Polygamist Makes FBI Most Wanted List

Polygamist church leader Warren Jeffs has been placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in hopes that the additional exposure and reward money will lead to his arrest.

Jeffs, 50, is accused of arranging marriages between underage girls and older men. He is wanted in Arizona on criminal charges of sexual conduct with a minor. He also was charged in Utah with rape as an accomplice.

"We are doing everything we can to track him down," Timothy Fuhrman, special agent in charge of the FBI's Salt Lake City field office, said Saturday.

Jeffs is the leader of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, based in the neighboring communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.

The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy in 1890. The mainstream LDS church excommunicates members found to be practicing polygamy.

Jeffs has not been seen by anyone outside of the FLDS community for nearly two years. He also faces a charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.

By putting him on the Top 10 list, the FBI's reward increases from $50,000 to $100,000. The list is also distributed worldwide.

"We think that the inclusion of a $100,000 reward is going to mean that people are going to be much more aware of Warren Jeffs, they're going to be much more aware of what he looks like, and they're going to be much more willing to come forward to assist us in our efforts to locate him," U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton said at a news conference in Phoenix.

The FBI's announcement coincided with Jeffs' case appearing on the television program "America's Most Wanted."

Since the inception of the Most Wanted list in 1950, the FBI has captured 147 fugitives.

Although there has been speculation that Jeffs may be hiding in
the Texas compound, authorities haven't had probable cause to go inside and search for him, Fuhrman said. Adding Jeffs to the list won't change that, he said.

"We have to observe the Constitution," Fuhrman said.

Jeffs isn't considered armed, but he is believed to travel with armed bodyguards.