Polygamous Prophet: Outsider or Criminal?

May 8, 2006 — -- To his followers Warren Jeffs is a prophet. To the Mormon Church he's an outsider, and to the FBI he is a criminal.

Jeffs leads an estimated 10,000 church members who broke off from mainstream Mormons decades ago, calling themselves the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They practice polygamy with girls as young as age 12, authorities say.

Jess is now wanted for alleged sexual conduct with a minor and for forcing teenage girls to marry older men against their will. He was added to the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list over the weekend.

"I would consider those to be very heinous [acts]," said FBI special agent Tim Furhman of the Salt Lake City bureau. "And for that reason we have placed him on the top 10 list."

In his church and in recent audio recordings, Jeffs, 50, has preached that women should obey men. In one recording obtained by the Eldorado Success newspaper, Jeffs said if woman are not careful they will be overbearing and they should always ask permission for what they want.

He also said ladies should "build up your husband by being submissive."

The tapes also reveal racist views. In one recording, Jeffs says that anyone who "mingles their seed with the seed of Cain, the Negro, they also would lose all rights to priesthood blessings."

"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."

One of the young girls forced into a marriage, somewhere between ages 14 and 18, told law enforcement that Jeffs told her God instructed her to marry the older man.

Despite her pleas that she was too young, Jeffs ordered her to be taken to Nevada where he married the couple, telling them, according to an affidavit reported in the Salt Lake City Tribune, to "multiply and replenish the earth and raise children in the priesthood."

Weeks later, trying desperately to avoid having sex with her new husband, the girl returned to Jeffs.

"Go back and repent," Jeffs told her, the affidavit said. "You go give yourself mind, body and soul to your husband like you're supposed to. He will take you into the heavenly kingdom. Go back and do what he tells you to do."