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Texas / Southwest News

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POLYGAMIST SECT

12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, July 20, 2008

The Associated Press

HOUSTON – Jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs married his daughter to the 34-year-old son of his chief deputy the day after her 15th birthday, according to photos, diaries and a marriage record kept by his sect and obtained by two newspapers.

The documents were part of a report filed Friday by the girl's guardian, Court-Appointed Special Advocates, in a San Angelo court, the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News reported.

The court report contradicts interviews given by the girl and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints denying that she was ever put in a "spiritual marriage" with an adult church member.

"Based on the information in the attachments, CASA feels that [the girl] would be at risk for continued sexual abuse," the CASA report states.

Her status is part of a criminal case being presented to grand jurors Tuesday in Eldorado, Texas, where the FLDS compound is.

Mr. Jeffs' daughter, now 16 and in her mother's custody, is also part of the legal fight between the FLDS and her own court-appointed attorneys.

She was one of the children taken from the FLDS' Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado, about 400 miles northwest of Houston, after Texas Child Protective Services officials said they thought that all the children at the ranch were subjected to either physical or sexual abuse. She has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury.

Records attached to the report filed in San Angelo include photos of the girl, apparently from a scrapbook kept by FLDS women, in which she is seen kissing her new adult husband. An excerpt from the girl's diary includes a recollection of the marriage to Raymond Jessop, which appears to have taken place July 26, 2006, at the "Home of President Warren Jeffs," the newspapers reported.

In a Dec. 27, 2006, entry, the girl wrote "The Lord blessed me to go forward in marriage July 27, 2006, the day after I turned 15 years old."

Mr. Jeffs awaits trial in Kingman, Ariz., on charges of being an accomplice to sexual conduct with a minor for allegedly arranging marriages between underage girls and adult men. He was convicted in Utah last year of two counts of felony rape as an accomplice in the marriage of a girl there.

The Associated Press