About the only thing investigators in the search for fugitive polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs agree on is that he probably hasn’t been sunbathing in Cancun. But dozens of other promising leads have been pouring into state and federal agencies since he was listed on the FBI’s 10 most-wanted list in May.
“He’s still performing weddings and hasn’t delegated that to anyone else in the organization,” Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said. “To maintain a dictatorial hold over your followers, that’s something that can’t be done from a spider hole.”
He said Jeffs likely had performed marital ceremonies at trailers outside Colorado City within the past three months.
Goddard met with Justice Department officials last month about creating a task force to apprehend Jeffs. That won’t happen, but he said he expects increased coordination among all agencies involved in the search.
Leads have placed Jeffs at church property in southwest Colorado near Mancos about 3 1/2 months ago, Goddard said, and state and federal sources said he visited a FLDS sect in Bountiful, British Columbia, in May. On Friday, police and a SWAT team responded to a tip that Jeffs was at a home of one of his followers in Cedar City, Utah, but a search of the residence turned up nothing. Goddard said he has discounted reports that he was spotted in the Cancun area.