Many of the "lost boys," some as young as 13, were dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah by leaders of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). Earlier they were told that they would never see their families again and they would never get the kingdom of heaven
25.6.2005
About a thousand young men were separated from their parents and expelled from their communities by the leaders of a polygamous sect, in order to "free" young girls for the older men - so claim officials in Utah. Many of the "lost boys," some as young as 13, were dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah by leaders of the fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS). Earlier they were told that they would never see their families again and they would never get the kingdom of heaven.
Jeffs. The leader of the polygamous sect
10,000 members of the sect left the Mormon Church in 1890, after its mainstream rejected the idea of polygamy. The members of the sect believe to this day that the queens of heaven are only entitled to those who have married at least three wives. Since Monday, the sect has been in turmoil, after its assets were frozen and an arrest warrant was issued against it in Arizona in the name of leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is suspected of arranging the marriage of a minor (16 years old) with a 28-year-old married man. If convicted, Jeffs could be imprisoned for two years.
In addition, lawsuits were filed against Jeffs regarding the disappearance of six boys who were expelled as part of the "thinning out" of men in the sect, and a complaint from his nephew accusing his uncle of sexual abuse. Jeffs' whereabouts were unknown Monday, but Utah officials said he is likely hiding at a cult compound near Eldorado, Texas. According to them, the information was passed on to authorities in Texas.
Some say that an attempt to subdue the cult leader could cause another tragedy like the one that occurred in 1993 during the siege of the Davidian sect in Waco. A source in the Utah Attorney General's office said, "From what I understand so far, Warren Jeffs is capable of acting in different ways. I don't know if mass suicide is a possibility, but it worries me all the time." Polygamy is prohibited by law in the US, but the authorities avoided a confrontation with the cult members because they feared the possibility of a siege or political attacks based on arguments of religious persecution.
Sect officials and their lawyer did not answer reporters' questions, but claimed that the lost boys were expelled from the community because they were young criminals who refused to obey the sect's laws. An investigator at the Utah prosecutor's office said that the boys may have been rebellious, but their expulsion was more related to "sexual calculation" in the polygamous sect. "Obviously, if it is a marriage of three or four women to one man, there will be a shortage of women. The way to solve this problem is to remove those the leadership does not want," he said.
The director of the fund that helps the deported boys in Salt Lake City, said that it is difficult to estimate their number, but in his opinion it is "some number between 400 and 1,000". According to him, "They live as if they have no tomorrow... as if their fate is determined... but what they really want is to return home, to their mother."
Gideon Barlow of Colorado City, Arizona, was kicked out of his home for wearing a short-sleeved shirt, listening to CDs and hanging out with girls. According to him, his mother disowned him at the behest of the sect leaders. Joan Sader, a lawyer representing some of the boys, claimed that "this is a conspiracy to get rid of young people, to change the balance of the sexes and take care of more young women available for marriage." Investigators on behalf of the government said it was difficult to convince the cult members to testify against Jeffs, however, as mentioned, last week the authorities in Utah and Arizona increased the pressure on Jeffs and issued an arrest warrant against him.
Jeffs inherited the role of leader from his father Rulon who died three years ago, and since then he has been leading the communities on the Arizona-Utah border, in Texas and in Canada with an iron fist. He is 46 years old and has reportedly fathered at least 56 children by 40 women.
Jeffs' whereabouts have been unknown for a year, but in January a man resembling him was photographed on a farm near Eldorado, Texas. The editor of the local newspaper "Eldorado Sexes", said that "the residents of the farm have no contact with the outside world. Only two men go out to sort things out." By: Julian Borger Guardian, Walla News!
