Warren Jeffs: The Godfather

Susan Spencer Takes A Closer Look At Jailed FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs

(CBS)  One unassuming young woman, Elissa Wall, turned out to be Warren Jeffs' worst nightmare and the main reason he's in jail. In 2001, Jeffs abruptly ordered Elissa to marry her 19-year-old first cousin.

Not only did she intensely dislike the cousin, she was only 14 years old. "He didn't treat me nicely. I didn't want to be married at all," she says. "I ended up talking to Warren and his father and pleading with them."

Her tearful pleas were ignored and Jeffs pronounced them man and wife. She says she that while she tried to look happy in photos, she was repulsed by her new husband, and, at only 14, totally unprepared for what came next.

"I didn't have any idea where babies came from. I had no idea what had to happen physically to have a child," Wall says.

After three miserable years, Wall fled both her marriage and the FLDS, and in 2005 told her story to authorities. That led to a warrant for Jeffs' arrest.

But by then, he had disappeared. "The FBI did the extraordinary step of putting him on the 10 Most Wanted list," Shurtleff says.

Jeffs was captured a few months later during a routine traffic stop near Las Vegas. In the car were disguises, cell phones, computers, envelopes stuffed with member’s contributions, and $50,000 in cash.

Last year Jeffs, considered God on Earth by his followers, was put on trial in Utah, facing two charges of rape as an accomplice.

"Trial was tough, it really was, the hardest thing was I felt like I was baring my soul," Wall tells 48 Hours.

Her face hidden from cameras, Wall testified about the first night she says she was raped by the man Jeffs forced her to marry. "He said it is time for you to be a wife and do your duty. I said please don't do this, and he just ignored me. He didn't say anything and he just laid me on to the bed," Wall testified in court.

"And no matter what you said, no matter how many times you told him no, if he wanted to have sex with you, he would?" Spencer asks.

"Yes, by force or not by force," Wall says.

She says that aspect never changed.

Jeffs was convicted and is currently serving 10 years to life, but he still has influence in the FLDS' huge financial empire, estimated to be worth $100 million or more.

Not that individual members see much of that: "They were commanded to basically go to work every day, work hard, and give me your money," Brower says.

Since polygamous marriages aren't legal, technically all the wives are simply single mothers, fully eligible for government programs.

Attorney General Shurtleff says they "game the system in that way."

48 Hours found that in the two small border towns, Hilldale and Colorado City, where most of the 6,000 residents are polygamists, the food stamp bill will run to $2.5 million this year alone. "The rest of the society shouldn’t be paying for their lifestyle choices," Shurtleff argues.

[mommakat64]

Warren Jeffs really needs to be let out into the general population of the prison he is in...let the "hardened criminals" take care of "The Prophet". ALL prisoners have mothers, sisters, daughters, sons....

[mommakat64]

Those "assets" were gathered by "spiritual" wives getting welfare as "single mothers". People, we have been scr**ed BIG TIME. Our taxes have built that grand white "temple". Statutory rape, bigamy/polygamy, child abuse--kicking out the boys and allowing jealous wives to abuse other wives'' children--incest--one sect has children with grave birth defects..which our social services tax dollars pay for the treatment of. This is insane...

[gal50]

Having a PA Dutch heritage and being aware of all of the legal battles the PA Dutch faced over maintaining their values, I can easily separate what is a legitimate cultural value from what is clearly illegal behavior and I think everyone else in the mainstream is not fooled either. For example, Warren Jeffs has banned pets, books, toys and the color red from the FLDS and in doing so, he has established new cultural values. Warren Jeffs has also reassigned families, abandoned underage boys and forced young girls to marry older men. This is illegal behavior that is not to be tolerated by anyone in our society.

Given that there is 100 million in assets, the lawyers who so ably handled the Catholic church *** abuse settlements should be employed for years to come.

[justthought1]

I always try to be sensitive to other cultures and beliefs; however, when the exploitation of women, men and children masks itself as organized religion or culture I find myself disregarding that sensitivity. But what does it matter that such practices are against my personal beliefs. The more important question is %u201Care such practices exceptional crimes.%u201D What if these individuals are tried, should their sentences be more severe because of the extraordinary nature of the acts? In cases like these subjectivity and media sensation often cloud justice. Therefore we should all take advantage of opportunities like the depravity scale (www.depravityscale.org) to voice our opinion in order to effect how justice is carried out. It doesn%u2019t matter that I personally think that certain of these practices are wrong, but it will matter how I classify the severity of such crime.