Raymond Merrill Jessop became the first person to be tried as a result of information obtained during the 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch. Jessop, a resident of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) compound in Texas, was convicted of child sexual assault against a girl whom he took as a wife when she was 15-years-old.
YFZ Ranch
For years, the FLDS community in the United States was centered in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona that have a combined population of about 10,000. In 2004, the leader of the sect, Warren Jeffs, decided that the prying eyes of outsiders; namely the media and law enforcement officials, was getting to be too much so he searched for another area of the country where is community could live in relative peace.
Jeffs and other church leaders found a plot of suitable land just outside of El Dorado Texas. Passing themselves off as businessmen who wished to construct a hunting law, the FLDS representatives purchased 1700 acres of land for $700,000. After the purchase was completed, construction began on the Yearning for Zion Ranch.
The next year, to the alarm of the locals, polygamist members of the FLDS sect began to move in. At the time that the authorities raided the compound, there were about 700 people living there.
The Raid
In early 2008, a woman purporting to be an under-aged girl, telephoned the Texas Child Protection Services and claimed that she was the victim of sexual abuse. Although the call was later determined to be a hoax, on April 4, 2008, authorities from the state of Texas raided the YFZ property. During the raid, 439 children were apprehended and taken into state custody. The rationale for removing the children was that there were fears that they would be sexually assaulted and forced into a polygamous lifestyle.
The Texas courts later ordered the children returned to their parents. Both the appellate court and the Texas Supreme Court found that there was not sufficient evidence presented that the children were in “immediate danger”, which is the requirement in Texas to remove children from their parents. While young girls and teenage boys are often at risk in FLDS communities, the state seized all the children including infants and pre-teen boys during the raid.
Although the children were returned to their parents, documents were discovered during the raid that led to 12 FLDS men being indicted by a grand jury for bigamy and various sexual assault charges against children.
The Trial
Raymond Jessop was the first to go on trial for the sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl in 2004. The age of consent in Texas is 17. The evidence revealed that Jessop had taken the victim as his ninth wife and she bore his child in August 2005. A Texas Ranger testified that dictation was found, made by FLSD leader Warren Jeffs that advised Jessop not to let the girl go to the hospital because that would lead to trouble for Jessop and the FLDS.
Although he is still the leader of the FLDS and considered to be a living prophet, Warren Jeffs is currently in prison after having been convicted of two counts of being an accomplice to rape in the state of Utah. He was sentenced to 5 years to life on each count and is currently awaiting trial on similar charges in Arizona.
Jessop’s lawyers argued that the evidence obtained from the ranch was illegally obtained and challenged much of the technical evidence that was presented. They also argued that there was no evidence that the sexual assault, if it did occur, took place in the state of Texas. It took the jury only two hours to return with a guilty verdict.
Victim Did Not Testify
Jessop was convicted despite the fact that the victim of the sexual assault was uncooperative and refused to testify against him. Like the mainstream Mormon Church (LDS), genealogical records play a large part in the FLDS faith and meticulous records are kept. From these records the date of birth of the victim and her child were ascertained. From there, the approximate date of conception of the child was determined. DNA tests showed that there was only a negligible chance that the child’s father could be someone other than Raymond Merrill Jessop. Jessop was convicted solely upon documentary and scientific evidence.
Jessop, who is awaiting trial on a bigamy charge, faces up to 20 years in prison for child sexual assault.
Arthur Weinreb - Weinreb is an author, associate editor and columnist with Canada Free Press and the Canadian Affairs Feature Writer for Suite 101.
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