Netflix has just released a true-crime series ‘Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey’ it has already landed firmly in the top ten trending shows.
After watching the series, the audience is curious to know where Warren Jeffs is now and what happened to the FLDS?
FLDS
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) was created in the early 20th century by a group of Mormons got ostracized from the community because they refused to give up polygamy.
Warren Jeffs
Warren Steed Jeffs is the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church), a polygamous denomination.
Wives of Warren Jeffs
According to sources, Warren Jeffs had 78 wives in total. Around 29 of these wives were previously married to his father Rulon. Whilst 56 of these women were also each other’s sisters.
Where is Warren Jeffs now?
Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence plus 20 years for his convicted crimes. He received the life sentence for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Jeffs received a further 20 year sentence for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. Both victims were married to the leader at the time.
According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Jeffs will not be eligible for parole until July 22, 2038. He’ll be 82-years-old at the time.
More cases
Additional cases have been brought against Jeff, both before and after his imprisonment. In July 2004, his nephew Brent Jeffs filed a lawsuit which accused Warren of raping him when he was 5 or 6 years old. Two further nephews and two of Warren’s own children have also publicly alleged sexual abuse at his hands.
Elissa Wall – who participated in the Netflix documentary – also filed legal charges against Jeffs. She alleges that the FLDS leader forced her to marry her 19-year-old first cousin Allen aged 14.
Jeffs was formally charged with conspiring to commit sexual misconduct with a minor in June 2005. Elissa claims her cousin repeatedly raped her and she suffered several miscarriages during the marriage.
In 2019, another lawsuit was filed against Jeffs, with a woman alleging he had sexually abused her as a child. However, Jeff’s attorney filed a petition on July 8, claiming that his client had “suffered a mental breakdown” and was “not mentally competent to provide admissible testimony”.
Suicidal
Warren Jeffs has tried to take his life several times whilst behind bars. He has also gone on lengthy hunger strikes, with one in 2011 resulting in him being placed into a temporary medical induced coma.
Does FLDS still exist?
Yes, the FDLS still exists today and Warren Jeffs is still considered the religious sect’s leader or ‘prophet’. “We have evidence he continues to direct day-to-day operations of the church,” Sean Keveney, an attorney for the US Department of Justice told filmmakers in 2018.
The Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch was officially seized by Texas authorities in April 2014. However in 2021, KOTA reported that a FLDS compound had been unearthed in Custer County. Former FLDS members also claim that the sect still exists in the hit Netflix documentary. Some even still have relatives tied up in it.
