SAN ANTONIO — A 72-year-old elder of a breakaway polygamist Mormon sect and two other church members surrendered to authorities Monday to face felony charges relating to the underage marriage of girls to older men.Fredrick "Merril" Jessop, a leader in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who oversaw the sect's West Texas ranch, faces one count of conducting an unlawful marriage ceremony involving a minor on July 27, 2006 — the same day one of his daughters was allegedly married to jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. She was 12 at the time and is now the only child from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in foster care after her mother refused to cooperate with child welfare authorities.
Merril and his first six wives, from left, Cathleen, Ruth, Faunita, Tammy, Barbara and Carolyn
A grand jury in Eldorado, Texas, indicted Jessop, Jeffs and two other members of FLDS on Nov. 12. Jeffs, convicted in Utah and awaiting trial in Arizona on charges related to underage marriages of sect girls, faces charges in Texas of sexual assault of a child and bigamy.
The two other men who turned themselves in Monday are:
Wendell Loy Nielsen, 68, charged with three counts of bigamy. The indictment includes few details, but church records released as part of a separate child custody case list 21 women married to Nielsen in August 2007.
Leroy Johnson Steed, 42, who is charged with sexual assault of a child, bigamy and tampering with evidence. Church records show Steed married to a 16-year-old girl in March 2007.All three men were booked Monday and then released after posting bond.
"We've said all along we're not running. We're going to take it head on," said FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop. "The allegations they're making and what they're trying to do is nothing more than harassment."
Church records and journal entries released in the custody case indicate several of Merril Jessop's daughters were married to men in the church when they were 16 or younger.
One of Merril Jessop's wives, Carolyn, fled the FLDS community on the Arizona-Utah line with her children in 2003 and wrote a best-selling book, "Escape."
In all, 12 FLDS men have been indicted since Texas authorities raided the ranch in April looking for evidence of underage girls forced into marriages and sex with older men.
Generally, teens younger than 17 cannot consent to sex with an adult under Texas law. Bigamy is also illegal. While the FLDS plural marriages are not legal marriages, Texas law forbids even purporting to marry.
Nother pic of Merril with wives:
2 comments:
thanks so much for posting this, this is incredible to see while reading "escape" which Carolyn explains life as a wife of Merril's and all of the wifes. It is crazy to acually be able to see them! To have proof that this is acually real and really happened.
Wow, I read about all of these women and Merril. Ruth was rather mentally unstable and wore her clothes backwards sometimes. Fauntina stayed in her room all day and only came out in the nights. Poor Carolyn and Cathleen were the ones who worked the hardest cooking and cleaning everything, making tomato sandwhiches (all they had) while Barbara was out eating steak dinner with Merril. Babara and Merril were constantly mad at Cathleen and Carolyn for not okaying it with Barbara to make tomato sandwhiches while they were out eating steak dinner with the money they didn't have! Barb. didn't do anything, just sat around and gave orders and tattled tailed for the most non important things! Tammy didn't wan't to marry Merril at all as she was in love with a Canadian bishop.
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