Photo: Federal Bureau of Investigation · Public domain
Born in United States · Nationality American — FLDS / polygamy / marriages of minors / child sexual assault / religious authority / criminal proceedings
Documented profile covering 17 controversies, including “2011–2012: retains religious control from prison through excommunications and instructions to FLDS leaders” and “2011–2012: ban on sexual relations even within FLDS marriages and expulsions for violations”.
Profile No. 2040 · Updated on 12 October 2026
§ Legal statuses reflect the documented sources as of the date shown; they replace neither court decisions nor the presumption of innocence. Counts are not a rating. Methodology
2011–2012
Even while imprisoned, Jeffs continued to intervene in FLDS leadership by telephone, removing leaders, excommunicating members and dictating religious decisions.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
fin 2011–June 2012
According to former members, Jeffs imposed a ban on sexual relations between spouses from prison and had members suspected of breaking the rule expelled, tightening his control over followers' intimate and reproductive lives.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
Case · 4 documented stages
January–29 March 2012
Prison authorities temporarily withdrew Jeffs's telephone privileges after prohibited group calls. In March, the Texas appellate court dismissed his appeal for failure to take the steps required to prepare the record.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
4–9 August 2011
A Texas jury found Jeffs guilty of aggravated sexual assault of a child and sexual assault of a child, based in part on FLDS documents and evidence concerning his marriages to underage girls.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
9 August 2011
Following the Texas verdicts, Jeffs received a life sentence for aggravated sexual assault and twenty years for the other count.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
April–22 July 2008
Following the investigation at YFZ Ranch in Texas, a Schleicher County grand jury indicted Jeffs for sexual assault of a child. Searches of the ranch also yielded substantial internal FLDS records.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
27 July 2010
Protagonist not prosecuted — these proceedings are not counted in their formal charges or convictions.
The Utah Supreme Court reversed the convictions because instructions concerning consent and accomplice liability contained serious errors that could have affected the verdict.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
25 September 2007
Protagonist not prosecuted — these proceedings are not counted in their formal charges or convictions.
A Utah jury found Jeffs guilty on two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in Elissa Wall's forced marriage and the sexual relations that followed.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
2002–2006
As prophet, Jeffs exercised exclusive or decisive authority over numerous spiritual marriages. Later case records document multiple marriages of underage girls to adult men and several marriages in which Jeffs personally participated or made the assignment.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
2003–2006 et suites
Evidence presented by the federal government showed Jeffs appointing or removing municipal officials, giving instructions to mayors and using threats of excommunication to pressure authorities in FLDS-dominated towns.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
Case · 2 documented stages
June 2005–6 May 2006
Following proceedings opened in Arizona and Utah, Jeffs evaded authorities. A federal warrant was issued for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and the FBI placed him on its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list in May 2006.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
9–10 June 2005
A Mohave County grand jury indicted Jeffs for sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor in connection with his role in marriages.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
28 August 2006
Jeffs was arrested without resistance after a vehicle with invalid licence plates was stopped in the Las Vegas area. The FBI confirmed his identity.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
2003–2005
Under Jeffs, men were excommunicated and could lose their homes, family relationships and access to communal property, while young men were also expelled from the community. Some men's wives and children were reassigned.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
années 1990–September 2002
Warren Jeffs led Alta Academy and gradually became the central intermediary for his ageing father, Rulon Jeffs, in FLDS religious and family administration.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
2000–2001
As he assumed his father's responsibilities, Jeffs helped intensify followers' cultural isolation: children were transferred to FLDS schools and instructions targeted television, the internet, music, books and other content regarded as corrupting.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
April 2001
Despite Elissa Wall's repeated objections, Jeffs insisted that she comply with the marriage decision involving her cousin Allen Steed and officiated the ceremony, during which the teenager cried and initially failed to answer the marriage question.
Last verified: 14 September 2026
Documented biographical or institutional milestones (elections, appointments, foundings, acquisitions…). These are not controversies and are not counted as such.
Following his father's death, Warren Jeffs became head of the FLDS and concentrated religious authority over marriages, family assignments and member discipline.
Two profiles are linked when a documented controversy of one names the other. The link points to that controversy and its sources; it does not indicate a personal relationship.
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