Shurtleff: Indictment could force Jeffs out of hiding

Associated Press/June 11, 2005

Salt Lake City -- A reclusive church leader believed to be in Texas has been charged with arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a man who was already married.

Forty-nine-year-old Warren Jeffs is the leader of a polygamous sect. He was indicted in Arizona with sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor.

Utah officials also have been trying to serve Jeffs with court papers severing his control over a wealthy trust. But a process server was turned away at a Texas ranch where Jeffs is believed to be sequestered.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff says Arizona is likely to ask Texas authorities to execute an arrest warrant for Jeffs. That would force him answer a series of civil complaints.

Jeffs is the subject of several civil complaints filed by residents in the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona.

His nephew claims Jeffs sexually assaulted him when he was a child. Six other men say Jeffs banished them and other young men from the community.