Two Years After Raid, Polygamist Sect Leaders Are 'Nervous'

April 2, 2010 — -- Former members of the polygamist sect that was raided two years ago say they are encouraged by tough sentences handed down by courts in recent months, but said that the secretive group is as a strong as ever.

So far, four of the 12 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who were accused of child abuse have been convicted and sentenced to prison.

In the most recent court case, Merril Leroy Jessop, 35, was sentenced last month to 75 years after being convicting of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who is believed to have been his child bride.

The eight remaining men will stand trial in the coming months, according to the Texas State Attorney's office.

"These convictions are a really big deal. They're game changers and it's significant," said Carolyn Jessop, who escaped from the FLDS sect in Colorado City, Ariz., seven years ago.

"But there is still a side to the FLDS that thinks they are invincible and that these trials are a joke and that if a few men go to prison for the cause, the group will still be fine," said Jessop.

The group burst into the national spotlight after the April 3, 2008 raid of the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas. People were stunned not only by the charges of polygamy and child brides, but because of the pastel prairie clothes, braided hairstyles and submissive attitude of the ranch's women.

Carolyn Jessop fled the group and her husband, Merril Jessop Sr., who is one of the men still awaiting trial. In her book "Escape" about life within the FLDS, she described the group's life as one of total obedience to their men to the point that mothers willingly surrendered girls as young as 14 to be the brides of much older men.

Carolyn Jessop characterizes the recent 75-year prison sentence as "unbelievable," saying that the FLDS has believed for generations "that they live above the law." Even so, she says that unless the veil of secrecy that has long overshadowed the sect is lifted, the group will continue to thrive.

"If these men go to prison and don't say anything, [their convictions] might not have any impact on the group," she said. "The only way I can see it having a profound impact is if someone is willing to talk for a reduced sentence."

"[The sect] depends on secrecy," she said. "The minute the secrecy is taken away, then the crimes will have to be prosecuted."

"These men know what is going on at that ranch and in the entire community and they've witnessed the worst," she added.

Calls to Willie Jessop, the group's spokesman, were not immediately returned. A call into the sect's lawyer was not returned either.