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	Jeffs Transferred to Utah to Face Felony Sex Abuse Charges By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press, carried in SignonSanDiego.com September 5, 2006 http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20060905-1340-nv-polygamistarrested.html Hurricane, Utah – Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was moved to southern Utah from a Las Vegas jail on Tuesday to face felony sex charges involving the arranged marriage of an underage girl and an older man. Jeffs arrived by Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter at the Purgatory Correctional Facility here just after 12:30 p.m. MDT, said Lt. Rob Tersigni of the Washington County sheriff's office. An initial court appearance was expected Wednesday before 5th District Judge James L. Shumate in nearby St. George. The court typically conducts initial appearances via video cameras set up in the jail. A public defender could be appointed for Jeffs then if he has no attorney. Jeffs, 50, is head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a polygamist sect of 10,000 that for a century has made its home in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz. Jeffs is charged in Utah with two felony counts of rape as an accomplice, accused of having arranged a "spiritual marriage" between a teenage girl and an older man. Each of the counts carries a penalty of up to life in prison. The alleged marriage took place some time within the past four years, when the girl was between age of 14 and 18, according to Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap. "Jane Doe," as the girl is referred to in court documents, objected to the marriage but was told by Jeffs that she must she must give herself "mind, body and soul" to her husband, court papers said. Jeffs, who decides which of his followers marry and to whom, told the girl that she would lose her salvation if she did not obey her husband, court papers said. It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Jeffs has hired an attorney. Over the past few years, Jeffs has failed to defend himself or his church against civil lawsuits filed in Salt Lake City. Jail records released Tuesday by Las Vegas police show that Jeffs was visited during his weeklong stay at the Clark County jail by two of his brothers, an investigator from Arizona and a lawyer from Las Vegas. Warren Jeffs was arrested Aug. 28 during a traffic stop near Las Vegas by the Nevada Highway Patrol. His 32-year-old brother, Isaac Jeffs, who was driving the vehicle that was stopped by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper, visited late Aug. 29. Gary Engels, a Mohave County, Ariz., sheriff's office investigator who built the Arizona case against Jeffs visited after Warren Jeffs waived extradition in Las Vegas Justice Court. Another brother, Nephi Jeffs, visited Warren Jeffs late Thursday and on Saturday, according to jail records. Nephi Jeffs had been misidentified by court officials and photographers as Isaac Jeffs at Warren Jeffs' hearing in Las Vegas Justice Court. Nephi Jeffs was accompanied to the jail Thursday evening by Jacob Jessop, according to jail records. Jessop is a principal in JNJ Engineering Construction Ind., a Hildale, Utah-based construction company with ties to the FLDS that has done millions of dollars in public works projects in the Las Vegas area in recent years. He did not respond to messages left at his businesses in Las Vegas and Hildale. Nephi Jeffs was accompanied Saturday by Richard Wright, a well-regarded Las Vegas defense lawyer who represented former Clark County Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey during her trial and sentencing to 2 1/2 years in federal prison on political corruption charges. Wright also represented world champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr. during his acquittal last year on charges he hit his former girlfriend during a 2003 argument outside a Las Vegas nightclub. Wright visited Warren Jeffs once Friday, twice Saturday and once Monday, according to jail records. Nephi Jeffs met with Wright on Tuesday in Las Vegas for about an hour at the same time Warren Jeffs was arriving by helicopter in Utah. Nephi Jeffs ignored a reporter's questions afterward. Wright declined comment. The Purgatory Correctional Facility is the 500-bed Washington County jail in Hurricane, about 30 miles west of Hildale. Jeffs will be held alone in a small cell for 23 hours a day, with one hour for showers, exercise and phone calls, according to Sheriff Kirk Smith. Jeffs will be allowed up to two hours of visitation weekly. Last week, Shumate granted a request from Belnap to temporarily revoke a $500,000 bond request for Jeffs. Belnap, who said Jeffs is a flight risk, wants bail revoked permanently, a request that could be dealt with at the initial court appearance. He had been on the FBI's most wanted list since May. Jeffs, who was arrested on a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, also faces felony charges in Arizona, accused there of arranging a marriage between a 16-old-girl and a 28-year-old man, who was already married. As with the Washington County charges, the Mohave County counts – conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor and sexual conduct with a minor, which each carry a penalty of two years in prison – do not accuse Jeffs of having sex with either girl, but that he encouraged others to do so. By some estimates, Jeffs has more than 40 wives and about six dozen children who have lived in million-dollar homes that cover an entire Hildale city block, surrounded by 14-foot brick walls and locked gates. It's not known if his families have remained on the premises while he was a fugitive. Associated Press writer Ken Ritter in Las Vegas contributed to this report.
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