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."
That name usually refers to the "lost" Israeli tribe of Dan, and probably has some connection with the Mormon teaching that an Israeli tribe or tribes migrated to North America when the Jews were driven out of their homeland hundreds of years before Christ's first advent. Or maybe it was after the Romans razed Jerusalem and drove out the Jews in 70 AD, I don't remember the exact details.
IIRC, according to the book the native American tribes were supposedly in the midst of a major internecine war at the time the fleeing Jews arrived in America, or something like that. It's been a long time since I tried to read the Book of Mormon in various Utah hotel rooms where it's placed the same way that bibles are in many other areas, and when I tried I usually fell asleep before getting very far into it.
“Mormon Mossad”
____________________________________
180% apart
The mormon Danites were and are nothing like the Israeli Mossad.
You forget our own enforcer here on FreeRepublic, tracer (now banned), who threatened to shut down the whole site if Jim Robinson didn’t toe the Mormon line. He admitted that he had often sat on excommunication hearings (or whatever they are called).
But some people just wish to remain blind.
On the Larry King show on April 6th she said, "I have a right to worship any damn thing that I want and wear any damn clothes that I want and I'm sick of hearing how stupid and retarded we are."
She also has a few rambling posts on the Texas Polygamy website.
“Freepers shouldn’t feel more than a twinge of identification with these cultists......”
This entire post of yours is great and nothing more needs to be said.
The whole "Super Seekrit Mormon Enforcers" had me imagining men in ridiculous magical underwear not-so-stealthily bumbling around...
Great post, CC...archived.
LMAO. It must be a fear of prairie dresses. I have heard of arachnophobia,liticaphobia,theophobia,gynephobia,mycrophobia, and eurotophobia. Never heard of prairiedressphobia though.
I suffer from politiophobia and tyrannophobia.
“Exactly, and well said.”
Thank you and praise the Lord, not the one that lives on Kolob either.
31 adults taken into custody, without writ or warrant.
They not only have a case, they have a slam dunk in federal court.
No prairie dress on this modern-day Texas Danite....
For any who refuse to ackowledge they exist.
MY NAME IS WILLIAM HEBER LeBARON,
FEDERAL PRISONER NUMBER 22254-077
Yes, that means I’m in federal prison. I am currently serving multiple life sentences after having been convicted of four cult-related murders in Texas.
I was born a fifth-generation Mormon. My father’s name is Ervil M. LeBaron. He was the founder and leader of “The Church of the Lamb of God,” the most notorious and violent of the polygamous offshoots of the Mormon Church.
http://hismin.tripod.com/lebaron.html
>> So your saying they can’t exist?
No, I’m making fun of the fact that you and others reach back 150 years to convince yourselves that Danites DO exist right now. That’s just silly. And y’all think the Mormons are weird and illogical.
>> Polygamy is still being practiced, why wouldn’t they have their own band of Danites?
It looks like you read a lot. Try to work an article or two on logic into your reading list. Those two statements do not form the basis for a reasonable argument, let alone any kind of proof.
>> Here some modern day stories about the “enforcement arm” of the regular LDS Church.
Thanks, but these are neither journalism nor are they scholarly research, they’re hysteria. Let’s see: in the heading of the first one I find:
“What type of gooks, geeks and gumshoes protect the brethren?” Nope! No anti-LDS bias there! No sir!
The second item you linked attempts to take a scholarly tone, but it’s pretty clear that the author is a relative with an axe to grind.
If you have something approaching scholarly research or real journalism** that exposes or offers verifiable evidence of a modern-day (F)LDS enforcement sect, then please post it. I’ll be glad to have a look. I’m not a Mormon, nor do I support either polygamy or statutory rape. I DO have VERY STRONG opinions about the slippery slope that unconstitutional state persecution of religious groups puts us onto. I also have very strong opinions about extragovernmental forces like CPS; I think they spend too much money, tend to become left-wing indoctrination centers, and fill up with agenda-driven leftists. THOSE are my reasons for bristling at the hysteria of the “to hell with the constitution, and reason, and logic, kill all the mormons NOW!” types here on Free Republic.
That’s my position. I’ll probably continue to yank your chains here, just for kicks. Seriously, y’all look like a bunch of rabid dogs. Your illogic and self-righteous blather would be right at home on DU, but on FR, it’s embarrassing, even if occasionally funny.
If it makes y’all feel better to think that I’m a card-carrying Danite, and you outed me, then knock yourselves out. I think that’s funny too. The dog that yelped, indeed! ROFL!
FRegards.
**PS Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think the lack of “real” journalism and research is, in fact, counter-evidence to the existence of a modern-day (F)LDS enforcement arm. The drive by media and left-wing scholars enjoy nothing more than ripping on religious nuts. If it were real, they’d have been all over it.
You got everything but the standard “in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen” in your refutation on anything negative whatsoever to do with these law-breaking cults.
No go and have a nice interview with your bishie.
>> Would that be why you post a silly banner which is itself propagandistic and without logic, but merely a taunt?
WOWEE! (the taunt part, anyway)
Yer smarter than I gave you credit for!
Give yerself a big ol’ pat on the back. Your analytical skills are nothing short of awesome.
I learned a lot about you in that short reply. You don’t seem to really have the Christian character I gave you credit for, that you claim on your homepage. My mistake. I’ll pray for you.
Hypothetical question for you:
If you could look — really look — into my mind and heart and really KNOW — how accurate do you think the judgments about me you expose here in FR would really be?
It’s hypothetical, I’m not looking for an answer. Just think about it.
Wow, that is one crazy woman!
From the link, here are some of her ramblings. Later she gets into an arguement with her former husband/first cousin. Bizarre!
-—I am Ruth Cooke. I have had eight children. Four boys and Four girls. I married a man. He did sexually assult my daughter. He did walk away. He was a smooth talking Lier. He is married to a Women in Denver Colorado. She has little girls. one is his. She does not believe what he did to me. She has becume his enabler. Her children will pay the price. I married his buisness partner. I lived with him for one year. He did physacly and mently abuse me. He is also a smooth talking lier. He did help put me in a mentle hospital. I was trying to be good and obedient. I am not letting any one tell me what God does say to me. I think God is good ant telling me what to do. That is why I have a consience. I do walk a lot. I do go around with out a car. I am getting a truck. Some times I wonder what I would do with a truck, considering what I do walking. There are a lot of women out here, who are labled as crazy. There children are taken. One of the men fled to mexico, to excape his just judgement of our government. This is William Black. I am indede the crazy one. I reported abuse. I was put away for what these men did. They had the house. They had the money. They had the lawers. They had the smooth talking speach. They however do not have the light. The women have not forgotten. I heard yesterday, some one had there gun sight’s on Sam Barlow, and decided they did not want to go to Jail. I will tell all you, that feel this way: I hope Sam Barlow will be convicted of What he did, and you will not have to pay the debt for him. Murder is murder, no matter how you justify this. We have the witnesses. Let’s stop these men. Let’s at least tag them, by the state. This one is a molester. This one is a murder. Let’s give them the same curtisy as they gave the retards. I was tagged for life. No one can give my dead baby’s back to me. No one can give my son’s back as young teenage boys. No one can take the sorrow I suffered in that mentle hospital. It is done. It can not be undone. We can give these men a tag tho. Willard Marion Barlow. Murder, of Donna Marie Cooke. Shelly Gene Cooke, Molester of Donna Marie Cooke. Richard Henery Cooke, Murder of Marjene Cooke Holm, and an assisting party to the murder of Donna Marie Cooke. Marvin Roy Cooke, Acompice to attempted murder of Ruth Cooke Barlow, and Mitzi LaRae Barlow. Samuel Barlow, John Y. Barlows son, accompice to murder. covering up truth. Selling women to hell. Steven BArlow, accomplice to murder. Shelly Gene Cooke, Murder of Esther Ruth Cooke, and Kristle Dawn Cooke. Joe c Jessop, Child molester. Dan Barlow Jr. child molester. The witnesses are their, tag them. Good ol’ U. S. A. uphold the law. Tag them. that is the least you can do.
I just that God, that you are not my judge. I will pray for you too.
Warren Jeffs enlisted groups of men as the “Sons of Helaman,” to enter UEP members homes in Short Creek looking for unapproved literature, TVs, etc. Violators were excommunicated from the church and expelled from UEP property, with the men’s wives and children reassigned to more worthy FLDS patriarchs.
Modern day Danites?
http://www.mormonfundamentalism.com/ChartLinks/FLDSChurch.htm
Why bring that up Alice?
Don’t you care about the Constitution and how it was violated in Texas?
Sarc/
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