POCATELLO — Nine FLDS boys were removed from a Pocatello home, and the man responsible for their care pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of injury to a child Thursday after a multi-agency investigation last month.

    Former Bannock County Sheriff Bill Lynn, who now serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate, interviewed all the boys, and he said the case made a lasting impression on him.

    “They were scared of us, scared of law enforcement and scared about what would happen if they were sent back to Short Creek,” Lynn said. “These boys have been taught all their lives to fear outsiders. If you are not a follower of [Warren] Jeffs, then you are an apostate, an advocate of Satan.”

    Five of the boys removed from Jessop’s Pocatello home were in contact with Tonia Tewell of the Utah-based Holding Out HELP, and the boys expressed their desire to leave the church and Jessop’s home.

    A 13-year old boy from Jessop’s household even ended up being dropped off at Tewell’s front door and three other boys said they were hitchhiking to Utah.

    “These young boys, were trying to get rides with truck drivers,” Tewell said. “I had to tell them to go home and we would find them a safe ride.”

    The Short Creek community, known as the Woolley Group before 1935, was one of the original strongholds for the Mormon fundamentalists. Short Creek encompasses the communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz.

    The boys told Tewell they were sent to Idaho on a repentance mission and many had not seen their parents since being sent to Idaho.

    During the time that Jessop and the boys were in Southeast Idaho, they occupied homes in Downey, Power County, Chubbuck and their current residence on Clifford Road.

    Located at the end of Clifford Road, just off Pocatello Creek and behind KOA, Jessop’s two-story white home sits off the road and against a hill. A large workshop is adjacent to the house and dressers and drawers were stacked behind the shop Thursday.

    The boys told investigators that they made furniture that was sold in Pocatello and shipped back to Short Creek while they lived at Jessop’s house.

    Two other homes are located in the cul-de-sac and a playground-sized lawn connects a series of asphalt driveways.

    The property is owned by Todd and Deb Anderson. The Andersons declined to comment about Jessop.

    Jodi Neal lives in the mobile park across the street from the private property that Jessop rented from Anderson.

    Neal said the boys played with her kids and were frequent guests in her home. Her reaction to the news that the boys were tied to the FLDS was disbelief.

    While she never saw evidence of abuse or neglect, Neal said she suspected something was wrong.

    “I was always feeding them, they were always starving,” Neal said. “All the kids in the neighborhood are at my house anyway. I always cook enough for an army.”

    Neal said the boys seemed like brothers and she said they actually told her that they were part of the “clan.” One of the boys was even named Warren, she said.

    The boys built a wishing well lawn ornament for her and they made a walking stick for her daughter. After the boys had been removed, she said Jessop also delivered a gift to her home.

    “(Jessop) brought this chair down and he said it was from the boys to thank me for the hospitality,” Neal said.

    For the most part, she said the boys were well-behaved and polite, but when change started disappearing out of unlocked cars in the neighborhood, Neal suspected it might be the boys. She even caught one of them sneaking in her son’s bedroom window.

    “But he was just looking for something to eat,” Neal said.

    To earn money for fast food, when they snuck out to eat, and track phones used to plot an escape, the boys built and sold wood crafts, mowed lawns and did other odd jobs.

    Tom Dixon works at KOA, located on the corner of Clifford Drive and Pocatello Creek Road. He said the boys from the Jessop house built and sold birdhouses for $20 each at the campground.

    Dixon said he saw some of the boys every day until they were removed from the home.

    “They were very courteous, well-mannered kids,” Dixon said.

    He also said he saw no sign that the kids were being abused. Dixon said there were also two women wearing long dresses and bonnets who walked from the home to the end of the road on a regular basis

    Lynn said two of the boys remain in the foster care system, but he’s concerned about what will happen to the boys that were returned to their parents following an Aug. 11 protective custody hearing.

    Tewell said most likely, they will be sent on yet another repentance mission by the prophet.