From Deseret News archives:
3 FLDS members surrender in Texas
Men were wanted by authorities on felony charges
Fredrick Merril Jessop, 72, and other indicted FLDS members surrendered on Monday at the Schleicher County Sheriff's Office in the company of Texas Rangers and their attorneys. Jessop was indicted earlier this month on a charge of conducting an unlawful marriage ceremony involving a minor, a third-degree felony.
Documents seized from the YFZ Ranch by law enforcement and entered into court evidence indicated that Jessop performed a marriage ceremony between his 12-year-old daughter and FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. The girl, now 14, is back in foster care after a judge ruled her mother failed to protect her from abuse.
Wendell Loy Nielsen , 68, another leader in the FLDS Church, surrendered to face three charges of bigamy, a third-degree felony. Nielsen owns NewEra Manufacturing.
Leroy Johnson Steed, 42, surrendered on a charge of sexual assault of a child, a first-degree felony; bigamy and tampering with physical evidence, both third-degree felonies. Steed was arrested on the evidence tampering charge in the early days of the raid but was only recently indicted.
All three men were released after posting bond, the sheriff's office said. Nielsen and Jessop each posted $30,000; Steed posted $120,000.
"Today's arrests reflect a nearly two-week-long effort by the Texas Rangers and the Texas Attorney General's Office to arrange for the defendants' arrests," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement Monday.
Fredrick Merril Jessop declined to comment to the Deseret News, but FLDS Church spokesman Willie Jessop suggested Texas authorities had ulterior motives in indicting church leadership.
"It's just a desperate attempt from the state officials to justify carrying out this massive raid based on Rozita Swinton's hoax phone call," he said Monday.
Others were pleased to hear of the surrenders.
"I'm relieved that Texas is actually going to prosecute the men who are responsible for crimes going on down there," said Carolyn Jessop, who was Merril Jessop's fourth wife. "He's right at the top. He should be charged."
Carolyn Jessop left the FLDS Church in 2003 and chronicled her experiences in her best-selling book "Escape."
To date, 12 men have been indicted in connection with allegations of underage marriages involving the Utah-based polygamous sect. Jeffs was also recently indicted by the Eldorado grand jury on a charge of sexual assault of a child. Jeffs, 52, was indicted in July on another sexual assault charge and again in August on a bigamy charge.
