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	Senate Investigation to Look into Polygamy and Federal Crime By Trish Choate and Daniel Collins Times Record News July 21, 2008 http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/jul/21/polygamist_hearing/ WASHINGTON - A Senate investigation into polygamy and federal crime will take place in three acts Thursday and will star a powerful senator angling for a federal task force, high-level federal and state prosecutors, two former sect members turned outspoken critics of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and a true-crime author who wrote a book about imprisoned FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs. No FLDS members in good standing are on the witness list for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing at 10 a.m. on Capitol Hill, but members of the breakaway Mormon sect, including FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop, will attend. "They're not going to give us an opportunity to say anything, but we're going to at least be there," Willie Jessop said Monday. The hearing titled "Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response" will look into creating a federal task force to work with states to investigate suspected offenses such as organized crime, racketeering, white collar crime, and abuse of women and children. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has long sought creation of a federal task force to partner with states. Reid, Senate majority leader, is the sole witness listed for the first of three panels. The second panel features top federal attorneys for Nevada and Utah, as well as attorneys general from Arizona and Texas. Dirk Fillpot, spokesman for Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, declined to comment on Abbott's testimony. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff is reluctantly sitting out the hearing because of health concerns, although he was invited to testify. "He was anxious to go," Utah AG spokesman Scott Troxel said. The third panel is made up of writer Stephen Singular of Denver, Colo., and ex-FLDS members Carolyn Jessop and Daniel Fischer, both of Utah. Singular is a New York Times bestselling author who has followed criminal investigations into FLDS since 2006. Singular said his testimony Thursday will involve allegations of sexual crimes against young girls but will also include "possible financial areas that could reveal fraud" by the FLDS. In his book, "When Men Become Gods," he follows the sect leader Warren Jeffs' rise to power and the efforts by private investigators, law enforcement and former polygamists that led to Jeffs' 2007 arrest. Jeffs is serving time for two counts of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice. The leader of the breakaway Mormon sect played a role in the marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin in 2001 in Utah. Singular said he's been in contact with Reid since his book came out in mid-May. Singular was in San Angelo May 19 through May 23 for the second round of child custody hearings for more than 400 children removed from the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado when he heard from Reid. Singular prepared a roughly 10-page letter for Reid detailing allegations against the FLDS that may have involved public money, including welfare payments. Carolyn Jessop, ex-wife of YFZ Ranch leader Merrill Jessop, wrote "Escape," a book about her life in the FLDS and her eventual flight from the sect. Fischer was secretly married to three women in the Salt Lake City suburbs. He fathered 16 children before breaking free of the church in 1995 with his second wife. Fischer was uniquely empowered to escape the church. Earlier, the church granted him the privilege of attending college and dental school. He then served polygamist families as a dentist. He also developed a series of tooth-whitening products and created Ultradent Products, Inc. Today, Fischer is seen as a traitor to many still loyal to the church, said Shannon Price, director of the Diversity Foundation, a charity Fischer funds through Ultradent. "(Fischer) will focus on our youth and the foundation's experience with the families," Price said of Fischer's expected testimony for Thursday. The Diversity Foundation has sheltered and counseled hundreds of young people who were expelled or escaped from the community since 2002. Price said expelled FLDS "lost boys" skilled in construction trade work need help finding jobs. "The problem is that that is the extent of their skills," she said The foundation assists with job training, helps with GED preparation and supports college tuition and books. Fischer, after listening to accounts from FLDS escapees, funded a lawsuit that eventually allowed Utah authorities to seize an FLDS land trust in 2005. His decision to leave the church wasn't easy, but he feared for his own family's wellbeing under Warren Jeffs leadership. Price said at one time, an FLDS community was a "wonderful place to be." "It wasn't until Warren Jeffs took over that it appears that things really began to change," she said. "And I said 'appears to be' because we really don't know." Willie Jessop said Thursday's witnesses lack credibility because they are uniformly anti-FLDS, and the hearing will be one-sided. "The general take on it is we just went through a raid in Texas where Texas officials acted on bad information," he said. "And now they're doing the same thing in Washington where they don't want the truth of the matter. All they want is an anti-FLDS approach." Some witnesses will testify to boost their book sales, Willie Jessop said. Price, whose maternal grandmother, an aunt and an uncle lived in FLDS communities, said she wouldn't expect current followers to speak at the hearing. "They're honorable people, and they're trying to do what they think is right," she said. Texas law-enforcement and child protection authorities removed more than 400 children from their parents in an early April raid on the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County. The raid catapulted the sect into international prominence. It was sparked by suspicions of sexual abuse that arose after telephone calls now suspected to be fakes. An appeals court ordered state child protection officials to return the children to their parents. But authorities continue to investigate the FLDS, which has strongholds in the Southwest and British Columbia. Witness list for hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on "Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response": Panel I U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Panel II U.S. Attorney Gregory Brower for the District of Nevada U.S. Attorney Brett Tolman for the District of Utah Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Panel III True-crime author Stephen Singular of Denver, Colo. Former sect member Daniel Fischer of Sandy, Utah Former sect member and book author Carolyn Jessop of West Jordan, Utah Washington regional correspondent Trish Choate can be reached at (202) 408-2709 or choatet(at)shns.com.
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