Posted on 06/06/2008 11:14:29 PM PDT by Alice in Wonderland
COLORADO CITY, Arizona (ABC 4 News) - Since the raid by Texas authorities on the FLDS ranch, Willie Jessop has become the voice of the FLDS people. It's assumed that Jessop is a leader, perhaps Warren Jeff's right hand man.
Jessop is Jeff's body guard.
"Willie was always the strong-arm man. He was the guy who would show up just to intimidate people," said Sam Brower, a private investigator.
He is useful to FLDS leaders.
"They put him up front because he is the type that will say or do anything," said Brower.
Ross Chatwin was one of the few who faced Jessop and refused to back down.
"When Willie gets up there and says 'Well I don't know of any underage marriages...' Then that's a big lie," said Chatwin.
Around Colorado City, people call him "Willie the Enforcer" or "Willie the Thug." There was a time when Jessop wasn't so welcoming to the media.
"He does the dirty work. He's the hatchet man," said Brower.
When he's not in Texas, Jessop has a house in Hildale and a ranch in the canyon gap.
At last count, Jessop had two wives, but with all of the new cabins at the ranch, it is speculated that he might have a few more.
"His role now is to put somebody out there, keep talking to the media and the public while the church leaders vanish," said Brower.
Doing God’s work through thuggery, I suppose...
Check this out. We’ve been told the authorities were looking for Dale Barlow, the sex offender from Colorado City. But were they ???
< snip >
Swinton was arrested on April 16, three days after Texas Rangers contacted Colorado Springs police about two telephone numbers from the Colorado Springs area they were investigating as part of the YFZ Ranch probe.
According to an arrest affidavit, Colorado Springs police told the Rangers that one of the numbers was associated with Swinton and that she has been known to make false reports of sexual abuse. The other number was later determined to be a cell phone belonging to a 31-year-old male named Courtney Swinton who lived in the same apartment complex as Rozita Swinton. Courtney Swinton’s telephone was allegedly used by a woman named Sarah Barlow to call a battered women’s shelter in Washington State between March 22 and April 8.
According to the affidavit, Barlow said she was 16, that she had an infant daughter named Claire and that she had a “reassigned husband” named Uncle Merrill. According to the document, Texas investigators believed that was a reference to Frederick Merrill Jessop, the head of the YFZ Ranch.
< snip >
Merrill is one of the men who has disappeared. His “Bishop’s Record” hasn’t been released.
http://cbs2chicago.com/national/flds.ranch.call.2.742542.html
That's interesting. The calls were always reported to have begun on March 29. Typo?
Ah, never mind. Different women’s shelter, different state. Rozita was busy there for a while.
I hope the screw up by CPS in Texas doesn’t allow this scumbag less time in jail.
http://www.deseretmorningnews.com/article/1,5143,700232577,00.html
“They put him up front because he is the type that will say or do anything,”
He sure will. He admitted the sect members were marrying underaged girls.
I read that Willie flew the coop.
That the YFZ Ranch had a new ‘leader’.
Had you heard anything about this?
What would prevent them from tracking phone calls?
Therefore, if they did have that information, they could not use that as a legitimate reason to enter and investigate this polygamous community.
I'm speaking only of the legalities here. I believe that something's rotten about these cults and, so far, I've heard of no state which is willing to do everything in its power to put an end to their unholy practices.
Ping to the mafia-esque FLDS thread!
Just curious. Is Willie one of Merril’s sons?
I think he is too old to be a son.
More likely he is brother, brother-in-law, cousin, half-brother, etc etc... I do mean ALL of those. :)
I have seen him on the news shows, and thought he was their lawyer.
I have a real problem with religions that promise eternal sex with innumerable women as a reward for all kinds of deviant, abusive, cruel treatment of those under you (read: women and children) and those who disagree with you.
That’s no God of the Bible, no matter what they claim.
Willie is not Merril’s son. Merril & Willie’s dad are 1st cousins.
Willie was one of Warren’s faithful spies who turned Winston Blackmore in for insubordination during Warren’s church take over.
Willie was the main thug who stood at the door of the meeting house turning good people away from meetings, funerals and other social activities.
Willie was one who enjoyed evicting people from their own homes at the whim of Warren.
Willie’s first statement to the media when contacted in Texas was “do unto others as you would have them do to you.”
His wives are Kristina and Cynthia, two of Milward Barlow’s daughters.
With only a half-dozen surnames in the community, it’s hard to keep track.
wow Alice, where’d you get all the Jessop info? You aren’t one of the wives are you? (just kidding, just curious how you have such good sources)
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