Hi everyone,
Here is an article from CNN about FLDS and Willie Jessop who has changed sides and is now the prime witness for the prosecution.
http://us.cnn.com/2016/02/25/us/jessop-flds-warren-jeffs-short-creek/index.html************
As "Thug Willie," he defended his prophet with pit-bull ferocity. But by the time we meet in a fourth-floor hallway at the Sandra Day O'Connor federal courthouse, Willie Jessop has changed sides. He's the star government witness, testifying on behalf of outsiders he once considered his enemies.
He carries himself like a man determined to unburden his conscience even if it means turning against everyone and everything he once believed in.
Jessop spent more than a decade as security chief and spokesman for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous sect that split from the mainstream Mormon church at the turn of the last century. As head of the "God Squad," he was perhaps the highest profile FLDS member -- with the exception of its prophet, Warren Jeffs.
At the civil trial, expected to go to the jury next week, the government is alleging that the FLDS runs Jessop's hometown like a theocracy, controlling virtually every aspect of life in Hildale, Utah, and its neighbor, Colorado City, Arizona.
Jessop's split from his church began in 2011 when authorities in Texas slipped him an audiotape of Jeffs sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in an FLDS temple.
The tape brought Jessop's world crashing down. He could no longer brush aside the investigations and sex charges as evidence of the government's religious persecution. He couldn't heed or protect a spiritual leader he considers a pervert. So he spoke out.
"People feel betrayed that their marriage was based on a fraud," Jessop says. "Here is somebody who says he speaks for God, and you find out he didn't. How do you deal with that?"
Many people leave with a heavy feeling of betrayal, Jessop says. "They're asking, 'Why did God let this guy do this to us? We trusted God.' Well, no we didn't. We trusted Warren."
Over the years, as men left or were driven off, women and children routinely were shuffled around.
"They've lost their identity; Warren Jeffs took away even their identity," Jessop says. "Do you go by your mother's name, your father's name, your church name? Who are you?"
"This indictment is not about religion," said U.S. Attorney John Huber in Salt Lake. "This indictment is about fraud."
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Cheers.
Sriram
