Polygamist Sentenced to 75 Years
This is very significant for the future of polygamy in America. The Jessop family is one of the founding members of the Hilsdale/Colorado City polygamist community on the Utah-Arizona border. Jessop and Barlow interbreeding is the cause of a rare condition called fumarase deficiency which causes severe mental retardation. People looking for pictures of children with this disease will be disappointed. They keep them well hidden.
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - The latest member of a polygamist group whose sprawling West Texas ranch was raided in 2008 has been sentenced to 75 years in prison for sexual assault of a child.
Thirty-five-year-old Merril Leroy Jessop was sentenced Friday. Jurors earlier this week also found he violated Texas laws prohibiting bigamy.
Prosecutors say Jessop tried to delete photos and other documents connecting him to an underage bride.
Jessop is the fourth member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to be tried since authorities raided and seized documents from the Yearning For Zion Ranch. The weeklong raid temporarily sent 439 children to foster care.
The Texas attorney general's office says eight more group members are awaiting trial.
Polygamist patriarch Joseph Smith Jessop
with his youngest daughter shortly
before his death in September 1953.
Posted on 03/21/2010 1:34 PM by Rebecca Bynum
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