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The man polygamous sect leader Warren S. Jeffs once pointed to as the group's true prophet filed paperwork Monday to take legal control of the sect's corporate entity.
William E. Jessop filed papers petitioning the Utah Department of Commerce to take over the presidency of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from Jeffs.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Jessop, who served as bishop of the twin FLDS border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., said Monday his rise to the presidency is not an attempt to take over the church, but rather the fulfillment of an earlier directive from Jeffs.
"It is an attempt to preserve ... the church," said Jessop, 41.
Jessop said he is only stepping forward now because he believes he can help provide the church with the leadership it needs while Jeffs is incarcerated.
"We take things at Heavenly Father's pace," said Jessop, who has been living on a church ranch in Pringle, S.D., since 2004.
In the documents filed Monday, he wrote:
"I, the undersigned, William Edson Jessop, have been called as the President of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in conformity with the constitution, canons, rites, regulations, or discipline of such church, and by virtue of such calling I am the corporation sole of The Corporation of the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, organized under the laws of the State of Utah."
While in jail in January of 2007, Jeffs told family and key sect members he had never been a prophet and named William E. Jessop as the faith's rightful leader. Jeffs made the pronouncement just before a suicide attempt and later apparently retracted it.
"I know of your ordination, that you are the key holder, and I have sent a note with my signature so that there is no question," Jeffs told Jessop in a Jan. 24, 2007, telephone call from a Utah jail.
Jessop's filing comes just one month after Jeffs reassumed control of the presidency from Wendell Nielsen and began the expulsion of more than 30 people from behind bars in Texas.
Jeffs did not sign the paperwork filed Monday. Utah Department of Commerce spokeswoman Jennifer Bolton said he isn't required to resign his position before change-of-presidency documents are filed, but it isn't clear whether Jeffs will contest the change.
Jeffs is charged in Texas with bigamy and sexual assault in connection with alleged spiritual marriages to underage girls, one 12 years old and the other under 17. The charges came after a massive raid on the sect's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, two years ago.
Using marriage and birth records gathered in the raid, prosecutors indicted 12 FLDS men on charges that included bigamy and sexual assault of a child. Seven have been convicted.
— The Associated Press contributed to the story. —
From Monday's filing:
"I, the undersigned, William Edson Jessop, have been called as the President of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in conformity with the constitution, canons, rites, regulations, or discipline of such church, and by virtue of such calling I am the corporation sole of The Corporation of the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, organized under the laws of the State of Utah."