Federal grand jury indicts polygamist leader Warren Jeffs for time on the run

SALT LAKE CITY — A federal grand jury indicted the leader of a polygamous sect Wednesday, accusing him of fleeing to avoid prosecution on Utah sex charges.

The one-count indictment covers a five-month period in 2006, although Warren Jeffs was believed to be on the run for a longer stretch before his arrest in August during a traffic stop near Las Vegas.

Jeffs also faces trial in southern Utah in April on charges of rape as an accomplice for his alleged role in the ceremonial marriage of a teenage girl to an older cousin. In Arizona, he faces felony sex charges in Mohave County, Ariz. for his alleged role in arranging underage marriages for some of his followers.

A telephone message left for his attorney, Wally Bugden, was not immediately returned Wednesday.

Jeffs is president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members practice polygamy and live on the Utah-Arizona border. He disappeared from public life in 2004 after lawsuits filed against him and his church alleged abuses of some members. The criminal charges in Arizona and Utah followed in 2005 and 2006.

To help in the search for Jeffs, federal prosecutors filed an arrest warrant against him in April 2006.

Federal charges tied to such warrants typically are dropped once a suspect is caught and transferred to state authorities. But with Jeffs, ”we felt like if there were ever a time to pursue a defendant … this was it,” said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman.

The federal charge carries a maximum punishment of five years in federal prison.

Read Another Article

Terry Hornbuckle church files bankruptcy
Civil liberties group sues New Jersey public school district for holding graduation ceremony in church

Related News Articles Topic(s): FLDS • Polygamy Subscribe to Religion News Blog updates Subscribe to Religion News Blog [What is this?] Get Religion News Blog's headline by Email [What is this?] Follow Religion News Blog at Twitter Find Related Information Use our custom search engines to find additional research resources on religions and cults: ApologeticsSearch.com: Search for apologetics articles, books, videos, and other research resources across 135 Christian apologetics websites and blogs. CounterCultSearch.com: Search for information about (religious) cults, cult-like organizations, and cults experts -- as well as paranormal-, New Age, and pseudoscientific claims -- across 260+ websites, blogs and forums dedicated to cult research, spiritual abuse, ex-cult counseling & support. Find Related Religion & Spirituality Books at Amazon.com FLDS Possibly related... or Most Popular Religion News Articles Kent Hovind: Evangelist arrested on federal charges Beast’s real mark devalued to ’616′ Muslim Woman Gives Sex Advice on Arab TV Michael Jackson Confirms Conversion to Islam Kent Hovind, ‘Dr. Dino,’ guilty on all counts The fall and rise of Carlton Pearson Search False prophet Harold Camping sets another date for rapture: May 21, 2011 Watch the film Theo van Gogh was murdered for Kent Hovind — Dr. Dino — sentenced to 10 years in prison

Search Religion News Blog