FALL OF A 'PROPHET'

Jeffs maintains control, but time may be limited.

Ranch leadership said to be in upheaval.

Dozers and dump trucks line up just inside the gates of the sprawling Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado. A white temple gleams two miles north of the gates, and a construction crane looms over other buildings on the ranch.

A video camera in a protective bubble serves as a security eye of what's going on at the entrance of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound.  Over the intercom, a man fields a request to speak with the bishop of the polygamist sect's ranch about coming onto the property to talk to FLDS members. "I don't think he would be interested," the voice crackles over the speakers.

Days earlier, a Tom Green County jury had convicted Warren Jeffs — the self-appointed prophet of the FLDS church — of sexually assaulting girls 12 and 15 years old, based largely on evidence collected during an April 2008 raid of the YFZ Ranch.
Jeffs is serving life plus 20 years in prison.
The ranch remains isolated from the outside world — an order issued by Jeffs to all FLDS members to block coverage of his fate in a San Angelo courtroom.
Local leadership at the YFZ Ranch is in upheaval, with bishops at the isolated compound coming and going.
"They now rotate out weekly," said Willie R. Jessop, an FLDS member and advocate for YFZ Ranch residents.
While Texas authorities have succeeded in locking Jeffs away, that hasn't immediately severed his authority over the FLDS church, especially at the YFZ Ranch.
Observers say they aren't sure how long Jeffs will be able to maintain control of church's 10,000 members and more than $110 million in assets across the United States and Canada.

They also fear that the underage marriage and sexual assault of children could continue if Jeffs maintains absolute rule.

Jeffs' fall in the Texas court system has renewed an earlier challenge from William E. Jessop, an exiled member of the FLDS, who claims he was given legitimate authority to rule from Jeffs' father, the previous "prophet."
William E. Jessop on Aug. 10 sent a letter to Warren Jeffs' brother, Lyle, and FLDS members in their community that straddles the Utah-Arizona border condemning "abominations" by Jeffs.
"You condone the immorality by your failure to accept once again the terrible deeds that were done, by believing you can sit in the halls of the court and turn off the evidence and deny the abominations of Warren Jeffs," Jessop wrote.
The letter, which was mailed to FLDS members, calls for openness in information about Jeffs' confession to his brothers about not being the true FLDS leader.
For now, Warren Jeffs has turned to Lyle Jeffs for help leading the church. Lyle Jeffs, it seems, is acting as the de facto leader. He denied a Standard-Times request to visit the ranch during his brother's trial.
Lyle Jeffs is the bishop of the Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., border twin cities known collectively as Short Creek.
He helped his brother in the courthouse, retrieving and distributing documents. At times, Lyle Jeffs sat with another FLDS member in the hallway, shying away from media inquiries about YFZ Ranch residents' reaction to the trial.
"What he will be doing is managing in the name of Warren till Warren dies," said Carolyn Jessop, a former FLDS member. She grew up in the FLDS church and still stays in close contact with FLDS members.
Ken Driggs, an attorney in Georgia who has written academic work on the FLDS, said he doesn't believe Warren Jeffs will remain in control for long.
"I don't see how Warren can continue as the absolute leader," Driggs said. "His communication is going to be diminished."
Jeffs, like other Huntsville inmates, will be allowed to establish a 10-name visitors list and permitted to phone the people on that list for a total of 15 minutes a day, to a maximum of 240 minutes a month. In the Reagan County Jail where he awaited trial in Texas for seven months, Jeffs had unlimited access to the jail pay phone using prepaid phone cards.
Warren Jeffs continued as prophet from his jail cells before his trial. Jeffs excommunicated dozens of men and reassigned families from behind bars, members in the sect said.
Willie R. Jessop, once an ardent defender of Warren Jeffs, is working with William E. Jessop, who is said to have about 200 followers. Willie R. Jessop is calling for the removal of the guard tower at the YFZ Ranch to make the community a more open society.
"He is a leader out of respect," Willie R. Jessop said. "Warren is a leader out of a usurpative dictatorship."
In 2007, Warren Jeffs said he was not the prophet and never had been the prophet, but that William E. Jessop had been the rightful successor all along. Jeffs later retracted his confession. He said it was a test of faithfulness for his people.
Following the clash with Jeffs, William E. Jessop was removed from the church.
He is described as a reserved farmer who finds peace in his fields after being exiled from Short Creek, where he was bishop. He tried unsuccessfully to take hold of the "FLDS corporation of the presidency" and "presiding bishop" by filing documents with the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code.
In that filing, William E. Jessop wrote: "Warren S. Jeffs informed me that he does not hold priesthood and that he had been immoral. He also informed me that he was aware of my ordination performed by his father, Rulon T. Jeffs, and he acknowledged that I am the Key Holder, (i.e., the person appointed to be the prophet of the FLDS church)."
State officials in Utah rejected Jessop's efforts, leaving Jeffs in control of the corporations.
Utah commerce regulations don't automatically bar criminals from holding these types of positions, said Jennifer Bolton, a spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Corporations.The division would only act to remove a criminal if "ordered to do so by a court of law," Bolton said.
Willie R. Jessop said the issue of who controls the official presidency and presiding bishop in the corporation is important. For real progress to happen in the FLDS, it must be a grass-roots effort that will take education and a change of leadership, he said.
"This crisis has got to be fixed from within," Willie R. Jessop said.

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(Source: http://www.gosanangelo.com)

DR. DREW - Why Do Women Stay in Polygamist Sects?

We are going to catch up on our Dr. Drew, then stick with him daily. Thought and Comments Below! We sincerely want to hear from former or current FLDS women. Use Anonymous to feel comfortable if you wish. 

IF YOU HAVE TO PICK AND CHOOSE, WATCH THESE AND THE FLICKS BELOW ON BILL MAHER AND WARREN JEFFS TRIAL TAPE.

Some background on the ladies you'll see.

CATHY JO NICHOLSON - was raised in a polygamous household where Warren Jeffs was her school teacher.  She eventually escaped that life.  Cathy Jo is with is here today for a discussion of the FLDS church.  R – According to the affidavit investigators at the Eldorado, Texas compound observed a practice in which  female children of child bearing age (13 or 14 years of age) are “spiritually married to a male adult member of the church.”  As a former member is this surprising to you?  “No, not at all, at least not in recent years.  Since Warren took over for his father this became a more prevalent practice.  Meryl Jessop has taken the reins while Warren is in jail.  Meryl became notorious for giving his very young beautiful daughters up to the prophets.  I know of several of his daughters who were given to Rulon Jeffs when he was on his death bed.  This was done to supposedly seal his place in heaven and then these women were inherited by Warren Jeffs when his father passed the monarchy to him.”  R – Also according to this affidavit children were denied food and forced to sit inside closed closets as punishment.  When you were a member of the FLDS does this sound like his brand of discipline?  “Definitely – at that time he (Jeffs) was not the prophet but he did send down his decree of ‘today we fast and also tomorrow.’  I remember thinking to myself it’s so much easier after the third day to ignore your hunger.  He would beat the boys and close the girls in.  This did not go on in my private home but at school.  We needed to mind the headmaster (Warren Jeffs).  The fasting took place throughout the community.”  R – The raid was the result of a 16 year old girl’s call to a family violence shelter.  When she called she used someone else’s cell phone and whispered.  FLDS leaders told her that if she left or ran away she would be found and locked up.  R- When you escaped what did you think would happen to you?  “I believe they still tell those young women ‘they are free to leave but you’ll never see us again or have any support from us.’  “You’re not free to go when you have no resources, or outside information which you can study or become familiar with.”  There are virtual walls up, ‘yes you can step across the border and be free (which is what I did) but those virtual walls and threats of hell and eternal damnation are very strong and scary to these women.”  I’m so grateful to Texas and Utah for convicting Warren Jeffs and the young Wall girl who stepped forward and now this young 16 year old girl who has yet to be determined.  I’m so grateful that Texas has undertaken this huge task and done it so diplomatically so far.  My sister is in Colorado City…  I have family members whose whereabouts are unknown.  I only cry out if anybody knows of the Nicholson family – sisters and brothers.” 

LAURIE ALLEN - was born into the infamous and violent LeBaron polygamous sect. Her uncle Ervil LeBaron killed 28 people, and became known as the Mormon Manson. Her cousin Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron is on the FBI's Most Wanted list. When she was eight, a polygamist kidnapped Laurie from Chihuahua, got in some trouble with the law, and eventually fled to Central America, keeping her as his interpreter. Laurie fought off the religious indoctrination, escaped at age sixteen, and found passage back to the United States. Fluent in Spanish and dedicated to freedom and human rights, she earned a college degree and went on to film school. BANKING ON HEAVEN exposes a cult similar to the one that nearly absorbed her when she was very young and vulnerable.Now Laurie Allen is a filmmaker with a vision and a goal. Her background makes her the one filmmaker who could write and  produce BANKING ON HEAVEN, a documentary about the abuse and corruption inherent in America’s polygamous sects.

(Source: CNN: Video and Cathy Jo Nicholson Bio; Bankingonheavon.com for Lauri Allen )
IF you've already watched, we hope you join the discussion.