34 Facts About Warren Jeffs

Warren Jeffs is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous cult based in Arizona.

In 2006, Jeffs was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List for his flight from the charges that he had arranged illegal child marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls in Utah.

Warren Steed Jeffs was born in Sacramento, California on December 3,1955, to Rulon Jeffs.

In 1976, the year he turned 21, Warren Jeffs became principal of Alta Academy, an FLDS private school at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.

Warren Jeffs went on to have, according to former church members, 78 wives.

Warren Jeffs became Rulon's successor with his official title in the FLDS Church becoming "President and Prophet, Seer and Revelator" as well as "President of the Priesthood".

Naomi Jessop, one of the first of Rulon's former wives to marry Warren Jeffs, subsequently became his favorite wife and confidant.

Until courts in Utah intervened, Warren Jeffs controlled almost all of the land in Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah, which was part of a church trust called the United Effort Plan.

In January 2004, Warren Jeffs expelled a group of twenty men from the Short Creek Community, including the mayor, and reassigned their wives and children to other men in the community.

Warren Jeffs specifically taught that a devoted church member is expected to have at least three wives in order to get into heaven, and the more wives a man has, the closer he is to heaven.

On June 10,2006, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard told the Deseret News that he had heard from several sources that Warren Jeffs had returned to Arizona, and had performed marriage ceremonies in a mobile home that was being used as a wedding chapel.

On March 27,2007, the Deseret News reported that Warren Jeffs had renounced his role as prophet of the FLDS Church in a conversation with his brother Nephi.

Warren Jeffs admits to what he calls "immoral actions with a sister and a daughter" when he was 20 years old.

Warren Jeffs formally resigned as President of the FLDS Church effective November 20,2007.

In early 2011, Warren Jeffs retook legal control of the denomination.

The young girl, Elissa Wall, testified that she begged Rulon Warren Jeffs to let her wait until she was older or choose another man for her.

The elder Warren Jeffs was apparently "sympathetic," but his son was not, and she was forced to go through with the marriage.

Warren Jeffs was the 482nd fugitive placed on the list.

Warren Jeffs possessed four computers, sixteen cell phones, disguises, and more than $55,000 in cash.

Warren Jeffs was believed to be leading his group from jail and a Utah state board has expressed dissatisfaction in dealing with Hildale police, believing that many members of the force had ties to Warren Jeffs, and thus did not cooperate.

Warren Jeffs was housed in Utah's Purgatory Correctional Facility in solitary confinement for the duration.

Warren Jeffs was sentenced to prison for ten years to life and began serving his sentence at the Utah State Prison.

Elissa subsequently wrote an autobiography on her experiences in the FLDS Church and with Warren Jeffs entitled Stolen Innocence.

Warren Jeffs was transported to the Mohave County jail to await trial.

Smith said that the Arizona victims no longer wanted to testify and that Warren Jeffs had spent almost two years in jail awaiting trial, more than he would have received had he been convicted.

Warren Jeffs was then returned to Utah; at the time, his appeal of the 2007 conviction was still pending.

Warren Jeffs will be eligible for parole on July 22,2038.

Warren Jeffs tried to hang himself in jail in 2007 in Utah.

Warren Jeffs has engaged in lengthy hunger strikes, which his doctors and attorneys have claimed were for spiritual reasons.

Warren Jeffs predicted in December 2012 that the world would end before 2013 and called for his followers to prepare for the end.

In 2012, while incarcerated at the Powledge Unit, Warren Jeffs released a book titled Jesus Christ Message to All Nations compiling various revelations that he stated he had received.

Current FLDS members continue to consider Warren Jeffs to be their leader and prophet who speaks to God and who has been wrongly convicted.

Warren Jeffs condemned same-sex marriage as being as evil as murder.

Warren Jeffs has condemned interracial marriage and described Black people as being used by the devil for evil, as detailed in 2005 by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report.