Fort Worth, USA - With the leader of a embattled polygamist sect now facing arrest warrants on two criminal indictments in Arizona, the search to find him may lead to the group's growing compound 45 miles south of San Angelo, Texas.
In Eldorado, the town closest to the 1,671-acre YFZ ranch, Schleicher County officials are downplaying the possibility of any potential conflict with Warren Jeffs, the leader of Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints.
"There has been a lot of media hype asking `Are you going to storm the place?' and, no, we're not going to do that,'' said Schleicher County Justice of the Peace Jimmy Doyle.
"Certainly, if he's pulled over in some kind of traffic stop he would be arrested, but you have to remember no one has really seen this guy in public since December 2003.''
A Mohave County, Ariz., grand jury indicted Jeffs, 49, on Friday on charges of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He could be sentenced to prison for up to two years if convicted.
Jeffs is accused of arranging the marriage of a 16-year-old girl to a 28-year-old married man, but he is not accused of having sex with the girl, according to the indictments.
In response to media inquiries, Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran issued a news release Monday saying he will "monitor the investigation'' and assist Arizona law enforcement officials if necessary.
"Sheriff Doran has been in contact with officials on the YFZ Ranch since the warrant has been issued in an attempt to make contact with Warren Jeffs,'' the news release said. "There is no evidence or information indicating that Jeffs is on the property."
On Sunday, Doran told The Associated Press: "We're not going to take any drastic measures. We have a lot of out-of-state warrants issued. We're not going to treat this one any different.''
Utah officials are also trying to serve Jeffs for civil lawsuits. Last month, the assets of the church's United Effort Plan's trust were frozen. Shortly thereafter, several buildings in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., - where the sect has historically been based _were dismantled and removed.
The sect split from the Mormon Church when the main church renounced polygamy in the 1890s. Both Utah and Arizona officials have stepped up their scrutiny of the FLDS, which is believed to have about 10,000 members worldwide, as allegations of welfare fraud, sexual abuse and forced marriages surface.
Randy Mankin, editor of the Eldorado Success, believes Jeffs was at the West Texas compound Jan. 1, the day the group's members held a ceremony to begin erecting a temple that is now nearly completed.
"We're pretty sure it was him back then,'' Mankin said. "But at this point, we have no reason to believe he's here.''
In response to concerns that the polygamist group could take advantage of legal loopholes in Texas law, state legislators elevated bigamy and polygamy from a misdemeanor to a felony and raised the state's age of consent to 16 from 14. Gov. Rick Perry signed the bill into law June 7.