WARREN STEED JEFFS

Newsday
8/10/11
Warren Jeffs, a Polygamist church leader, is accused of arranging marriages between underagegirls and older men.  He was wanted in Arizona on criminal charges of sexual conduct with aminor.  He is also charged in Utah with rape as an accomplice.  Jeffs is the leader ofthe polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in the neighboringcommunities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona.  He also faces a charge of unlawfulflight to avoid prosecution. 
Jeffs was captured August 28, 2006, and did not fight extradition to Utah to face charges.
He was convicted on September 25, 2007 of being an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14 yearold girl to marry her 19 year old cousin.  He could get life in prison after a trial thatthrew a spotlight on a renegade community along the Arizona-Utah line where as many as 10,000 ofhis followers practice plural marriage and revere him as a prophet with dominion over theirsalvation.

Jeffs, now 55, was sentenced to life in prison yesterday for sexually assaultingone of his child brides, among 24 underage wives prosecutors said Jeffs had collected, and receivedthe maximum 20-year punishment on a separate child sex conviction.  He will not be eligiblefor parole until he is at least 100 years old.
(San Angelo, Texas)