Warren Jeffs' Nephew Charged With Kidnapping 10-Year-Old Utah Girl

Prosecutors in Utah have filed kidnapping charges against the nephew of jailed polygamous leader Warren Jeffs after his sister told authorities that he was keeping her from her 10-year-old daughter.

In court documents filed in Piute County on Monday, prosecutors said Heber Jeffs, 54, and his niece have gone missing following Jeffs' orders from a Texas prison to separate the child from her mother.

Prosecutors noted that Heber Jeffs, 54, has kept his niece at his home in Kingston, Utah, since his uncle said earlier this year he received a God's revelation telling his followers to "gather" the community's women and get ready "to move to a location or locations" as instructed by Jeffs or his son, Helaman Jeffs.

Warren Jeffs leads the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to CTV News.

The religion is a branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the Mormon church, and it supports having more than one wife.

Historically, it has been based in a small town extending across the Utah-Arizona line. The primary church has been against polygamy for more than a hundred years ago.

Utah Girl Was Under Heber Jeffs Care

Warren Jeffs, the group's prophet, has been serving a life sentence in a federal prison in Texas after he was convicted of child sex abuse charges related to underage marriages.

According to ABC4, Heber Jeffs and his wife Sarah have allegedly cared for the Utah girl since her parent's divorce.

The girl's mother, Rose Jeffs, who has left the FLDS church, was given frequent visits and "complete and unrestricted access to see her daughter" until the end of August.

After that, Heber informed her she could no longer see her daughter.

The court documents said Jeffs' revelation was the main reason, stating that he commanded or ordered that the FLDS female members quit their current jobs and activities and "gather," possibly in preparation for the lifting of a years-long ban on marriage or having children in the whole community.

They said that Jeffs' revelation told the men in the community to send money from working in construction to the leaders "pending further direction."

Documents showed that Rose demanded her daughter return, prompting Heber to threaten to end all contact.

When the police went after Heber a month later, they could not find him at his home or where he had worked.

A warrant was issued for his arrest by the court while he and the Utah girl were still missing.

Utah Girl's Mother Tries to Take Her Back from Heber Jeffs

According to the documents, Heber Jeffs informed the girl's mother on August 3 that the situation had changed, and he was going to change things from the way he and his wife had it set up, adding that he was not "cutting her off" from her child but wants to do things differently.

The charges said the mother claimed that she believed her brother received directions from either Helaman Jeffs or Warren Jeffs to keep her child away.

The mother picked up her daughter from Heber on August 5. However, he showed up at the doorway with the girl standing behind him and allegedly said, "I will not give (your daughter) up except by force through law enforcement."

According to the complaint, Warren Jeffs' nephew told their sister he was "cutting her off," that she would be denied visitation rights, and she could only see her child if she repented and wrote to either Helaman or Warren Jeffs.

Rose obtained legal counsel and petitioned for custody of her daughter, according to KSL.

Court documents showed that on September 21, a judge issued an initial injunction ordering Heber to give custody of the Utah girl back to her original parents.

The mother claimed that when she and the Piute County sheriff went to Heber's house with a court order demanding the return of her daughter, they were told that Heber and the girl had been gone for four weeks, and it was uncertain when he would return.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

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