Chris Pleasance and Alexandra Genova
He used to be The Prophet's right-hand man, protecting him from adversaries, taking down his enemies and, on at least one occasion, helping him flee from the police on a motorbike.
Willie Jessop, a former follower of Warren Jeffs and his cult-like Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, dedicated his life to protecting Jeffs any way he could.
But all that changed in 2011 when Texas authorities slipped him a tape that recorded Jeffs sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl who he claimed was his niece and 'spirit wife', CNNreports.
Now, Jessop is unearthing secrets of life inside the cult in court as the key witness in a civil trial, and helping to dismantle Jeffs' former empire while he serves a life sentence in jail for sexual assault.
Willie Jessop, the former right-hand man to Warren Jeffs, the leader of cult-like religious sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has spoken out about life inside the organization
Describing life inside the FLDS, Jessop said that new followers were taken to a walled compound on arrival where they were given an interview to assess their suitability for life in the closed-off society.
Questions were designed to test their loyalty and obedience, Jessop says, a key part of the indoctrination process for new members.
He paints a picture of a socialist society, with resources pooled and then divided out among members based on a caste system. This included everything, from food, to jobs - even wives and children could be taken away from their husbands and parents at a whim and redistributed.
After being questioned, the most obedient new members - Jeffs called them the most pious - were brought into the United Order, the upper echelon of FLDS society.
They were given the best food, the best houses, allowed a running water supply and were prioritized for the best jobs.
Others were destined to live in trailers or shanty homes, and collected their rations from a different storehouse, with portions being comparatively meager.
All of their own possessions had to be handed over to the FLDS for 'consecration' before they were allowed in, with re-baptisms to follow.
Despite having misgivings about some of Jeffs' methods, Jessop says he he was fully dedicated to the man he considered God's messenger on Earth.
All cult resources were pooled and then divided out according to Jeffs. This included food, clothing, homes, water supplies, jobs - even wives and children could be removed from their families and reassigned at a whim
Jessop said he devoted everything to protecting Jeffs, until Texas police played him a tape of Jeffs abusing a 12-year-old girl. He is now a state turncoat and star witness in trials against Jeffs and his followers
Warren Jeffs pictured inside jail where he is serving a life sentence
Jeffs pictured during his 2010 trial for sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. He was found guilty
He said: 'All of our focus was on protecting Warren, protecting him legally, physically, financially -- any way we could find to protect him. And he was using that to be a terrible monster.'
At one point, after Jeffs was placed on the FBI rosta of most wanted men, alongside Whitey Bulger and Osama bin Laden, Jessop even recalls helping him avoid a raid on an FLDS meeting house.
Tipped that the authorities were due to arrive, Jessop said he sent the rest of the congregation out the main entrance on quadbikes, straight into waiting officers.
Meanwhile, he and Jeffs hopped on to motorbikes and rode in the opposite direction along a dry creek bed to the airport, carrying bags stuffed with cash and fake IDs.
Asked now why he turned against his former employer and savior, Jessop says bluntly: 'Those sons of bitches were raping little girls down in Texas.
'I knew it and they knew I knew it, and this battle rages on today.'
Granted $30million after suing FLDS for harassment and causing his excavation business to shut down after he left the church, Jessop is now using that money to buy up the church's properties.
Where men were formerly interrogated before joining the cult, he has now built a school where 300 children, both from the FDLS and outside, mingle and learn side by side.
A massive house, built for Jeffs by his followers after The Prophet had a vision that he would be freed from jail if they constructed it, has been turned into a hotel.
Jessop is also helping to dismantle Jeffs' empire, buying up property the church owned using money from a civil suit against them, he has turned a former recruiting center into a school (pictured, a FLDS town in Utah)
Following another set of federal raids, more disturbing details emerged about what goes on behind the secretive walls of the South Dakota compound (pictured) belonging to Warren Jeff's polygamous sect
Jessop spoke out at a civil trial against the cities of Hildale, Utah, Colorado City, Arizona, both of which are controlled by the FLDS.
Authorities are charged with running a corrupt and biased government, favoring FLDS members and helping drive 'apostates' - or non-believers - out of town.
The case comes as top leaders from FLDS, including Warren's brothers Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, were arrested Tuesday after a crackdown on an alleged food stamp fraud scheme.
And an FBI report on a 2014 interview with former compound resident Sam Steed revealed that the property - already surrounded by a 'privacy' fence and tall pine trees - was bolstered by a roving 24/7 security force and a steel-enforced octagonal watch tower that was manned 24/7.
Steed also revealed that cell phone batteries had to be removed while on the property.
Even the presiding bishop who carried a phone, had to leave to use it, Steed told the FBI.
And while there are various compounds across America, the South Dakota site appears to have had a special set of rules.
'There was a selection process for these girls chosen to go to R23 [what followers called the South Dakota site],' Steed said. 'Lyle (Jeffs) was instrumental in the selection process and told the girls that you had to 'qualify' to go.'
Only a dozen people were approved to work on Warren Jeffs' house on the South Dakota property.
Sam Steed revealed the that property - already surrounded by a 'privacy' fence and tall pine trees - was bolstered by a roving 24/7 security force and a steel-enforced octagonal watch tower that was manned 24/7
Steed also revealed that the South Dakota residence (pictured), whose construction started in 2008, was built with one-foot thick walls, sound barriers and double padded flooring
While there are various compounds across America, the South Dakota site (pictured) appears to have had a special set of rules
Steed revealed that the residence, whose construction started in 2008, was built with one-foot thick walls, sound barriers and double padded flooring.
Federal prosecutors say church leaders orchestrated a yearslong scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught.
Followers would scan their food stamp debit cards at church-run stores, leaving the money with the owners, prosecutors say. Group leaders then funneled money to front companies. Some of those funds were used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.
The volume of food stamp purchases at two small convenience stores was so large that it rivaled retailers the size of Wal-Mart and Costco, prosecutors say, with the total amount diverted and laundered estimated at $12 million.
Another common practice was buying groceries with food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to divvy up.
Source: AP
Warren Jeffs' son Roy - who left the sect in 2014 - was sent to live in the South Dakota compound for nearly a year in 2007-2008, where he spent long days building houses with log exteriors.
Other men helped raise livestock or stood guard in the tower, Roy Jeffs told The Associated Press.
Roy Jeffs said only a few dozen people were there at a time. He saw women, but didn't know what they were there for.
People weren't supposed to leave without approval from leaders.
Before 2010, the only people allowed to go to South Dakota were devout followers in good standing, he said.
In the faith's hierarchy, it was considered more sacred than the base on the Utah-Arizona border but below the Texas compound, which had a temple, Roy Jeffs said.
The sect in 2011 wanted to build a temple on the South Dakota property, but leaders told the Custer County planning commission that the structure was going to be a storage building.
The project was scrapped when leaders ran out of money, according to Steed.
'It has the same dimensions as the temple down in Texas, but it was kind of roughed out and never really started,' Wheeler said.
Warren Jeffs said sites such as South Dakota were necessary because he believed that the government intended to seize property on the Arizona-Utah border, according to Jerold Williams, a former church elder who supervised early construction of the South Dakota compound until 2006.
There were a series of federal raids at the sect's South Dakota site (pictured) on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in year
'It was a prophesy kind of thing,' Williams said. 'He was going to do these 'lands of refuge,' he called them, for people to have somewhere to go to.'
Some of the detail in court documents matches Williams' account of South Dakota, which was meant to be 'top secret.' Members doing the work often didn't really know what Warren Jeffs had in mind, said Williams, who left the church in 2012.
Neighbors have regarded the Pringle outpost with mistrust and concern, including skepticism about Seth Jeffs' truthfulness during a hearing last year on a request to draw water more quickly at the compound.
Linda Van Dyke Kilcoin, a nearby landowner, said she hopes the current case prompts government agencies to intensify scrutiny of the group.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467110/Cell-phone-ban-sound-proof-walls-24-7-guarded-surveillance-Food-stamp-raids-Warren-Jeff-s-sect-compound-reveal-disturbing-details-polygamous-group.html
Dailymail.com
February 27, 2016
February 27, 2016
- Willie Jessop used to be right-hand man to FLDS 'prophet' Warren Jeffs
- Helped Jeffs run his cult-like religious sect, protecting him at all costs
- But he went turncoat after being played a tape of Jeffs abusing a girl, 12
- He has now lifted the lid on life inside the sect, including how property was pooled by members before being given out according to a caste system
- This included wives and children, separated from husbands and families
- Comes after series of FBI raids on Jeffs' compound in South Dakota revealed yet more strange details about how the FLDS operated
He used to be The Prophet's right-hand man, protecting him from adversaries, taking down his enemies and, on at least one occasion, helping him flee from the police on a motorbike.
Willie Jessop, a former follower of Warren Jeffs and his cult-like Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, dedicated his life to protecting Jeffs any way he could.
But all that changed in 2011 when Texas authorities slipped him a tape that recorded Jeffs sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl who he claimed was his niece and 'spirit wife', CNNreports.
Now, Jessop is unearthing secrets of life inside the cult in court as the key witness in a civil trial, and helping to dismantle Jeffs' former empire while he serves a life sentence in jail for sexual assault.
Willie Jessop, the former right-hand man to Warren Jeffs, the leader of cult-like religious sect Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, has spoken out about life inside the organization
 |
| Jessop said after new recruits were assessed with questions designed to test their loyalty and obedience, all of their possessions were taken and reassigned according to a caste-based system that Jeffs controlled |
Describing life inside the FLDS, Jessop said that new followers were taken to a walled compound on arrival where they were given an interview to assess their suitability for life in the closed-off society.
Questions were designed to test their loyalty and obedience, Jessop says, a key part of the indoctrination process for new members.
He paints a picture of a socialist society, with resources pooled and then divided out among members based on a caste system. This included everything, from food, to jobs - even wives and children could be taken away from their husbands and parents at a whim and redistributed.
After being questioned, the most obedient new members - Jeffs called them the most pious - were brought into the United Order, the upper echelon of FLDS society.
They were given the best food, the best houses, allowed a running water supply and were prioritized for the best jobs.
Others were destined to live in trailers or shanty homes, and collected their rations from a different storehouse, with portions being comparatively meager.
All of their own possessions had to be handed over to the FLDS for 'consecration' before they were allowed in, with re-baptisms to follow.
Despite having misgivings about some of Jeffs' methods, Jessop says he he was fully dedicated to the man he considered God's messenger on Earth.
All cult resources were pooled and then divided out according to Jeffs. This included food, clothing, homes, water supplies, jobs - even wives and children could be removed from their families and reassigned at a whim
Jessop said he devoted everything to protecting Jeffs, until Texas police played him a tape of Jeffs abusing a 12-year-old girl. He is now a state turncoat and star witness in trials against Jeffs and his followers
Warren Jeffs pictured inside jail where he is serving a life sentence
Jeffs pictured during his 2010 trial for sexually assaulting two 12-year-old girls. He was found guilty
He said: 'All of our focus was on protecting Warren, protecting him legally, physically, financially -- any way we could find to protect him. And he was using that to be a terrible monster.'
At one point, after Jeffs was placed on the FBI rosta of most wanted men, alongside Whitey Bulger and Osama bin Laden, Jessop even recalls helping him avoid a raid on an FLDS meeting house.
Tipped that the authorities were due to arrive, Jessop said he sent the rest of the congregation out the main entrance on quadbikes, straight into waiting officers.
Meanwhile, he and Jeffs hopped on to motorbikes and rode in the opposite direction along a dry creek bed to the airport, carrying bags stuffed with cash and fake IDs.
Asked now why he turned against his former employer and savior, Jessop says bluntly: 'Those sons of bitches were raping little girls down in Texas.
'I knew it and they knew I knew it, and this battle rages on today.'
Granted $30million after suing FLDS for harassment and causing his excavation business to shut down after he left the church, Jessop is now using that money to buy up the church's properties.
Where men were formerly interrogated before joining the cult, he has now built a school where 300 children, both from the FDLS and outside, mingle and learn side by side.
A massive house, built for Jeffs by his followers after The Prophet had a vision that he would be freed from jail if they constructed it, has been turned into a hotel.
Jessop is also helping to dismantle Jeffs' empire, buying up property the church owned using money from a civil suit against them, he has turned a former recruiting center into a school (pictured, a FLDS town in Utah)
Following another set of federal raids, more disturbing details emerged about what goes on behind the secretive walls of the South Dakota compound (pictured) belonging to Warren Jeff's polygamous sect
Jessop spoke out at a civil trial against the cities of Hildale, Utah, Colorado City, Arizona, both of which are controlled by the FLDS.
Authorities are charged with running a corrupt and biased government, favoring FLDS members and helping drive 'apostates' - or non-believers - out of town.
The case comes as top leaders from FLDS, including Warren's brothers Lyle Jeffs and Seth Jeffs, were arrested Tuesday after a crackdown on an alleged food stamp fraud scheme.
And an FBI report on a 2014 interview with former compound resident Sam Steed revealed that the property - already surrounded by a 'privacy' fence and tall pine trees - was bolstered by a roving 24/7 security force and a steel-enforced octagonal watch tower that was manned 24/7.
Steed also revealed that cell phone batteries had to be removed while on the property.
Even the presiding bishop who carried a phone, had to leave to use it, Steed told the FBI.
And while there are various compounds across America, the South Dakota site appears to have had a special set of rules.
'There was a selection process for these girls chosen to go to R23 [what followers called the South Dakota site],' Steed said. 'Lyle (Jeffs) was instrumental in the selection process and told the girls that you had to 'qualify' to go.'
Only a dozen people were approved to work on Warren Jeffs' house on the South Dakota property.
Sam Steed revealed the that property - already surrounded by a 'privacy' fence and tall pine trees - was bolstered by a roving 24/7 security force and a steel-enforced octagonal watch tower that was manned 24/7
Steed also revealed that the South Dakota residence (pictured), whose construction started in 2008, was built with one-foot thick walls, sound barriers and double padded flooring
While there are various compounds across America, the South Dakota site (pictured) appears to have had a special set of rules
Steed revealed that the residence, whose construction started in 2008, was built with one-foot thick walls, sound barriers and double padded flooring.
FOOD STAMP RAIDS EXPLAINED
Federal prosecutors say church leaders orchestrated a yearslong scheme instructing members how to use food-stamp benefits illegally for the benefit of the faith and avoid getting caught.
Followers would scan their food stamp debit cards at church-run stores, leaving the money with the owners, prosecutors say. Group leaders then funneled money to front companies. Some of those funds were used to pay thousands for a tractor and a truck, the indictment shows.
The volume of food stamp purchases at two small convenience stores was so large that it rivaled retailers the size of Wal-Mart and Costco, prosecutors say, with the total amount diverted and laundered estimated at $12 million.
Another common practice was buying groceries with food stamps and giving the supplies to the church's communal storehouse for leaders to divvy up.
Source: AP
Warren Jeffs' son Roy - who left the sect in 2014 - was sent to live in the South Dakota compound for nearly a year in 2007-2008, where he spent long days building houses with log exteriors.
Other men helped raise livestock or stood guard in the tower, Roy Jeffs told The Associated Press.
Roy Jeffs said only a few dozen people were there at a time. He saw women, but didn't know what they were there for.
People weren't supposed to leave without approval from leaders.
Before 2010, the only people allowed to go to South Dakota were devout followers in good standing, he said.
In the faith's hierarchy, it was considered more sacred than the base on the Utah-Arizona border but below the Texas compound, which had a temple, Roy Jeffs said.
The sect in 2011 wanted to build a temple on the South Dakota property, but leaders told the Custer County planning commission that the structure was going to be a storage building.
The project was scrapped when leaders ran out of money, according to Steed.
'It has the same dimensions as the temple down in Texas, but it was kind of roughed out and never really started,' Wheeler said.
Warren Jeffs said sites such as South Dakota were necessary because he believed that the government intended to seize property on the Arizona-Utah border, according to Jerold Williams, a former church elder who supervised early construction of the South Dakota compound until 2006.
There were a series of federal raids at the sect's South Dakota site (pictured) on federal accusations of food stamp fraud and money laundering marking one of the biggest crackdowns on the group in year
'It was a prophesy kind of thing,' Williams said. 'He was going to do these 'lands of refuge,' he called them, for people to have somewhere to go to.'
Some of the detail in court documents matches Williams' account of South Dakota, which was meant to be 'top secret.' Members doing the work often didn't really know what Warren Jeffs had in mind, said Williams, who left the church in 2012.
Neighbors have regarded the Pringle outpost with mistrust and concern, including skepticism about Seth Jeffs' truthfulness during a hearing last year on a request to draw water more quickly at the compound.
Linda Van Dyke Kilcoin, a nearby landowner, said she hopes the current case prompts government agencies to intensify scrutiny of the group.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3467110/Cell-phone-ban-sound-proof-walls-24-7-guarded-surveillance-Food-stamp-raids-Warren-Jeff-s-sect-compound-reveal-disturbing-details-polygamous-group.html
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