Accused FLDS Teen Rapist Gets Slap on Wrist

Feb. 20, 2011— -- A follower of Warren Jeffs who admitted during the trial of the polygamist sect leader that he had sex with his child bride cousin will get off with just 30 days in jail as a result of a plea deal.

Allen Steed, who was originally charged with first degree felony rape, pleaded guilty to a charge of solemnizing a prohibited marriage, and a St. George, Utah, judge Friday sentenced him to 30 days, followed by 36 months of probation.

Fifth District Court Judge G. Rand Beacham ordered Steed to report Monday to Washington County's Purgatory Correctional Facility.

If he does not violate the probation, another charge of unlawful sex with a minor will be dropped from a felony to a misdemeanor, sparing him from having to register as a sex offender, the judge said.

Steed, who was 19 in 2001 when Jeffs married him to his 14-year-old cousin, Elissa Wall, could have faced five years in prison for each of the two charges. Had he been convicted of the original rape charge, he could have been sent to prison for life.

Jeffs, who was the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted in September 2007 of being an accessory to rape for marrying the couple and then coercing Wall to fulfill her religious duties by having sex with her husband.

That verdict was overturned on appeal, but while Utah prosecutors decide whether to retry Jeffs, the former FLDS leader is jailed in Texas, where he faces trial in July on charges of sexual abuse of a child and bigamy.

It was Wall's story that sparked the case against Jeffs. At his trial, she testified that Jeffs used his power as a religious leader to force her into a marriage in which he knew sex would be expected.

She begged Jeffs to allow her to be released from the marriage to Steed, but Jeffs refused, and Wall said Steed eventually raped her.