Sheriffs in Power and Bannock counties doubt Southeast Idaho will see an influx of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
“I think they want out of here,” said Bannock County Sheriff Lorin Nielsen following the rescue of nine FLDS boys from a home in Pocatello in July. A couple of adult FLDS members are still residing at the residence on Clifford Drive near Pocatello Creek Road where the boys were removed.
Sheriff Nielsen said he's seen no evidence that FLDS members are trying to purchase a large tract of property or recruit members to Southeast Idaho.
“I really, really doubt they want to stay around here,” Nielsen said.
The boys who were taken out of the home in Pocatello had also lived in isolated homes in Big Piney, Wyo., Downey, Chubbuck and eastern Power County on West Siphon Road.
The boys, ages 11 to 17, and an adult guardian, Nathan Jessop, 47, had been part of a “repentance mission.” The boys had been removed from their homes in Short Creek — an FLDS stronghold in the communities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz., more than two years ago.
Following an investigation by the Bannock County Sheriff's office, three misdemeanor injury to a child charges were filed against Jessop. He pleaded guilty to those charges last week and was sentenced to 10 days in jail and two years of probation.
During an Aug. 11 protective custody hearing held for the boys in Bannock County, seven of the boys were returned to the custody of their mothers. Two remain in the protective custody of Idaho under the Department of Health and Welfare.
Power County Sheriff Jim Jeffries said the living situation of the same group of boys had been investigated last year in a home located on West Siphon Road. He said his office had received a complaint of possible child abuse and officers, the Power County prosecutor and social workers all visited the home on a search warrant in April of 2013.
That investigation determined the children were not in any danger and had not been abused, according to Jeffries.
However, shortly after that investigation, the group moved out of Power County.
Both Jeffries and Nielsen said that seems to the norm for members of the FLDS community who exist outside of their strongholds in Utah, Colorado, Texas and Montana. Once pressure comes from law enforcement or the community, members seem to leave.
According to one of the boys who spent nearly two years with Jessop, the FLDS church still takes orders from leader Warren Jeffs who is spending life in prison in Texas after being convicted of sexually molesting two teenage girls.