Jeffs is scheduled to appear in St. George's 5th District Court on Monday for a status hearing. A judge is expected to address attorney issues, bail and an upcoming preliminary hearing.

Jeffs, 50, is charged with rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of forcing a teenage girl into a polygamous marriage with an older man. When the girl said she did not want to be married to the man, prosecutors allege in court papers that Jeffs ordered her to stay.

"Go back and repent. You go give yourself mind, body, and soul to your husband like you're supposed to. He will take you into the heavenly kingdom. Go back and do what he tells you to do," Jeffs is purported to have said.

If convicted, Jeffs faces up to life in prison.

In Mohave County, Ariz., Jeffs is charged with sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He is accused of arranging child-bride marriages.

Any money that Jeffs would use to pay for his legal defense would likely come from his loyal followers. The court-appointed special fiduciary for the FLDS Church's financial arm said most of those assets are tied up in land and buildings.

"The UEP didn't even have a checking account when I started," Bruce Wisan said Friday. "Any cash he's receiving now I assume is tithing and the extra on top of the tithing he's requesting from the families."

Ex-FLDS members have said Jeffs has demanded payments of up to $1,000 a month from his faithful followers.

In 2005, a judge took control of the FLDS Church's United Effort Plan (UEP) Trust amid allegations that Jeffs and other top leaders were fleecing money from it. The judge is expected to sign off on a reform plan for the UEP trust that would ultimately privatize land in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.

Wisan is also suing Jeffs and ex-UEP trustees, claiming they misappropriated assets and exposed the UEP to a series of multi-million dollar civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse, forced child bride marriages and the ousting of teenagers from the communities.

Lawyers for the fiduciary have placed advertisements in newspapers in St. George and in Eldorado, Texas, serving the ex-trustees with a court summons.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com