Warren Jeffs

Directed by Rachel Dretzin, "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" does an effective job of conveying how Warren Jeffs and company kept the faithful in line.

That included a supply of free labor, an asset in negotiating contracts that helped fund the entire community and funnel cash into Jeffs' pockets. Nevertheless, the evidence of the abuses particularly in later episodes -- including previously unseen archival footage and audio recordings involving minor girls chosen to become wives of Jeffs and other leaders -- is both disturbing and illuminating, while watching the authorities close in on Jeffs and his Yearning for Zion Ranch delivers the intended feel of a docu-thriller. Directed by Rachel Dretzin, "Keep Sweet" (a title derived from an admonition regarding how to behave) does an effective job of conveying how Jeffs and company kept the faithful in line, with one former member noting that she "believed that to leave was to seal your damnation."

The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is at the center of Netflix's latest true-crime documentary, "Keep Sweet: Pray ...

As a result of the raid, the Department of Family and Protective Services ordered 437 children to be removed from the ranch. He was sentenced to life in prison. However, his conviction was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court in 2010 due to flawed jury instructions. He also could end marriages and re-assign wives and their children to a new husband. In 2008, a raid at the Yearning for Zion Ranch (YZR) in West Texas uncovered haunting evidence of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse. He is legally married to Naomi Jessop.

SELF-PROCLAIMED prophet Warren Jeffs is a central figure in The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS).Though Warren Jeffs.

Also, her brother claims that a fourth sister was married to Jeffs and that the latter three are missing. Mildred was married to Jeffs at the age of 13. Warren Jeffs had at least 78 wives, and at the time of his arrest, 24 of them were under the age of 17.

His arrest on sexual assault charges in 2006 began the dismantling of the religious sect, and his conviction in 2011 appeared to mostly finish the job. By the ...

The actual number of children fathered by Jeffs likely will never be known. Several sources believe Merrianne Jessop was likely the youngest woman in the sect to marry Jeffs. She was one of two women named in the charges brought against the religious leader. According to a former FLDS member, at the height of his control, Jeffs had 78 wives. In 2002, Jeffs assumed his father’s position within the community and married nearly all his wives. According to the same member, two dozen of those wives were underage when they spiritually married Jeffs. During his command, Jeffs controlled most aspects of life inside his community, including the assigning and reassigning of wives.

This is everything you need to know about Warren Jeffs from Netflix's Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. Including where he is now, his wives, children and prison.

He was also reported to be carrying around $55,000 in cash. He was also charged for being an accomplice in Utah for planning a marriage between a 14-year-old and her 19-year-old cousin. By the time Warren Jeffs became leader of the FLDS in 2002, he had around 20 wives. Distractify reported that he also got free or low-cost labour from his followers, including the men and boys who worked on his construction projects. When Rulon Jeffs died he was 92-years-old. After becoming leader, Jeffs had multiple wives and took control of the members.

The horrifying story exposing the crimes of leader Warren Jeffs has been exposed by director Rachel Dretzin.

He was arrested as part of a routine traffic check in Las Vegas, but no action was taken to help the community until 2008, when federal law enforcement agents raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas, following tip-offs of rape and abuse to a phone helpline. I am proud to be connected to them and grateful to have had the opportunity to tell their story." His abuse came with claims that it was all in the name of God. He married 78 females, 24 of which were underage children. But the FDLS still believed in polygamy as they thought the more women a man married the closer he would be to God. If members broke the rules, or if the leader wanted rid of them, they were cast out and ex-communicated with mothers seeing their children effectively kidnapped and trafficked, other young people were thrown out of their families with no support, no money and no idea how the world worked outside of the FLDS doctrine. The series begins with one of Jeff's survivors, Elissa Wall saying: "When I was 14-years-old, they forced me to marry my cousin.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the subject of a new Netflix documentary.

Warren Jeffs was previously convicted in Utah on two counts of being an accomplice to rape in 2007, but that conviction was overturned by the Utah Supreme Court in 2010. Warren Jeffs became the group’s leader following the death of his father Rulon Jeffs in 2002. Members of the FLDS still practice it, and a former member says in Netflix’s four-part documentary that within the group, “a man’s status depends on how many wives he has”.

A new Netflix series goes deeper into the abuse at the hands of Warren Jeffs, his father Rulon, and the FLDS church. How many wives did Rulon have?

For their whole lives they had been valued solely as plural wives and as breeders of children," Rachel said in a statement, per Rolling Stone. Before Jeffs became the "prophet" and leader of the FLDS, his father Rulon Jeffs was in charge. It's unclear how many wives Rulon Jeffs actually had at the time of his death, as the number changes depending on who you ask. Every night the wives had to line up outside of Rulon's bedroom so they could take turns kissing him goodnight. The practice of marrying underage girls was also carried out by Rulon, and continued by Jeffs. How many wives did Rulon Jeffs have? Women were not arrested because they were considered victims of their situation, and rightfully so.