Warrants could lead to more FLDS charges

Grand jury will weigh evidence as church seeks their dismissal

Published: Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008 12:19 a.m. MDT
 |  E-MAIL | PRINT | FONT + - 
ELDORADO, Texas — When a grand jury meets here later this month, criminal indictments could be handed down against more members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.

Search warrants reveal new names under investigation by law enforcement for alleged underage marriages, the Deseret News has learned. The April 9 search warrants obtained blood, cheek and hair samples from five men, three of whom have already been indicted on sexual assault charges.

The warrants accuse Raymond Jessop, Leroy Jessop, Michael George Emack, Nathan Jessop and Jackson Jessop of fathering children with girls who were all about 16 years old.

Some of that information is based on initial interviews with the girls themselves.

"(The girl) referred to herself as the 10th wife of Nathan Jessop; that the father of her child is Nathan Jessop; and that (the girl) lived with Nathan Jessop at the suspected place and premises," Texas 51st District Attorney's investigator Diane Wilson wrote in a probable-cause affidavit filed with one of the warrants.

Law enforcement returned with DNA samples on April 14 to help establish paternity.

Some of the men have been previously named in search warrants served during the raid on the YFZ Ranch. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of evidence were removed from the temple grounds, including photographs, diaries, marriage and census records, and dictations by FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.

Story continues below

Some of that evidence has been used in child-custody cases over the hundreds of FLDS children taken into state protective custody during the raid. Texas Child Protective Services has said it has evidence of at least 10 underage marriages. A CPS caseworker testified during a court hearing last week that an investigation revealed "48 percent of the men at the ranch were involved in underage marriage practices."

A CPS spokesman could not elaborate, citing the ongoing child welfare investigation.

Nathan Jessop is believed to be about 40 years old, according to another search warrant affidavit that authorities used in the raid. His wife is now 17 and was due to give birth in June, when she was still 16.

That same search warrant also said Jackson Jessop was 36. Wilson wrote that his alleged wife would have conceived her now 3-year-old son when she was 16.

A grand jury has been meeting for months here to consider evidence of crimes involving FLDS members. Six men, including Jeffs, have already been indicted on charges ranging from sexual assault and bigamy to failure to report child abuse.

Raymond Merril Jessop, 36; Allan Eugene Keate, 56; Michael George Emack, 57, and Merril Leroy Jessop, 33, are scheduled to appear in court here Monday.

Recent comments


291 innocent children have been cleared.....no abuse.
Texas...

zxcvbnm | Sept. 17, 2008 at 9:28 a.m.

Before you accuse others make sure you are not hiding any sin. I...

freethinker | Sept. 16, 2008 at 6:50 p.m.

I'm glad to see all the FLDS posting their same old nonsense....at...

schweet! | Sept. 11, 2008 at 10:45 a.m.

previousnext

Latest comments

People are getting defensive here. The girl did not go to authorities like...

Utah's lessons for California

So what is it that Utah can offer California? And any other state for that...

You need to understand Mormon culture. Mormons aren't blaming Satan for the...

How easy and appropriate would it have been to announce before the flag was...

Utah's lessons for California

They (the Mormons) ask for it - the days are forever gone when a Mormon can...

Sorry to disappoint the friends of "mike", but nobody is so great that they...

you always make a rough draft before composing a masterpiece. haha just...

What is up with the respect for this guy? He has seen way too much playing...

The last democrat to rule the White House with a backbone was FDR. Obama to...

Utah's lessons for California

Now I've heard it all. Welcome to Utah - home of The Big Waters! 90% of the...

Advertisements