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	Sex 'Prophet' Is Osama of Child Sex The Electric New Paper [United States] May 15, 2006 http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,106608,00.html TO some, he is a prophet. To the FBI, he is a fugitive from justice. To cult-busters, he's a Waco-style mass murderer waiting to happen. And to at least 70 women and girls, he is their husband. The name of Warren Jeffs, 50, was added to FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list last week, alongside the likes of Osama bin Laden, drug lords and other vicious criminals. He is formally charged with sexual conduct with a minor and forcing teenage girls to marry older men against their will. But he is accused of much, much more. Jeffs is a prophet to an estimated 10,000 followers of a secretive sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). According to the US authorities, Jeffs' male followers each 'marry' dozens of girls as young as 12. Jeffs reputedly has at least 70 'wives' himself. The girls are often married off against their will, claim the US authorities. Jeffs is wanted in Arizona on criminal charges of sexual conduct with a minor. He was charged in Utah with rape as an accomplice. He is accused by the US government of arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. 'I would consider those to be very heinous (acts),' FBI special agent Tim Furhman of the Salt Lake City bureau told ABC News. 'And for that reason we have placed him on the Top 10 list.' The FBI is offering US$100,000 ($157,000) for his capture. In a 2004 lawsuit, Jeffs was accused of repeatedly raping his then 5-year-old nephew Brent. The suit claimed that he had a history of molesting children dating back to when he was 14. The current case centres on claims that Jeffs arranged and performed a religious marriage ceremony between a teenager, identified as Jane Doe, and a man, identified as John Doe, in Nevada, according to court documents. The girl objected to the marriage, the documents say, telling Jeffs she was too young to marry. But Jeffs allegedly told the teenage girl that it was her 'spiritual duty' to marry and to have children, the documents said. IN HIDING FOR TWO YEARS US law enforcement officials say they have no idea where Jeffs is, but that he has access to hundreds of thousands of dollars and is surrounded by zealous armed bodyguards. The church and its followers have compounds and land in British Columbia and several US states including Arizona, Utah, South Dakota, Texas, Colorado and Nevada. Jeffs hasn't been seen by anyone outside of the FLDS community for nearly two years. 'He is a religious tyrant, a demagogue,' said Utah Attorney-General Mark Shurtleff. 'He has this absolute disregard for the laws of the nation, of the state, to the point that no matter what we do... it's an aggressively in-your-face, you-can't-touch me attitude.' Jeffs took over control of the sect after the death of his father, Mr Rulon Jeffs, in 2002. The sect broke off from the Mormon church in 1890 when the mainstream ministry outlawed polygamy. It dominates the remote towns of Colorado City in Arizona and Hildale in Utah, some 1.6km from its castle-like compound. According to Jeffs, a man must have at least three wives to go to heaven. Soon after his father's death, Jeffs is said to have warned high-ranking officials of his sect to stay away from his father's wives. He is then reported to have addressed the widows: 'You women will live as if father is still alive and in the next room.' Jeffs is said to have gone on to marry almost all of his father's several dozen wives. He also sent 'missionaries' door-to-door to check if people were engaged in forbidden acts such as listening to music or watching television. He added a US$1,000 per month 'donation' to each family's 10 per cent tithe. He also accelerated the pace of expulsions - the kicking out of 'unworthy' men and the 'reassignment' of their wives to other men. He has expelled more than 1,000 teenage boys in recent years so that the sect elders can take their pick of the teenage girls, claim Utah state officials. Boys as young as 13 are simply driven to the end of the sect's stronghold, a remote valley straddling Arizona and Utah in the US, and left by the side of the road, officials allege. They are told they have been damned to hell and warned never to contact their families again. Utah official Jim Hill told the Guardian newspaper last year that sect leaders claim the so-called Lost Boys were exiled for being delinquents. But Mr Hill claimed it had more to do with 'ruthless sexual arithmetic'. 'Obviously if you're going to have three to one or four to one female to male marriages, you're going to run out of females. The way of taking care of it is casting out those you don't want,' he said. ABC News reported that in recent audio recordings, Jeffs preached that women should obey men. In one recording obtained by the Eldorado Success newspaper, Jeffs said if women are not careful, they will become overbearing and they should always ask permission for what they want. He advised wives to 'build up your husband by being submissive'. 'It's a mind-control cult, it's an oppressive cult,' said polygamy expert John Llewellyn. 'Women are oppressed in this group more than any other cult.' Mr Llewellyn says many FLDS members would be more than willing to end it all in a bloody confrontation. 'They will use whatever violence is necessary to protect him. These men are as dedicated as some (like in the Middle East) who turn themselves into human bombs,' he said.
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