

In addition to his own polygamous marriages, Jeffs also presided over or witnessed 550 bigamous marriages of women to other FLDS men between 1989 and 2006, according to testimony given at his trial.

When one of the young girls in his commune struggled with a difficult labor for three days, Jeffs counseled against taking her to a hospital to avoid opening up her older husband to possible scrutiny by law enforcement, according to testimony. Despite that decision, she and the baby girl survived the birth.

That girl was allegedly married at 15, but was re-assigned to another man at 16 when her first husband, the original bishop at the YFZ Ranch, was excommunicated from the sect — apparently after construction work on the temple that was under his supervision took too long. According to an August 2004 priesthood record presented by prosecutors, the original bishop was told, "You are one of those men who compromise. When the Lord speaks, you do not go on to him." What he meant by that is beyond my understanding.

In this way, Jeffs kicked out 67 men between 2003 and 2006, forcing them to leave their homes and families behind. He kicked out dozens more in 2011, including the sect’s top leaders.

While the charges against him stemmed from two underage plural marriages, Jeffs took a total of 78 plural wives, including 12 girls he wed at age 16 and another 12 he married at age 15 or younger, according to evidence and testimony presented in court. Both parents were present at most of those ceremonies, including those involving Jeffs’ underage wives.

Obviously he didn’t just molest the two children he was convicted of. One of Jeffs' nephews testified at Jeff’s trial in Texas that he was raped by the supposed prophet when he was just five-years-old. He said Jeffs instructed him to keep the assault secret because “It is 'between you, me and god.” A niece also testified about an incident which occurred when she was aged seven. Perhaps most shocking of all has been the revelation that some of the young wives assisted the pedophile with his sexual assaults. In a confused world where they were brainwashed to service the demands of their leader, however abusive, three of Jeffs’ wives (young girls) said in court that on Jeff’s instructions, they held down a 12-year-old victim while Jeffs raped her. One of the girls bound the child's arms and legs to stop her moving, according to tapes seized from the compound where they lived in Eldorado, Texas. I suspect that that victim was the one in which Jeffs was sentenced to prison for committing aggravated sexual assault on her.

It is unclear whether the women will be prosecuted for their roles in that particular abuse but it is very unlikely that they will be prosecuted. Jeffs' wives were both the victims of his abuse and the accomplices in which they were subjected to a cruel world of worship and sexual abuse, while also proving their worth to their leader by physically holding down their peers while they were sexually assaulted by Jeffs.

Many would argue that the submission of his so-called wives was borne out of a deeply engrained fear of Jeffs, a monster who took over the community in 1998 from his father, who was another monster who had raised him to believe the women were rightfully his to abuse as his birthright.

By insisting that the girls submit to his sexual needs in sessions that Jeffs branded as 'heavenly' or 'celestial', the girls were told they were thereby pleasing god and helping to atone for the sins of their community.

Of course, he was conning them. He knew that what he was doing was against the law of the land. Further it was also against the teachings of the Bible. It was Jesus who said, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and render unto God what is God’s.” In other words, obey Man’s law also. Jeffs wrote the following statement in a chilling journal entry from 2005—one of thousands of pages of notes seized by the authorities. “If the world knew what I was doing, they would hang me from the highest tree.”

During a 2008 raid, these recordings, which helped secure his conviction, were seized by authorities. The explicit tapes, when played in court, caused some shocked jurors to break down in tears.

Jeffs objected half a dozen times to the tapes being played during his trial. He argued that the recordings of the training sessions were protected by religious privacy rights however each time he objected, State District Judge Barbara Walther who had presided over the case in her San Angelo courtroom, overruled him.

The prosecutors said that the taped evidence proved that Jeffs had abused his position in power to have sex with girls as young as 12. DNA evidence presented during the trial proved Jeffs had fathered a child with a 15-year-old child bride. Graphic audio recordings were played on which he was said to be heard sexually assaulting a 12-year-old and instructing other minors on how to please him sexually.

As sect leader, Jeffs 'documented everything he did, keeping track of every marriage he performed, every young woman he wed, even recording his intimate moments. One was 'a 20 minute audiotape that began and ended with a man saying a prayer' before he sexually assaulted the 12-year-old in front of three other of his wives, according to prosecutors.

In another taped recording, Jeffs can be heard instructing his young wives how to please him sexually and telling them god would 'reject them' if they did not comply. “You have to know how to be excited sexually," Jeffs said. "The Lord has intended that my ladies, all of my ladies be trained."

Softly telling five girls to set aside all their inhibitions, the convicted pedophile was heard giving the young girls detailed pointers during a graphic ten-minute tape played for the Texas jury.

The audiotape from 2004 was played in court before another one that was made within hours of the first, in which prosecutors said Jeffs could be heard having sex with all the girls at the same time.

In one tape, he was heard telling the girls they need to be excited. Jurors also heard him tell the girls that if they refused to please him in what he dubbed the 'heavenly sessions', they would be rejected by God. It is a cruel irony that the girls were encouraged by Jeffs to have sex with Jeffs by being told their compliance would help atone for the sins of their community. What sins is he talking about that would supersede his own?

State witness Rebecca Musser—a former FLDS member who was married as a young girl to Jeffs' father, told the court that she had received training about how beds in the temple were to be used in sexual rituals before the temple was even built. Miss Musser said beds inside the temple were arranged so that church members could see the sexual abuse and that a special seat was placed for someone to record the sexual acts. Other shocking photographs have also emerged, including ones showing Jeffs holding and passionately kissing an underage female church member and one revealing a bed where ritual sex sessions were carried out in front of a church audience.

One of Jeffs' statements after his father's death was directed at high-ranking officials in the FLDS Church: "I won't say much, but I will say this—hands off my father's wives." Addressing the recent widows, he said, "You women will live as if Father is still alive and in the next room." Within a week, Warren had married all but two of his father's several dozen wives (one of the two being his own mother).
As sect leader, Jeffs 'documented everything he did, keeping track of every marriage he performed, every young woman he wed, even recording his intimate moments with them.

During a 2008 raid, tape recordings which helped secure his conviction were seized by authorities. The explicit tapes when played in court caused some shocked jurors to break down in tears. One of the tapes was a 20-minute audiotape that began and ended with Jeffs saying a prayer' before sexually assaulting the 12-year-old in front of three of his other wives.

While softly telling five girls to set aside all their inhibitions, the convicted pedophile was heard giving the young girls detailed pointers during a graphic ten-minute tape played for the Texas jury. An audiotape made within hours of another one in 2004, was played in court in which prosecutors said Jeffs could be heard having sex with all five girls at the same time.

Shocking photographs had also emerged, including ones showing Jeffs holding and passionately kissing an underage female church member and one revealing a bed where ritual sex sessions were carried out in front of a church audience. State witness Rebecca Musser, a former FLDS member who was married as a young girl to Jeffs' father, told the court she had received training about how beds in the temple were to be used in sexual rituals before it was built. Miss Musser said beds inside the temple were arranged so that witnesses could see the abuse and that a special seat was placed for someone to record the sexual acts.

Several times in his journals, Jeffs wrote of God telling him to take more and more young girls who can be worked with and easily taught.

A jaw-dropping sex tape played in Warren Jeffs' sexual assault trial showed the church leader instructing his sister wives that they must 'work together' to please him sexually. The 90-minute segment detailed how the young brides should become 'so natural as clothed as unclothed' and always shower before getting near him.

Jeffs is also heard instructing the women on how to maintain their pubic hair and a woman is heard showing the other wives how to properly shave their armpits. He says on the tape. 'No one sits around, everyone assists each other.'

Jeffs wrote in his journal that on the night after his wedding to his 14-year-old victim, he took her and another of his new wives on a car ride outside the church's headquarters along the Utah-Arizona border for 'training.' There, he instructed them on their responsibilities as his wives and had the session taped.

The recording was transcribed and placed in church records that were later seized by police. Lead prosecutor Eric Nichols played the tape for jurors, who followed along using transcripts. The recording was difficult to understand due to traffic noise, and the transcript wasn't made public.

'A good wife is trained for her husband and follows the spirit of peace,' Jeffs can be heard saying. He also made reference to 'drawing close' or 'being close,' which is how church members refer to sex. Two female voices are heard saying 'OK'.

During the trial Jeffs called just one defence witness who was an elder from his church whose testimony was merely reading from scripture.

However other church members testified against their former leader. In order to maintain power, he was said to have excommunicated 60 members who he worried threatened his leadership. They also testified that he reassigned wives and children from 300 families. This sexual freak of nature even told the male members of his commune that could only have sex with their wives to procreate. This may explain why so many of the women were willing to have sex with Jeffs.

Prosecutors played a recording of Jeffs giving explicit sexual instructions to four of his wives, one of whom prosecutors said was 14 years old. Two of the group were sisters.

They also played a recording allegedly depicting Jeffs having sex in the baptismal font in the basement of the soaring white temple located on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Hours later, he is heard speaking to three wives, and refers to one by name who is younger than 15 years old.

In yet another tape, he is heard giving instructions to three wives between 13 and 15 years old, referring to "heavenly sessions," a byword for sex, and saying "My ladies that reject this, reject the law of God."

In the 14 months he was on the run, Jeffs drove around the country, staying in 23 different states and even marrying four 12-year-old girls in "houses of hiding" or "places of refuge" while on the run. He is alleged to have committed more than 100 crimes while during the time he was a fugitive.

A FBI agent also read from a priesthood record, in which Jeffs allegedly wrote: "Things are happening so quickly. There is an even younger girl that the Lord wants me to take. She is 13. For some reason the Lord is sending me these girls that can be worked with."

During the first day of the sentencing hearing, Jeffs said he objected to the introduction of items seized in the raid and documents that should get "religious protection."

He is what this self-proclaimed prophet said before he left court Friday. "I am God. Cease. Do not present my holy ways as a thing of naught. Hear my warning as a full awakening. Let my holy way be of freedom."

If anyone had doubts about his sanity, those doubts would have disappeared like fog when the sun hits it. He wasn’t insane because he knew that what he was doing to those young girls was illegal. But he certainly is a very sick mentally disturbed individual.

Assistant Texas Attorney General Eric Nichols told the jury during his closing arguments, “Jeffs had a big house where he chose to warehouse hundreds of girls and women for his sexual gratification. The state of Texas has a big house too, and that is where Warren Jeffs should spend the rest of his days, Warren Jeffs made himself into something that harms each and every person he touches.”

Defence attorneys said after the sentencing that they would not be handling Jeffs' appeal, but that there were legitimate grounds for one, stating that evidence in the case had been gathered during a 2008 raid based on a false abuse report. That is true. The police pounced on the commune based on a false report. His conviction stems from a highly publicized raid on the sect's ‘Yearning For Zion’ compound in Eldorado, Texas, in which authorities took temporary custody of some 400 children. They later returned them to their families after an investigation and DNA tests.
Some legal experts have said that because the raid was triggered by a false report, the evidence gathered there should be disallowed. But that position is ludicrous. For example, if they had discovered the bodies of murdered victims on the property, would this mean that the evidence seen by the police would be ignored? I hardly think so.

Partially to blame are the followers of this religious twerp. They in my opinion do not have all their brain cells working properly. To follow the dictates of someone so morally bankrupt and so stupid at the same time beggars the minds of reasonably thinking people.

My concern and I believe that I speak for millions of others who are aware of communes like the ones I have described, is that a similar commune in British Columbia called, ‘Bountiful” and which it too is run by a religious twerp, sent young girls to Jeffs’ commune in order to be married. Other young girls from Jeffs’ commune were sent to Bountiful. As far as I know, none of the girls in Bountiful have been sexually abused.

When you consider just how crazy Warren Jeffs is, you have to conclude that his body and mind are not unlike an unfinished cathedral. The lower part was finished but the upper part was left incomplete. Our character passes for what we are. His character passes like he is—not unlike the breaking of wind.

My real concerns are for the children of this Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church in both the United States and in Canada. They are not living normal lives and because of that, they will suffer. Ironically, the best thing that has happened to the boys who were banished is that they at long last have an opportunity of living among normal families in which every child has one father and one mother to share their lives with. But what about the girls in this sect? Will they continue to be married off to middle aged men?

Both the United States and Canada are faced with an enormous problem. First of all, they have to bring an end to these multiple marriages in these communes. I don’t give a damn what their religion is. Multiple marriages are wrong. We call it bigamy. However, if we outlaw these kinds of marital unions, we must also forbid entry into our countries those Arabs who are living in multiple marital unions. It would be wrong to forbid our citizens to live that way and yet, permit other citizens of other nations who live that way to continue living that way in our country.

Edmund Burke said it rather well when he said;

“Justice in itself is the great standing policy of civil society and any eminent departure from it under any circumstances, lies under the suspicion of being no policy at all.”