Woman Flees Polygamy after Disappearing 10 Years Ago

By Jim Dalrymple II
The Salt Lake Tribune
January 24, 2013

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55679319-78/jessop-ruby-flora-arizona.html.csp

Flora Jessop, left, embraces her sister Ruby Jessop as they listen to Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne speak at a news conference, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013, in Phoenix. Horne discussed how his agency and others, including Flora helped Ruby and her six children leave a polygamist sect along the Utah-Arizona border. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Law enforcement » Arizona A.G. claims increased police patrols led to woman’s escape.

A woman who was finally able to leave an FLDS-controlled polygamous community escaped thanks to beefed up law enforcement in the area, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which pleaded Tuesday for more funding.

In a news conference, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced that Ruby Jessop had managed to leave Colorado City earlier this month. According to a news release, Jessop was held against her will for more than 10 years after being forced to marry her second-cousin, Haven Barlow, in 2001. Ruby, now 26, has been granted temporary custody of her six children, according to the release.

He said a criminal probe of the FLDS and the Marshal’s Office, which serves as a small police force in the twin polygamous towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, is currently under way. He declined to provide details.

"What they do is say, ‘Everybody watch her so she won’t run away.’ Then she can’t leave," Horne said of women like Ruby. "Women who wanted to escape have been forcibly held by the marshals against their will."

Attorneys for the two towns and the Marshal’s Office adamantly denied the charges, calling Horne’s words "inflammatory."

"I can’t speak for the FLDS but the bottom line is the Marshal’s Office absolutely does not hold people against their will," said lawyer Blake Hamilton. "The Arizona attorney general, as the highest ranking law enforcement official in Arizona, ought not be making those statements unless he has evidence of it."

The release characterizes Jessop’s departure as an "escape" made possible by $420,000 that Horne set aside in 2012. The money was used to increase sheriff’s patrols in Mohave County, where Colorado City is located. The release claims that sheriff’s deputies were "instrumental" in helping Jessop and her children leave, although it does not provide additional details about the process. It also does not explain how she gained custody of her children.

Horne said in the release that the additional funds he allocated will run out in six months. He urged Arizona residents to contact legislators and ask them to support bills that would "authorize Mohave County Sheriffs Deputies to do the policing in Colorado City rather than the local marshals who are under the control of the dominant church."

On Tuesday, Jessop’s sister Flora Jessop said recent weeks have been the happiest time of her life. In 2001, Flora watched as then 14-year-old Ruby was forced into a polygamous marriage. Days later, Ruby called and said she was being abused and begged for help, Flora said Tuesday in a telephone interview from Phoenix, where she lives. "I was on the way to pick her up when she disappeared," Flora said.

Ruby Jessop landed on the Arizona attorney general’s radar shortly thereafter, according to the release. At that time, Flora told authorities Ruby was being held against her will in various homes along the Utah-Arizona border. After Ruby disappeared, the sisters lost contact.