Oct. 24, 2009
Texas Polygamist Women Called "Pimps"
Former Sect Member Assails Them Ahead of First Trial of Fundamentalist Group's Men on Child Sex Abuse Counts
-
The sect's compound, near Eldorado, Texas (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
-
Photos Polygamist Sect Ordeal Church compound raided, children placed in foster care, returned to parents after court fight.
-
Photo Essay Sect Kids, Parents Reunited Children taken from polygamist sect's ranch return to arms of their tearful parents.
Raymond Jessop, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was indicted after the April 2008 raid and pleaded not guilty to allegations including sexual assault, bigamy, and being married to underage girls.
The other eleven defendants are scheduled to be tried separately later this year.
The raid on the sprawling, 1,700-acre Yearning For Zion ranch made public the private practices of the polygamous religious order near Eldorado, observes CBS News Correspondent Don Teague.
Members of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints share a belief in multiple wives, being self-sufficient and dressing modestly. But an anonymous phone call alleged the church also sanctioned underage marriage and child abuse.
Four-hundred-thirty-seven children were removed as a result of the raid, as authorities investigated the allegations. Eventually, the initial phone call was determined to be a hoax and all but five of the children were returned to their families.
Former polygamist Flora Jessop, who escaped the compound 15 years ago, worked with some of the children after they were taken from the ranch. She now lives in Phoenix with her husband and two kids. Raymond Jessop's father is her cousin, so Raymond is her second cousin.
Flora works to get other girls out, including her sister. She's also writing a book about the sect.
"Everyone (in the sect) views (Raymond) as a hero and martyr," she tells CBS News. "Being on trial has not and will not hurt his image at all. All 12 of these guys are viewed that way."
She told "The Early Show Saturday Edition" co-anchor Chris Wragge "it really doesn't" surprise her that the men are being put on trial, "because of the nature of the abuses that we've been talking about for years. And I'm just happy to see that they are going to trial. What I'm upset the most about, I think, is the fact that none of the women have been indicted, as well.
" ... I think that the women were nothing but pimps on that compound and giving their daughters over to these perverts knowing what was going to happen to them."
Flora added, "I think the nature of the abuse and the severity of the abuse is going to shock people. I spent a month in Texas in June, when I just traveled through the state, and I wanted to know firsthand what was discovered, and spoke with hundreds of CPS (Child Protective Service) caseworkers, and the sense I got was that the local CPS workers felt just as betrayed as the children, and (I) felt they just quit believing in the system, because they were told they couldn't protect these kids."
Flora predicted some of the allegations that will be made in the courtroom will be worse than what's come to light already "because of what I discovered in Texas."
In-Session/Court TV Correspondent Beth Karas, who's been covering the raid's aftermath, told Wragge prosecutors will initially have their work cut out for them. "The biggest hurdle is that they're gonna try to get a jury in the same community where this occurred. People know about this. It's widely publicized. So the big hurdle will be trying to seat a jury of 12 people who can put aside any opinions they have and knowledge they have of the case and just decide it on the evidence."
She said the charges are "very serious" and punishable by two-20 years in prison.
Karas said she thinks the trial will be "a bit of a spectacle, and they're prepared for it down there because they have a lot of security. They're really stepping up the whole process.
"What the jury's going to hear, though, my understanding (is), is DNA evidence establishing paternity and maternity, and they were not able to get DNA for a lot of these children to determine who belongs to whom. But for the men charged, I believe they have the evidence."
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Add a Comment See all 103 Comments
- There is plenty of proof, why do you think they spent so much money on the motion to suppress it?
Oh and the leader was a FBI Top Ten most wanted fugitive who visited there - they are lucky that place wasnt on lockdown as soon as it was built.
You got FBI Top Ten BFF? - Reply to this comment
- "But an anonymous phone call alleged the church also sanctioned underage marriage and child abuse.
Four-hundred-thirty-seven children were removed as a result of the raid, as authorities investigated the allegations. Eventually, the initial phone call was determined to be a hoax and all but five of the children were returned to their families"
What a wonderful country we live in. Make an anonymous phone call about someone you don't like and have their place raided. WITHOUT PROOF! No investigation required. All but 5 kids returned? Sounds like the feds just held a few on fraudulent charges to keep from looking like idiots...AGAIN!
BTW, the same thing happened to me. Someone on the internet said I was an Isreali spy born in Isreal and the feds raided my place. No proof! No investigation. It was pretty funny when I told them I was born in Illinois and had a birth certificate to prove it. To bad they didn't run a 30 second background check. But who needs proof? What a country! - Reply to this comment
- Correction: Look for the FLDS at the Defendants Table
- Reply to this comment
- Jury selection has started, can ya believe it, a dozen FLDS showed up hoping to fill the seats!
They will get seats but not in the Jury Box. Sorry. OOOPSIE. - Reply to this comment
-
- Their PEERS are fellow residents of the county and State, not fellow members of a cult.
We all know how they would vote for each other. DUH!!!
- Their PEERS are fellow residents of the county and State, not fellow members of a cult.
- I can't believe people are defending the polygamists. Calling an 11-year old girl your "wife" doesn't change the fact that she's an 11-year old girl. I don't care what "religion" you think you are, it is sick and unlawful... The age of consent in Texas is 17.
- Reply to this comment
- kesac, under-age children ARE involved. READ!
Slavery was outlawed with the 13th amendment to the constitution. These women and children are held in BONDAGE and denied basic human freedoms. The fact that many women collude in their own slavery doesn't lessen the reality of the bondage.
CBS, thanks for covering this. Please please continue to cover it extensively. - Reply to this comment
- If it is ok for a man to marry another man. Why would it be illegal for a man to marry multiple wives? If sodomy is protected in Texas as a privacy issue, then those people should have the same rights to their private practices, as long as underage children are not involved.
Whats good in the eye of the Liberals in the one case should be good in the eye of the Liberals in all cases. - Reply to this comment
- What is polygamy really? Isn't it just a way for certain men to justify, under supposed religious grounds, that it is OK for them to actually have multiple affairs without the first wife's right to complain and without those additional wives "chosen" the right to refuse even if they don't like the person, are much younger, and perhaps don't even want to hurt another wife's feelings? Isn't there tons of documentation that the power of indoctrination is very strong, especially when started very young and is presented continuously in an overpowering manner- especially even more when it is couched in religious supposedly ethical terms? What about well-known fact that when some women and girls try to resist they are punished and ostracized? What about fact that the girls are separated from the boys in school starting at about age 11, and they then receive lots more indoctrination and less useful education to basically keep them ignorant (keeping girls ignorant has been shown around the world to result in increased births, greater acceptance of abuse, etc.).
What about fact that for every man who has more than one wife,that many other men have no wives since the approximate ratio of boys to girls born is 1 to 1? Those men without wives are often driven out of the religion or else punished into submission re accepting their fate of never marrying. All kids, both male and female, have a high tendency to learn what they live. Isn't that what parents and mentors try to teach? Aside from some polygamous men wanting as much sex as they can get (and I shudder to think what some must require in the bedroom), aren't such religions really saying they are better than everyone else and they know by having a high birth rate that the mere power of compounding will increasingly grow their numbers to exceed everyone else's so they can be in total control? (Zero population growth means each couple averages about 2 kids, which is very soon all our planet is going to be able to sustain. But if each woman averages 6 kids, using equal boy/girl ratio, the 3 girls have 18 kids, then the 9 girls have 9x6 or 54 kids, etc. AND, these families start having kids much younger- tending to get in 3 generations to our two, so the numbers indeed will get out of control soon- as Europe is already finding with their much larger population of Muslims who practice polygamy or who tend to have large numbers of children at young ages, even when not polygamous.)
Isn't all of this somewhat about being abusive control freaks? Aren't they misusing religion in one of the most immoral ways possible while seemingly acting so pious and insisting their women stay very covered up ( So each polygamous man gets to ogle and fondle several women & fear no resistance, competition, or immoral accusations. Aren't abusive men notoriously possessive?)
I realize when the power of indoctrination has played its role and many of its female victims then say they welcome polygamy (though think far fewer do than what seems to be the case, as they have been trained to be meek and are fearful, and there is documentation that many do resist for awhile their husband taking another wife- I believe it is fairly instinctual to not want to share one's mate, and note in general society men usually don't like their wife having an affair any better than wives like their husband's having one), hence resolving this will not be simple. Yet what is happening is basically a crime- legalized rape, even if some seem to be willing partners ( and further note that most prostitutes were earlier sexually abused). As a civilized society, I believe it is our legal & moral duty to find a constructive, compassionate way to end the practice of polygamy, though some of its staunchest perpetrators need punishment in some form. We must not let legalese and legal loopholes stand in the way of justice and actually the well-being not only of polygamy's direct victims, but all society!
I am in several well-respected Who's Whos including Who's Who in American Women and Who's Who in America due to my over 40 years in public advocacy re a variety of topics. I have masters in Health Advocacy & Math & am Exec. Dir. of the Nat'l Advisory Bd. to the Nat'l Coalition for Family Justice. I have 3 sons, 2 stepsons, 5 grandchildren, have been remarried 17 yrs, & was 1st married 23 yrs. to a high-powered lawyer. I have been asked to report to Pres. Obama's new Post on domestic violence. - Reply to this comment
-
- Well if that last sentence is accurate, I hope you tell him polygamy, as practiced by fundys, is the most abusive practice in this nation, and children are molested yesterday, today and tomorrow, as long as it continues.
- Polygamy is wrong because it divides our house as a Nation. Our country was founded with monogamy as the basic matrimonial form of wedlock and bigamy laws serve the purpose of endorsing that universal choice within America. Polygamy's legacy is one of never having reached an legal status and outlawed in all 50 States. Utah in order to join our Union was taken to the added step of prohibiting polygamy within it's State's constitution. Utah is the birthplace of the current problems which have spread by FLDS Church moves into neighboring States of Texas, Colorado, Nevada, South Dakota and Idaho. yet the practice of polygamy is illegal within all of these States. I can't recall such lawlessness being spread throughout our society of felony behavior since Prohibition. We risk a complete breakdown in our monogamous form of wedlock owing to one small groups claim that they have a illegitimate right to commit crime because they view it as a religious tenet, see Reynolds vs. United States. No established religion can commit a felony and use their religion as a explanation for breaking our laws.
- "as Europe is already finding with their much larger population of Muslims who practice polygamy or who tend to have large numbers of children at young ages, even when not polygamous"
I am very dissapointed that such an inteligent woman can write something like this. I come from European country with 45% of Muslims. They do not practice polygamy, and have usualy 2-3 children per family.Their woman, girls, and wifes are not covered. I have not noticed any differences comparing to christian or any other families.
- I believe that whole group was started by pervs and pedophiles.
- Reply to this comment
- FLDS Polygamy: There has never been a better system for keeping women and children impoverished and ignorant. May Raymond Jessop spend decades in prison.
- Reply to this comment
- About the person whom authorities believe made the hoax phone call.
She is mentally ill and has a history of making hoax phone calls, pretending to be an abused child in which she falsely accused innocent people of abusing her.
How would you like it if she made a false complaint about you? - Reply to this comment
-
- I have no doubt that Rozita is mentally ill.
However, if someone made a false report that a compound was producing Meth, and authorities acting on the information got a search warrant, then only found hundreds of pounds of Cocain and no Meth, does this exclude the operators from prosecution?
No.
If someone made a false complaint about me and my home was searched, I'd let due process take its natural course, because I have nothing to fear from it.
The FLDS got their due process, and now, they have plenty to fear.
- I have no doubt that Rozita is mentally ill.
- First, most of the members of the FLDS were born in this sect. It is the only way of life they have ever known. The FLDS sect has about 10,000 members. Don't vilify an entire religious group because of the actions of a few.
Secondly, in our country, defendants are supposed to be presumed not guilty until AFTER they are convicted in a court of law. Every defendant deserves a fair trial. Please try to keep an open mind until all the evidence has been heard. - Reply to this comment
-
- Perhaps you could actually look at just some of the documented evidence Texas has: http://texasflds.wordpress.com/
Polygamy is abuse.
Abuse is not a religion.
- In a court of law defendants are supposed be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In case you haven't noticed this blog is NOT a court of law and people are free to form their opinions anytime they want. I have read all the court documents and EVIDENCE of this cults CRIMES on texasflds.wordpress.com, I have read as many news articles as I can about this cult, I have INFORMED myself and I am free to believe that EVERY member of this cult that had any knowledge of the rape of little girls is just as guilty as the rapist because they supported the rape, they did nothing to stop the rape, and they did not report the rape. Because I have informed myself by reading all documentation possible I am free to form my opinion that Raymond Merril Jessop is GUILTY of not only raping Janet (the girl he is on trial for) but of raping other little girls that indictments have not come down for YET.
Just as you Farver4girls are free to keep yourself uninformed and support these rapists.
- Perhaps you could actually look at just some of the documented evidence Texas has: http://texasflds.wordpress.com/
- To some degree, religion in this case seem's to be used like a gun in hostage situation.
They aim religion at you..."or else".
So, is it religion? Or the person behind the gun?
Okay, both obviously. - Reply to this comment
- Polygamy is a recognized human rights abuse of women by the United Nations, worldwide. Although I have questioned many times whether Colorado City, AZ is really part of the U.S., I'm afraid they are definitely part of the world...and the same dang abuses show up there, as in Najaf in Iraq, where 20% of the homeless population roaming the streets is comprised of abandoned concubines.
You cannot immigrate to the U.S. if you admit to either practicing or planning to engage in polygamous relationships once you get here to America. Indeed, the only way to practice polygamy in America, unmolested, seems to be if you have established residency or are a native citizen. Then you can apparently abuse all the women and children you want to, as long as you can breed and hold them in seclusion.
There is no right to engage in "plural marriage" in this country. There is no such thing as ?plural marriage?. Marriage is a legal definition between one man and one woman in most U.S. states. It doesn't matter how many women from Plural Voices they trot out onto Oprah to say "We are all normal and happy with our lives", they are still engaging in a felony practice, and raising their children specifically to engage in a felony practice as well.
My question is: Exactly what other felony practice can you raise children in America to participate in, without any fear of prosecution in this country?
Answer: None.
We do not live in a vacuum.
If you officially decriminalize polygamy in this country, you are dooming our American Muslim sisters, who are enjoying a level of freedom undreamt of in their countries of origin, right back into the nightmare of concubinage they previously endured. - Reply to this comment
- Oh!!!
Almost forgot.
The trial for the former FLDS, (Now known, signed sealed and delivered to the County recorder) as
Texas Stake Of Zion Church And Trust
"TSOZCAT"
But since this is the second time this year they changed names, its now...
"TOMCAT"
Texas OldFashioned Mormon Church And Trust
News was inadvertently forgotten in SLC Fundy reporting (duh!!!)
As well as the fact they don't have a renewed focus on learning in Texas, no High School, no college, no nuthin', just goin' to Trial.
See here for the new improved non-FLDS Church And Trust:
http://texasflds.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/musical-trusts-aka-hide-the-ranch/ - Reply to this comment
- THANK YOU CBS for being a lead MSM reporter on this, there will be much more news about this cult and their abuses coming out with each and every trial!
- Reply to this comment
- Dogma, of whichever flavor, is all about mind control.
It can be used to get parents to offer their pubescent daughters to pedophiles, used to convine people to commit suicide, on and on and on.
These who cede their minds to others are nothing but intellectual children in adult bodies. - Reply to this comment
- How else but through dogma could people be convinced to willingly offer their offspring to pedophiles?
- Reply to this comment
- Dogma turns people into drones and they, as drones, gladly offer up their children for drone conditioning as well.
And all because they fear death.
So sad. - Reply to this comment
- One thing to point out, 14-year-old girls could get married in Texas with parental consent before the FLDS started moving in. The law preventing this occured to target the FLDS. So maybe we should thank the FLDS for helping revise Texas laws so 14-year-olds could not marry.
- Reply to this comment
-
- Texas legal definition of a child, unchanged by recent events, is 16 years of age or younger. Texas has laws against bigamy and a parent can not give permission legally for a minor to marry into polygamy without committing a third-degree felony. Also, revising the minimum age for marriage in Texas from 14 to 16 years brought the age limit in line with the majority of other States. If your saying that the Texas legislature does have the right/duty to keep it's statutes current and updated your thinking is as outdated as the FLDS Church teachings.
- YES and lets give thanks to the FLDS for ensuring POLYGAMY will remain
ILLEGAL for "Time and Eternity"
(read - FOREVER)
Thank you Warren! May your cell bunk be stiff and your pillow soft.
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
