SALT LAKE CITY – Utah state officials are blocking any further attempts by rival church leaders to seize control of Warren Jeffs’ polygamous sect, which likely means a judge will decide.
The commerce department’s Division of Corporations has placed an administrative hold on the two legal entities that comprise the Hildale, Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The hold is in place until May 2, according to a memo from the division’s director, Kathy Berg.
Last week, church elder William E. Jessop, 41, filed to take over the church presidency from Jeffs, who is currently in a Texas jail awaiting trials on criminal charges of bigamy and sexual assault of a minor.
Days later, Jeffs loyalist Boyd Knudsen shot back with a counter-filing that removed Jessop and reinstated Jeffs. Knudsen, the registered agent for the church corporation, also claimed in twin affidavits that Jessop had falsely claimed any authority in the church.
In a second set of affidavits filed Monday, Knudsen claimed some 4,000 members unanimously voted Sunday to support Jeffs’ presidency.
The papers also say the same group renounced Jessop as “not a part of said church.”
It’s not clear from the filing where the “general assembly” of church members occurred.
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