Devotion persists for polygamous sect

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Devotion to Warren Jeffs by the Mormon polygamist sect leader's followers did not dissipate with his 2006 arrest, as authorities in Utah and Arizona expected.

Rather, as the start of Jeffs' criminal trial nears, devotion among his followers seems to have grown stronger, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

When Jeffs was arrested, police said his mystique would fade and authorities could begin to end "the tyrannical rule of a small group of people" over the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.

Charges against Jeffs involve a marriage he conducted in 2001 involving a teenager known as Jane Doe. She said she objected to the marriage but Jeffs had told her that her heavenly salvation depended on her doing what she was told, the newspaper said.

Jeffs is known for conducting numerous underage marriages. He is being held in solitary confinement at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah, where he regularly receives visits from his family and followers, the Tribune said.