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...Texas New Charges For Jeffs A grand jury indicted breakaway Mormon sect leader Warren Jeffs on charges of sexually assaulting a girl under age 17. Five of his followers also face counts stemming from an April raid on the polygamist group's Texas ranch. Jeffs was convicted in Utah last year as an accomplice to the rape of a child bride and awaits trial in Arizona on similar charges...
...Brower, a Utah-based private detective who deals with FLDS issues, compares the sect's structure to feudal Europe, when daughters served as pawns in alliances. "If your father-in-law is prominent, this helps with business dealings - maybe you have another wife and then you have daughters that you can place with other church members," Brower says. "The circle goes around - the more business dealings, the more wives, the more daughters, the more business dealings, and it goes...
...Lawrence v. Texas, that struck down the Texas sodomy law, closing the doors on the bedroom. The decision was hailed by gay activists as a landmark, but it also apparently heartened Jeffs. (It was soon cited by defense attorneys in their plans to appeal the 2003 conviction of a Utah man found guilty of underage sex and bigamy.) Says Mankin: "They thought the shadow of Waco would protect them, and they hung a lot of hope on Lawrence v. Texas...
...polygamists' move to the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a local state representative worked quickly and quietly to change the state's antiquated marriage laws. The age of consent was raised from 14 to 16, and marriages between stepchildren and stepparents were outlawed. The changes were modeled on a Utah law that was believed to have prompted Jeffs' decision to move his flock to more-remote places in Texas, Colorado and Mexico...
...Mafia analogy may play out in other ways. Following the raid on the YFZ Ranch, the FBI executed a search warrant and removed several boxes of papers and materials. Earlier this month, a summit was held by Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Texas law enforcement officials along with representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice and the IRS. Hamilton of Yeshiva University says she expects federal authorities may develop racketeering charges against the FLDS leadership using federal RICO laws. "There's reason to hope after that summit meeting," she says...