Jeffs’ nephew to face charges in Utah

MINOT, N.D. — The nephew of imprisoned Utah polygamous leader Warren Jeffs will be returned to Utah to face charges that he kidnapped his niece, as he waived extradition at a court hearing Monday following his arrest in North Dakota.

Heber Jeffs was arrested Saturday by federal agents after he was tracked to the town of Minot, but authorities don’t know why he was there, said Sheriff Marty Gleave of Piute County, Utah. He was arrested after a search warrant at a home, Cleave said.

The 10-year-old girl, the daughter of Heber Jeffs’ sister, was apparently unharmed, Gleave said.

“Homeland Security is trying to arrange to get her back here and reunite with her mother,” he said.

Heber Jeffs is jailed at the Ward County jail, the county’s sheriff, Bob Roed, said.

Court documents say Heber Jeffs had kept the girl in his home in Kingston, Utah. Prosecutors said he and his wife, Sarah, have cared for their niece since her parents split up when the girl was an infant.

Rose Jeffs, the girl’s mother who is no longer a fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints member, was allowed regular visitation and full access to her daughter until August. At that time, Heber Jeffs told her he would no longer allow visitation.

Court documents state Rose Jeffs then demanded to take her daughter back, at which point Heber Jeffs said he planned to cut off communication. Later, when law enforcement began pursuing Heber Jeffs, they couldn’t find him at his home or places he had worked, prompting a warrant for his arrest.