Legal battle brewing over Jeffs' 'sacred' FLDS papers

"Sacred" papers the FBI seized when it arrested polygamist leader Warren Jeffs could be a "motherlode" of information about the secretive labyrinth of business interests involving the Fundamentalist LDS Church, its leaders and the $110 million United Effort Plan Trust.

The man appointed by the courts to oversee the UEP Trust wants to see just what the FBI seized when agents arrested Jeffs during a traffic stop outside Las Vegas last month.

"An unnamed source told us that the information contained at the arrest with Warren Jeffs is the 'motherlode,"' court-appointed special fiduciary Bruce Wisan told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday.

Wisan's lawyers filed a series of motions late Monday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court and in federal court in Las Vegas, asking for court orders to see the papers and laptop computers.

"The Fiduciary believes that this information is likely to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence that may assist the Fiduciary in his efforts to investigate, preserve, trace inventory and recover Trust property," lawyer Michael Stanger wrote in a motion filed in 3rd District Court and obtained by the Deseret Morning News.

A judge authorized a subpoena to be served on the FBI in Nevada, requiring them to produce the documents. The FBI's office in Las Vegas did not return calls Tuesday seeking comment.

Lawyers for Wisan managed to get a look at papers seized when FBI agents arrested Warren Jeffs' younger brother, Seth, during a traffic stop in Colorado last year. Seth Jeffs pleaded guilty in Denver's federal court earlier this year to a single charge of harboring a fugitive. He admitted to carrying cash, cell phones, credit cards and church papers to help keep his brother on the run.

"Seth Jeffs was just a snapshot. There was information on donations, there was some information about some businesses," Wisan told the Deseret Morning News. "This ... could be valuable."

'Sacred' communication

One of Jeffs' lawyers has filed an emergency motion in Las Vegas' federal court, demanding the FBI return the papers because they are protected by his right to freedom of religion.

"These records include confidential religious writings and teachings of the FLDS, as well as privileged communications with FLDS members," Richard Wright wrote, adding that papers, computers and recording devices seized are protected under clergy-communicant privilege.