Posted on 06/11/2008 4:59:10 AM PDT by Flo Nightengale
Texas police have been standing guard outside the home of the Texas judge who ordered the removal of all the FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch. The heightened security was ordered after authorities from Utah and Arizona warned them to be on the lookout for FLDS "enforcers," the Deseret News has learned.
Every officer guarding Judge Barbara Walther's San Angelo house was provided dossiers and photos of 16 FLDS men and women whom Utah police deemed a threat. However, e-mails obtained by the Deseret News from the Washington County Sheriff's Office warned Texas authorities to be suspicious of everybody, not just those on the list.
"There are many individuals who are willing to give up their life for the cause and you can never underestimate what a religious fanatic is capable of," according to the e-mails, which were obtained through Texas' public records law.
Police were also keeping close tabs on witnesses, as the "enforcers" might try to "intimidate kids and other witnesses, watch foster homes where kids may be placed, bribe witnesses, appear at court hearings, and make attempts to contact FLDS kids," according to an e-mail from an investigator with the Tom Green County District Attorney's Office.
Law enforcement in Texas has been on alert since a Fundamentalist LDS Church-related Web site published Walther's home address and work and home telephone numbers.
Walther signed the original order to remove all of the FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch in April and place them in state custody.
An attorney for the FLDS Church said its followers are peaceful people and that law enforcement has nothing to worry about.
"Have they ever seen an act of intimidation or violence against law enforcement from the FLDS community at all, ever?" Rod Parker told the Deseret News. "Before they start spreading those kinds of rumors, they ought to be able to ID an example of them ever doing that in the past."
As for the threat to "pay Ms. Walther's home a visit," on the site www.flds.ws, Parker said the site is not sanctioned by the FLDS Church. The site is run by Bill Medvecky, a Fort Myers, Fla., man who has donated to the fund for captive FLDS children, Parker said.
Once Parker told church leaders that the post could be construed as a threat, they contacted Medvecky and had him remove the judge's address, he said.
However, Walther's work and phone numbers are still listed on the Web site. The site calls Walther the "leader of the Gestapo," and includes a link to a petition to impeach the judge.
Medvecky doesn't see the harm in publishing Walther's address on the Internet. After all, it's in the phone book, he said.
"They are not confrontational whatsoever. I am," Medvecky told the Deseret News. "They are not me, and they have nothing to do with the site. We support them 100 percent."
Texas law enforcement wasn't aware of the threat until early June, but the dossiers "regarding any FLDS members who may engage in acts of intimidation or violence against law enforcement and/or potential witnesses" started circulating April 16.
The dossiers track individuals in FLDS leader Warren Jeffs' circle of trust, as well as a few "wild cards" that make Utah authorities "uncomfortable."
The list includes Willie Jessop, who has acted as one of the main spokesmen for the FLDS Church after the April 3 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch. The dossier calls him — William Roy Jessop — "the most serious threat associated with the FLDS religion."
Others included on the list are Lyle Steed Jeffs, Warren Jeffs' brother; and Lindsay Hammon Barlow, who witnesses described as Warren Jeffs' "muscle," among others.
"It is very obvious that Washington County officials do not let the facts get in the way of a good story," Willie Jessop said. "These are the types of paranoid allegations that can hurt a lot of innocent people if they are allowed to go unchecked.
"I don't know what the remedy is, but it should alarm everyone when an investigator does not even bother to fact check what he is supposed to be investigating."
The dossiers include the persons of interests' last known address and possible vehicles.
Washington County sheriff's deputies compiled the dossiers by tracking individuals during Warren Jeffs' 2007 trial, where he was convicted of rape as an accomplice after performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin. He was sentenced to a pair of five-to-life prison terms.
Police believe Jessop, also known as "Willie the Thug" or "King Willie" in the dossiers, is the primary FLDS "enforcer" and has a passion for violence, weapons (legal and illegal) and explosives.
On the third day of Warren Jeffs' trial, Jessop was banned from the courthouse after "it was determined he was attempting to intimidate the witnesses, after he was observed numerous (times) staring menacingly at the witnesses," according to the dossiers.
Jessop said he and other FLDS men and women who attended Jeffs' highly publicized trial were there as observers, nothing more.
"The fact that we would show up in court and then to have them turn that around on us shows how biased these public officials are," Jessop said. "There are no facts, no history of violence, not a shred of evidence to support these irresponsible allegations. Not one bit of it is true and these officials know it."
Other FLDS members showed up on the dossiers for a variety of things, from staring down and intimidating witnesses, being an active member of Warren Jeffs' security team, or holding a high rank in the FLDS Church's hierarchy.
Utah police also warned Texas officials of so-called "wild cards" or "religious fanatics," including Ruth Cooke, a woman police said is "blindly devoted to Warren and the FLDS religion," according to the dossiers.
"She is just the kind of person who may be capable of doing something crazy but justified in her head," the dossiers state.
Dee Yeates Jessop is another "intimidating enforcer" who police described as a fanatic who blindly follows Jeffs. Witnesses told police Dee Yeates Jessop is "relatively unimportant" in the church's command structure.
"His social status makes all the more dangerous. What would he do to improve his standing?" according to the dossiers.
Several other high-ranking church officials show up in the dossiers, like William E. Jessop, a high-ranking elder in the FLDS Church, and David Allred, who is involved in the church's finances and is "fairly high in the FLDS pecking order." However, the dossiers said the men were unlikely to be considered a threat, but could be involved in the decision-making process because of their positions of power.
Both Willie Jessop and Parker, who has also acted as a spokesman for the church, discounted the dossiers.
"If they are going to malign people's character like that, they ought to have something better than someone staring at somebody or looking at them funny," Parker said. "This is the same kind of rumor-mongering that I've been complaining about for a long time. These rumors tend to feed on themselves."
Imagine the depositions! They’d end up in contempt...and eventually jailed over it. Either way, the outcome would be the same — the contempt charge would just get them behind bars faster, and they could play martyr for their cult.
If the FLDS gain power in ElDorado you should just kiss that town goodbye.
(Thanks to you two, I keep muttering, “Mormon Mossad” to myself and giggling.)
Mansion set afire while guarded by Texas DPS officers.
Have they completed the analysis of the DPS as to where they were, what they were doing. etc when the fire was discovered. One article I read indicated they were reviewing their actions prior to the event being called in.
Who was arrested and imprisoned??
susie
[Yeah, and on the other hand we have you two fine Christian women, who, acting in concert as judge, jury, and executioner, would gladly find all Mormon men guilty, sentence them to castration, and carry out the sentence with your own butterknives.]
Someone has their panties in a bunch. Now I conjecture that you would act as judge, jury, and executioner, would gladly find guilty all those injured women and children of the FLDS, sentence them to castration, and carry out the sentence with your own butterknives.]
There’s nothing like putting words into other people’s mouths to make you feel self righteous, now is there.
I'll get right on it.
Throw me a bone here, though, ColorCountry... can you point out which of those links refer to real live Danites that are less than one hundred and fifty years old now? Thx
Who was accused?
One poster simply made a generic comment and suddenly someone bristles and reacts.
A dog got hit.
There are a number of people here who would love to see TX sued out of existence by this group. Perhaps in some cases it’s just state envy.... ;)
susie
So your saying they can’t exist? Polygamy is still being practiced, why wouldn’t they have their own band of Danites?
Here some modern day stories about the “enforcement arm” of the regular LDS Church. They are anonymous so you can take them with a grain of salt.
http://www.salamandersociety.com/foyer/security/
This one isn’t anonymous.
http://www.exmormon.org/violence.htm
Funny how those who argue most against people being judge, jury, and executioner do that to the woman who allegedly made the alleged hoax phone call.
Her name and picture have been plastered all over the place and people are referring to her past history as if that’s enough in and of itself to seal her fate.
She has the right to due process just like the cult that the cult defenders say it has and yet, here she is treated as is what allegedly happened was written in stone; that she did in fact make the call and is guilty of it.
Odd that I don’t recall any news about her trial.....
A fair judge would allow the individual FLDS members to obtain protective orders limiting the scope of discovery. There is already law of the case here finding violations of due process. Any competent attorney can usually prevent the state from going into what you call a "steaming pile of rot" as it would have no bearing on the likely constitutional and civil claims that would be filed. The fact is, the state should be scared of what the FLDS members can uncover by discovery here.
Exactly, and well said.
susie
An excerpt from this thesis......
As an exploration of the relationship between Mormon fundamentalism and violence, this paper has analyzed the origins of Mormon fundamentalist doctrines and illustrated how these doctrines can become operationalized in a violent way. Fundamentalists are isolated, committed to their beliefs, and live in a faith with a violent history. They believe strongly in the gifts of prophecy and revelation, claim that they are frequently visited by heavenly personages, and are instructed in how they should conduct their lives. They believe that they are following the laws of God, which are superior to the laws of society. Most fundamentalists are religious, law abiding people, but sometimes this potent blend of religion, isolation, revelation and action combines to create a culture of violence.
America is a unique nation in that it guarantees the freedom of religion with the first amendment and the right to bear arms with the second amendment. This means that people can believe whatever they want, and they can buy the guns to protect that belief. Throughout the history of their faith, Mormons have relied on the constitution, their faith, and their guns to protect their rights. That tradition continues in the form of Mormon fundamentalism today, and can be expected to continue into the future.
by Garn LeBaron Jr.
copyright © Garn LeBaron Jr., 1995, all rights reserved
[Yep. Right now the members are very subversively registering to vote. The Judge and possibly the Sheriff just might be out of a job come election day. Terrifying. ]
Actually, you might want to read a little history to see the results of this type of Gang Voting by Mormons in the past. They used this same tactic in the original Zion (moving into a condensed area and driving out everyone else through voting in Mormon lackeys). That’s why they were driven out there. They played much the same game at Far West and almost got annihilated after they sent the Danites to pillage a neighboring county.
One of the reasons Joseph Smith got himself killed was that he had set up his own voting block in Nauvoo (along with his own militia) and was regularly ignoring the laws as Mayor/King of Nauvoo and Lt. General of the Mormon Legion.
But you know, don’t bother to read the history, the FLDS are pure as driven snow, even though they trace their heritage directly back to Joseph Smith. Don’t let it sink into your skull that we are watching a tired sequel,Rocky 12 in production.
“Logic? My friend, the delusional don’t NEED no stinkin’ logic!”
Would that be why you post a silly banner which is itself propagandistic and without logic, but merely a taunt?
“If you throw it out for one, it’s never long before we start tossing it aside for other reasons.”
Right, You are absolutely right but the state of Texas is bound by the constitution to enforce the law. I don’t know the facts of the case in Texas but I know that the people of Colorado City are above the laws that you and I have to live by. That judge, the governor, or whoever might very well deserve to be thrown in jail or have their mansions burnt down for what they did but someone had to do something or we should just throw out the rule of law.
I get scared when I see government take action like this because I plan on raising my children in a way the government of Oklahoma will probably not think is best for them. But when I go to Colorado City and see huge apartment complexes surrounded by 8 foot metal walls I can see that it’s not the same and no person would see my lifestyle and theirs as equal. They’re lifestyle is so obviously wicked and lawless that they don’t want anyone knowing about it.
Just seeing it makes you want to take action to stop it. The state of Texas, though they went too far, actually showed remarkable restraint given the circumstances. More restraint then the FLDS deserves.
Bear with me, I want to agree with your point. We should fight against tyranny where ever it’s found and even when it’s against people we disagree with. This goes beyond disagreement though. The FLDS should be crushed.
Rod Parker is now saying they will sue!
Their really don’t have a case but that won’t stop them! LOL
http://www.star-telegram.com/275/story/693313.html
I think Texas will say, “bring it on!”
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