Posted on 07/21/2008 2:43:31 PM PDT by mnehring
Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs says he never married his underage daughter to an adult, but officials say they have found evidence to the contrary.
Photos, diaries, and a marriage record all suggest that Jeffs' daughter who was 15 at the time, married a 34-year-old man.
The documents were filed in a report by the girl's guardian and given to a San Angelo court.
Members of the FLDS sect said in past interviews that no marriage had existed.
Jeffs' daughter, who is 16 and now in her mother's care, was one of the children who was taken from the Sects' ranch near Eldorado.
She is scheduled to appear before a grand jury next week as part of the sexual abuse case.
I wish we could use the death penalty or sentence him for life.
Evidence of a swap of child brides could land polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs in even more legal trouble.
The grand jury looking into the criminal allegations against the FLDS meets Tuesday, July 22 in the courthouse in Eldorado. Sources close to the Texas investigation predict “several” indictments will be handed up by the grand jury against some of the leading men of the FLDS polygamist group – including Jeffs.
Jeffs is likely to be charged in connection with the swap that investigators say took place July 27, 2006 in a house on the Eldorado FLDS ranch belonging to Jeffs. At the time, Jeffs was a fugitive on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted List.”
The swap was made between Jeffs and one of his Lieutenants, Merril Jessop. Jessop is an FLDS “bishop” who runs the ranch. Jeffs reportedly got an underage bride from Jessop, and Jessop got a bride for one of his sons. In a dictation submitted Friday in 51st District Court, San Angelo, Texas, Jeffs is quoted as saying, “… I looked at Merril Jessop, and he looked at me, and he said, ‘I am willing,’ and smiled. I said, ‘I am willing.’ I explained that the Lord wanted this young lady to be sealed to me to carry on in her training. . .”
Pictures previously made public in court proceedings show wedding pictures of Jeffs posing and kissing the 11-year old daughter of Jessop.
More photos included in the Friday’s filing show Warren’s 15-year old daughter with Jessop’s 35-year old son, Raymond. Some appear to be wedding photos, while others are under the captions, “One week anniversary”, “I can’t help rising in love with you” and Happy to be married.” The photos were taken from an album found during the raid last April of the FLDS ranch. Among the photos are handwritten entries from the girl’s journal. She writes that her father, Warren counseled her “to get close quickly to my husband and not through sister-wives.” The girl writes about the events surrounding the marriage as well as how she had to borrow a nightgown for her wedding night.
Previously, an FLDS spokesman denied the 15-year old daughter of Jeffs was a child bride.
If Jeffs is indicted in Texas, he won’t be hard to find. He remains in jail awaiting trial in Kingman, Arizona on charges related to the forced marriage of underage girls to older men. He’s already been convicted and sentenced to two consecutive 5-to-life terms in Utah for being “an accomplice to rape”.
“Members of the FLDS sect said in past interviews that no marriage had existed.”
Of course. It wasn’t a marriage. It was a ‘sealing’
What we call ‘child-bride’.
Oh, the excitement of getting picked!
Special ceremony, in the temple, with a very limited audience.
But it’s not a real marriage. It’s just joining a breeding pool. Which the young girls find out real quick.
However, one never talks about what happens in the temple.
No, sorry, you have that wrong. “Sealing” is when a person is “sealed” to the eternal planet of a Mormon man who has reached the Celestial kingdom. Someday, after you are dead, a Mormon will gain your name and seal you to such a man. That is the work that goes on in the Temples. They are busy sealing people to someone elses planet. It is a loving gesture, as they feel that you will have another chance to be reborn, and another chance of sanctification in that new life. Good luck!
Just goes to prove, yet again, that the age of consent laws are important, because not every father has their child’s best interest at heart.
A father who sires children, who he never gets to know, on a daily personal level, will not really have a heart or care what happens to them.
Thank you for the information.
I think Warren took a lot of latitude in his ‘version’ of sealing, particularly when it came to young girls.
When I said ‘sealing’, I didn’t just pull it out of my hat.
It was the words of Warren, and Teresa, from their diaries.
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