Texas Jury Charges Polygamist Sect Members for Underage Marriages
Warren Jeffs, 52, is the leader of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. The FLDS has an estimated number of 10,000 members. Jeffs was convicted in Utah, in November last year, to two consecutive terms of five years to life in prison. After that he had been convicted on two charges of raping in connection with a marriage he performed in 2001.

Jeffs is now accused of assaulting a girl from Texas back in January 2005. Only that Jeffs wasn’t alone in this happening. Four other sect members were accused on Tuesday of assaulting the underage girl and another sect member was also charged for denying reporting the child’s abuse.

Texas jury accused the FLDS of abusing underage girls and oblige them into marriage and motherhood. Investigators have found all the clues they needed during a raid made in April, by looking up documents, photos and family Bibles found at the yearning For Zion Ranch.

Other charges will be discussed on August 21 and the identities of the other sect members were not revealed yet on Tuesday because the police haven’t arrested the men yet.

Nearly five years ago, FLDS members funded the sect around Arizona-Utah area and bought the ranch in Eldorado. There was where the police found 400 children back in April. But only a few of the girls were abused and the other children had been taken away from their families.

Evidence shows photos of Jeffs’ embracing and kissing underage girls. Other documents indicate that he married his daughter, who was 15 then, with a 34-year-old man. Still, the girl, who is now 17, denies being married, in spite of documents showing her relationship with the older man.



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