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."
Because, what is this article about? Scary people that have no history of violence. Folks attach unrelated projections upon them. There have never been any charges related to the fears whatsoever. Yet, we see mug shots of people giving stern looks and the state is playing victim. It is so obvious to me that any thinking dude or dudette should be able to recognize it.
So I illustrate the absurdity of people by people absurd. My point is clear. Some of your posts are absolutely 100 percent absurd.
Well, just look at the next post.
First, If you want to discuss the article in the thread, why not do so, providing proof, or sources that state the article isn’t true?
Or discuss what media source wrote this article, and why it may or may not be considered slanted?
Instead, you do nothing but make repeated childish attacks on not only me, but any poster who ‘disagrees’ with you.
You ‘excuse’ for attacking others, is that “mommy, he hit me first”.
Wow.
>> I think you see the mental gymnastics to create boogiemen and subversion to defend the CPS and the state.
Yes, and I can’t help but laugh, because it’s funny! This is how liberals act when they’re defending the indefensible.
BUT... while the freeper retard thing is pretty comical, what’s decidedly NOT funny is the “CPS and state” end of it. That’s rather chilling, if you ask me.
“So you are saying that they shouldn’t have the right to vote? Oh okay.”
So, if the mafia moved en mass into your district, and rigged the judges and juries and police, you would be fine with that? Oh yes, you are quite the patriot.
Uh, ever been to New Jersey?
I have tried cases under the Texas Family Code for over thirty years, including many, many child custody cases, more than a few of which have had CPS involvement to one extent or another.
Your characterization of the Texas Family Court system as chaotic or out of control is not warranted. It is actually a pretty good system, although it is far from perfect, having been designed and implemented by mere mortals.
I have run into situations where I thought CPS caseworkers were overstepping bounds, and I have fought them on it. Most of the time, I have not had too many problems dealing with them. I have seen some judges who gave CPS too much deference, but I don’t find it to be an overwhelming problem.
Actually, the Texas Family Code is pretty good in protecting the rights of parents against state intrusion, and that is exactly why the higher courts ruled as they did in this case. The CPS NEVER CAME CLOSE to meeting the statutory burden for temporary removal of the kids in this case, and you have correctly pointed that out in your post.
My interest in these FLDS threads is two-fold: I am following the case as a matter of professional interest, and I also like to be entertained by the back and forth battle between the “child molester defenders” (HA!) and the defenders of the CPS “jack-booted thugs” (HA! HA!)— as they call one another.
My own take is likely to offend both sides: The CPS was out of line in grabbing the kids, and their attempt to establish a new grounds for child abuse based on “group think” criteria was improper and dangerous. The trial judge was wrong in dishing out “assembly line” justice in a rubber stamp fashion. The Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court properly upheld the law. On the other hand, these FLDS characters are a bunch of looney tunes and may very well harbor some dangerous tendencies. If statutory rape is proven in the fashion that the law requires it to be proven, I hope every perpetrator and “assistant perpetrator” enjoys a nice long stay at Huntsville, Texas or Goree, Texas as the case may be.
Finally, for those who either hope for or hope against some big civil judgment against the state in favor of the FLDS — You might as well quit hoping. It ain’t going to happen.
Duly noted :o)
(Do you seriously not realize how ludicrous such a statement is? And how transparent?)
So, let us see who is ludicrous. Your position appears to be that the FLDS did no wrong, yet you are not pro-FLDS. I certainly think that is laughable.
You keep being absurd and I will continue to point it out. Sorry that offends you. I am a harmless little fuzz ball that just so happens to find what you write sometimes kind of funny. Like a clown amuses me, you amuse me. I am not attacking anyone in particular, I am defending the individual rights we all are born into here in this country, even like my tag line suggests - the weird and the odd. There are other countries you and others can go to that legislate religion. Not here, on my watch. If someone is going to hurt their noggin trying to wrap their brain around the most outlandish fiction created in their head, I feel it is my duty to point it out so they don’t hurt themselves.
Where have I ever put up an excuse? Nobody hurt my feelbads and made me cry. Seems like you are whining a bit too much.
FC: So, if the mafia moved en mass into your district, and rigged the judges and juries and police, you would be fine with that?
CL:Uh, ever been to New Jersey?
I thought of that myself. I prefer to live in Las Vegas. However we actually send our crooked elected officials to jail on occasion, look up Dario Herrera and GSting. I know some of the participants. By the way, Dario is a Mormon who was supported by Mormon Reid for Congress, though everyone knew Dario was getting free titty bar dances and money under the table.
So no, I don’t believe local voting rights trump the states right to move the bums out.
>> Your position appears to be that the FLDS did no wrong
No, not exactly. Not even close!
YOUR position is that my position appears to be that the FLDS did no wrong.
Yet, somehow, inexplicitly, in the face of evidence to the contrary, you continue to claim that you are not a retard.
I rest my case. Give me the rent money for my hotel on Park Place and retire from the game.
Oh, one more thing. (two for the price of one). Did you even read the article? Give me one instance, besides staring, of danger these folks pose. Seriously now. No mental theatrics, no mindless hypothetics, no unrelated projections - what violence and danger have they exhibited in the past to warrant the victimhood action the state is taking?
I shouldn’t have to really play with you this way.
I recommend you sleep with the light on. Good grief.
“You keep being absurd and I will continue to point it out.”
I’m sure you will.
Only because of the childish way you do it.
“Did you even read the article? Give me one instance, besides staring, of danger these folks pose.”
Now those are questions related to the article, and would be interesting to debate.
“I shouldn’t have to really play with you this way.”
But, you went and blew it. It is not a game, except in your head.
“I am a harmless little fuzz ball . . . “
You oughta leave the Rush lingo to Rush. It’s not for amateurs, as he frequently points out.
“Not here, on my watch.”
Are you the grand guardian of all individual rights and truth? Any inference to the teensiest weensiest little bit of malfeasance on the part of FLDS is out of bounds and not to be tolerated on your watch?
I hope your grandiose efforts make you feel really really important.
That whole thing pretty much sums up my feelings completely. Of course, my feelings are that individual liberty and due process are the hot buttons I take issue with. Punish lawbreakers, individually. Had the state taken some prudent measurable action more in a targeted fashion, we might all be having different conversations. The scope of the action raised alarm bells in many different aspects with regards to constitutional rights.
The CPS NEVER CAME CLOSE to meeting the statutory burden for temporary removal of the kids in this case, and you have correctly pointed that out in your post.
And that is the crux of the matter in my opinion. Of course the judge making a hasty decision that abused discretion probably didn't help.
“And the governments trial of the FLDS by media goes on apace.”
This article is in the DESERET NEWS.
Why not question their motives?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.