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	Fall of a 'Prophet': States Hold out Hope for Joint Task Force with Federal Officials By Kiah Collier San Angelo Standard-Times August 20, 2011 http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/aug/20/states-hold-out-hope-for-joint-task-force-with/ SAN ANGELO, Texas — Top cops from Arizona, Nevada and Utah walked out of a meeting in Las Vegas excited about the prospect of banding together with federal authorities for a multistate effort to fight crimes related to polygamy. More than one state attorney general in attendance viewed the confab with federal prosecutors, the FBI and other federal law-enforcement officials as a step toward forming a state-federal task force to share information and tactics. The meeting in Las Vegas was June 11, 2008. The task force still hasn't materialized. Disappointment has replaced anticipation. Federal authorities apparently remain cool to the idea, but state officials in Texas, Nevada and Utah remain hopeful. They say there is a glaring need for a coordinated state-federal effort to investigate allegations ranging from tax evasion to the sexual assault of underage "celestial" brides in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The polygamist sect is a sophisticated criminal organization whose members flow freely across state and international boundaries to evade prosecution, officials said. "People, I think, make the mistake of thinking the FLDS and their agents are sort of local yokels," former Arizona AG Terry Goddard said in a recent interview. "Many of them are very smart and they have great legal counsel." The historic raid at the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado that began April 3, 2008, helped set the tone for the meeting in Las Vegas. "We just had this explosion in Texas," Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff said in a recent interview. "This was truly a multistate problem. None of us are going to solve it alone. The strategy of the FLDS is to divide and conquer, essentially, to get into so many different jurisdictions that even if one clamps down on them, the others won't." Authorities must respond appropriately — thus the Las Vegas meeting, Shurtleff said. The U.S. Department of Justice assisted with evidence sharing for a while after that. "But within a year nothing was happening," Shurtleff said. "In the end, nothing ever came of it ... We've tried multiple times." Goddard doesn't believe the conviction this month in San Angelo of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old and a 12-year-old has made a task force any less crucial today than it was several years ago. "At that point, it was to try and keep the bad things from happening in Texas, and now we're trying to pick up the pieces of bad things that happened in Texas," he said. Current Arizona AG Tom Horne did not respond to a request for comment. Former Jeffs supporter Willie Jessop, who still belongs to the FLDS, was among those contacted to provide a voice for the sect for this story. Jessop and FLDS attorney Rod Parker did not respond to messages. But Jessop recently told the San Angelo Standard-Times that Jeffs "betrayed his people and the values of his people." Shurtleff acknowledged that Jeffs holds sway over a number of sect members who will never believe anything said against their prophet. "But as I say, they're not all marrying children," Shurtleff said. "We don't have any evidence that a child bride marriage has occurred in Utah since 2004." Fresh from a San Angelo courtroom where a jury had just handed down guilty verdicts for Jeffs, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he still supports having a task force. "We would support that effort to root out any other kinds of problems either behind YFZ Ranch or any other similarly related issue," Abbott said. A spokesman in Abbott's office did not respond to a request for further comment. A go-nowhere bill introduced July 23, 2008, by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid didn't provide momentum for a task force. The Victims of Polygamy Assistance Act contends "organizations that engage in widespread and systematic violations of state laws and the laws of the United States in order to enrich their leaders and maintain control over their members" typically are in control of polygamist communities. The bill was designed to set up a task force to coordinate state and federal efforts to investigate and prosecute in federal and state courts, protect witnesses, track criminal behavior of polygamist organizations crossing borders and make sure local officials aren't corrupted because of ties to polygamy. Reid's office did not respond to requests for comment about the initiative. But Reid had plenty to say July 24, 2008, during a Capitol Hill hearing the day after he introduced his bill. Polygamous communities "engage in an ongoing pattern of serious crimes that we ignore at our peril," said Reid, a member of the mainstream Mormon church. In a recent interview, Goddard said he never learned why federal authorities were ultimately not interested in forming a task force."You know, they don't make explanations," he said. "They'll sit, and they'll listen, and they'll nod politely, and you never hear their side of the story." These days, federal officials aren't keen on even acknowledging the idea of a task force. A query about it resulted in a standard playing-cards-close-to-chest response: "The department declines comment. We cannot confirm or deny the existence of investigations," said Alisa Finelli, Department of Justice spokeswoman. But signs of federal involvement are there: Hints surfaced in 2009 of a federal grand jury investigation, dozens of Treasury Department warrants were to be served in Colorado City, Ariz., which has a high population of FLDS members, and a federal search warrant was executed at the YFZ Ranch on April 10, 2008. The federal affidavit for that warrant was sealed because of a pending investigation. The mention of a federal grand jury investigation came up when Jeffs' lawyers questioned two Texas lawmen who declined to answer questions because of a federal investigation. More federal involvement: The FBI assisted in the capture of Jeffs by putting the FLDS prophet on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in May 2006, based on state warrants. The FBI also put out its own warrant for him for flight to evade prosecution. In August that year, he was arrested during a traffic stop in Nevada. Texas state Rep. Drew Darby, a Republican from San Angelo, has been instrumental in calling for reforms. "I would support Sen. Reid in creating some sort of task force that would look at how we improve communication between law enforcement from the various states and encourage support efforts that will protect these children in these various states," Darby said. Texas Child Protective Services declined to comment on what further legislation might be needed. The West Texas congressional delegation had varying reactions to the idea of a task force. San Angelo Rep. Mike Conaway said he'll look at the issue, though he needs to know more. "My overall bias is that unless there's a real clear reason to get the federal government involved, states should handle these kinds of matters," the Republican from Midland said.
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