Ousted FLDS man reunites with mom

A man who had been denied contact with his mother and had sued Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs to learn her whereabouts has been reunited with her.

Johnny Jessop's attorney confirmed to the Deseret Morning News that he met with his mother last month.

"He received a call from his brother, who said, 'Would you like to see Mother?' He spent a half-day with her in St. George," Jessop's lawyer Roger Hoole said Thursday. "His brothers were very cordial. Johnny was just thrilled and plans on seeing her a lot more."

However, Hoole said Jessop has no plans to drop his lawsuit against Jeffs.

"Not until we're absolutely satisfied there are no more impediments to that relationship," Hoole said.

Jessop, 18, filed suit against Jeffs in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City in February. Jessop says that in 1998, FLDS leaders took his mother and his siblings and "reassigned" them to live with another man. When Jessop was 13, Jeffs — who was considered the "prophet" — ordered him to leave the polygamous communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., according to the lawsuit.

"Jeffs' actions in expelling Jessop from the Short Creek community alienated Jessop from the affection of his mother, deprived him of her support and severed him from his family, friends, school, work and all else he had ever known," the lawsuit said.

Jessop, in his lawsuit, demanded that Jeffs reveal the location of his mother, Elsi Jessop. Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Hoole said, one of Jessop's brothers contacted him and arranged the meeting. Jeffs was not involved, he said.

Jeffs, 51, remains in the Purgatory Jail, where he is being held on charges of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony. He is accused of performing a child-bride marriage.

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com