Polygamist Joins FBI’s Top Ten Most Wanted
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
SALT LAKE CITY – 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.
Mr. 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,” a special agent in charge of the FBI’s Salt Lake City field office, Tim Fuhrman, said Saturday.
Mr. 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. Mr. 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.
