Convicted Polygamist Warren Jeffs Reportedly Orders Child Labor from Prison

By D. Beeksma
God Discussion
December 9, 2012

www.goddiscussion.com/104997/convicted-polygamist-warren-jeffs-orders-child-labor-from-prison/


[with video]

CNN's Gary Tuchman reports that he received a tip that convicted polygamist Warren Jeffs is having children pick pecans at a private ranch instead of attending school.

Tuchman and his team set out to investigate the lead and found that it was true.  Hundreds of children, many of them small, were working at the Hurricane, Utah ranch.  They were accompanied by a few mothers and some men.

When CNN's camera crew was spotted, the children and the adults ran away.  "The paranoia among FLDS leaders is intense," Tuchman says.  "That's because they know we are here to ask questions, like why is it okay to pull all their children out of school so that they can toil as free laborers and what's happening with all the money they're making."

The ranch is owned by a Nevada businessman who is not in the FLDS (Fundamental Latter Day Saints) church.  The ranch owner could not be reached for comment.  Law enforcement officials think that the money made from harvesting pecans goes directly to Warren Jeffs and his church.  Some of the children's mothers, who spoke with Tuchman off camera, acknowledged that they get no money for the work. Another FLDS mother told Tuchman off camera that kids have fun picking the pecans and that "it's all good" because the work was being done "for God and her prophet."

A neighboring rancher told CNN that the child labor goes on for a week or two and has been going on for many years.  She says that she feels "desperately sorry" for the FLDS children, who she has observed working after dark and banned from talking with children and adults who are not members of the church.