From Deseret News archives:

Texas fires back with photos in FLDS case

Lawyers say that female pictured with Jeffs is his 12-year-old wife

Published: Saturday, May 24, 2008 10:21 a.m. MDT
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If he were to have his way, Dan Jessop would have the children return to the YFZ Ranch. That troubled Randol Stout, an attorney appointed by the courts to represent the baby. He grilled Jessop about his home life and what would change.

"What else is going to change? Anything?" he demanded to know.

Together, Dan Jessop and Louisa Bradshaw's testimony revealed a portrait of their life in the polygamous sect. Jessop said he met his wife on the day of their wedding on Dec. 14, 2003. His father asked him if he'd like to be married and said that his bride had been chosen for him.

"I don't think I could have made a better choice," Jessop said, smiling at his wife from the witness stand.

Bradshaw testified that she was married to Jessop in a ceremony presided over by Warren Jeffs. Only their fathers attended.

Jessop had no more than an eighth-grade education, but he makes a decent living working for the FLDS Church as a heavy-machinery mechanic. Bradshaw, who completed tenth grade, has experience in accounting.

The couple has three children now, a 3-year-old girl, a 2-year-old boy and the baby. They moved to the YFZ Ranch, then moved to Colorado (Jessop was vague under questioning about where) before returning to the YFZ Ranch again, where they lived in a bedroom with their children in Merril Jessop's home.

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When the raid occurred on April 3, Bradshaw and her children were placed in state custody. Bradshaw was in the category of the so-called "disputed minors," girls that the state believed were underage, but whom the FLDS insisted were adults. Over the past week of court hearings, the state's number has been steadily whittled away. Now, Texas concedes that 15 of the 31 women in foster care are adults, including one who is 27.

In Bradshaw's case, she provided them with documentation of her age but it wasn't believed.

"They finally found out the second my baby was born," the 22-year-old woman said.

Asked how she was treated by Texas child welfare workers, Bradshaw said she has had few meetings with them, they have never spoken to her about services and never identified any physical dangers to her son or told her where she failed to protect her children from abuse.

Asked if she would allow her 3-year-old daughter to marry at age 14, Jessop replied, "No. Not right now."

Asked what is age appropriate to be married, she replied: "Seventeen or 18."

"Is it your purpose to raise your child to be a sexual predator to have sex with an underage girl?" Jessop's attorney, Patricia Matassarin, asked Dan Jessop.

"Morals are our highest standard. That's the farthest thing from what we teach," he replied.

Recent comments

The point you people seem to be missing is it doesn't matter how old...

Worried: | Aug. 18, 2008 at 12:19 p.m.

Warren Jeffs should be hung. The damage he has done will not stop...

Anonymous | June 6, 2008 at 3:52 p.m.

A right and we don't say it's "ok" in our general society for these...

Two wrongs don't make | June 3, 2008 at 9:26 a.m.

Image

Photos of FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs and a young female were entered into evidence in a custody battle over a 1-week-old baby. Lawyers would not say where they obtained the photos, which are dated July 2006.

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