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Posted: 10:51 AM- LAS VEGAS - Six members of the polygamous sect led by Warren S. Jeffs have been released from the Central Arizona Detention Center in Florence, Ariz., where they were being held on contempt of court charges.
The six men were jailed after they refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating Jeffs. Several had been in the detention facility since April. The U.S. Marshall's Office confirmed the men were released Tuesday.
Jeffs' arrest Monday evening just outside of Las Vegas may have made it unnecessary to continue holding the men. While grand jury proceedings are secret, it is believed the jury had called in witnesses who might have information about Jeffs' whereabouts. That puzzle has now been solved.
Jeffs appeared before Judge James M. Bixler in the Clark County Regional Justice Center this morning and waived an extradition hearing, agreeing to be returned to Utah to face charges related to allegedly arranging an underage marriage.
Jeffs was soft-spoken as he answered the judge. Dressed in a blue jumpsuit, he appeared more slender than he has in the past. He looked only at the judge during the hearing. His brother, Nephi Jeffs, stood as Jeffs left after the brief hearing.
The men released are: Mica S. Barlow; James R. Allred; Leroy B.Timpson; Benjamin Jeffs Nielsen; Leroy Jeffs; and Samuel K. Allred.
Leroy Jeffs is Warren's brother and Benjamin Jeffs Nielsen is his nephew.
The other men held various positions in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., which is home to some 6,000 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Barlow is a Colorado City police officer while James Allred served as a postal clerk in the twin towns. Allred is associated with Aspen Management Investment and R& W Excavating and Timpson owns a kitchen and bath remodeling company. Nielsen had been living in an FLDS outpost in Mancos, Colo.