Polygamist Leader Waives Extradition

Warren Jeffs, the leader of a polygamist sect, is led into a courtroom in Las Vegas on Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Jeffs waived his right to extradition and will be returned to Utah for trial. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch) (Laura Rauch - AP)

Two prosecutors from the Washington County attorney's office in Utah were in court, as was Jeffs' brother, Isaac Jeffs, 32, who was driving when they were stopped. Isaac Jeffs did not speak with reporters.

The prosecutors, Jerry Jaeger and Ryan Shaum, said Jeffs would be moved within several days. He is to be jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah.

The federal warrant on which Jeffs had been held, accusing him of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, remained active Thursday, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City.

"We're waiting to see if it is needed," Rydalch said of the charge, which carries a possible penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison.

Jeffs faces criminal charges in Arizona as well, but Utah will prosecute him first because it has a stronger case and its charges are more serious.

Prosecutors hope the arrest will break Jeffs' hold on his followers and lead them to speak out about their lives within the sect and the arranged marriages of young girls there, some just 13 years old.

In past attempts to prosecute polygamists within the sect, victims have faced powerful pressure to stay quiet from family members and their insular communities along the Utah-Arizona line, where Jeffs is regarded as a prophet.

"They pretty much have to renounce their entire heritage to go against the prophet," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. "That has got to be hard to do."

Jeffs has refused jailhouse interviews this week.

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Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this story.