Transcripts For CNNW CNN Presents 20151003 : comparemela.com

CNNW CNN Presents October 3, 2015

Question and break free. Four of warren jeffs children have recently left the flds and are making shocking allegations. Tonight, two of them are telling their story on camera for the very first time. Revealing the kind of man their father was before he became the the profit. I want people to know the truth. I wish we would have opened up about it a long time ago. When a man like that becomes prophet, what happens . Profit, what happened . He can hide his sins behind the title of profits. Utah is so majestically beautiful its often referred to as gods country where mormons finally settled and ultimately divided over their stance on plural marriage where the church rejected the belief, fundamentalist mormons embraced it. But beyond polygamy, theres another tenant that distinguishes the fundamental later day states. Guided by the book of mormon, the flds says one living man on earth has the power to relay the word of god to the people and in 2002 all that power was handed to warren jeffs. As prophet, war ran ruled with an iron fist. He used the banner of religion to prevent underaged marriages and to cover up horrific acts, including the violation of his own child wooifs. In 2011, he was convicted on two counts of Sexual Assault of a minor and given a life sentence. These are the crimes they know about. But theres a new story that reveals much more about warren jeffs and the religion he ravaged. More and more people are starting to leave the flds and two of them are here in Salt Lake City. And they want the world and people back in their community to know something about their father. In the flds, so many people say you have the neatest father in the world. And now i think if they only knew. To the flds, shes an aposttate, a traitor to her faith and to her father. For most of her life, becky has avoided the outside world but today is finding a place in it and has invited me into her home. How are you . Good to see you. At 31 years old, becky is starting over. You completely walked away from the flds. We were always told an evil spirit comes over them and they just do bad, bad, bad things. But i havent experienced that yet. Whats it like to be the daughter of one of the most notorious people in recent american history. Everywhere i go, people say how are you related to warren jeffs . I always just say im his daughter. To me hes two different people. I dont like that one side one bit, but i love the other side. But ach all hes done, i dont know if he can ever be that again. For years, becky has mourn the loss of father she once knew, the one that sang, danced and made her and her brothers and sisters laugh. This is us just eating breakfast together. Today she keeps those memories close and wants to show me a side of warren thats never been seen. This looks like you guys are singing. Yeah, were playing a game called here we go around the mulberry bush. Which one are you . The red head, messy head. Shows the good times we had with him. Saved all these birthday cards he gave me. He gave his children a card every birthday. And made us feel special. So this is all throughout your life . Yes, all throughout my life. These are all before he was prophet. I still get a warm feeling when i look at them. My father loved me. No matter what, do as the prophet teaches. You look a lot like your father in this picture. Yeah, a lot of people have told me that. How does it feel to look at all these photos now . When i look at pictures with my father, it hurts my heart because he did so much good and yet so much bad. Its a pain that has haunted becky since childhood. Warrens abuse of the innocent began long before he became the prophet, he found his first victims at home under his own roof. When i was really young, probably between the ages of four and six, and it was at night and he came in my room and i kept saying father, do you know what youre doing . Are you awake . I was thinking there has got to be a reason because he teaches these strict principles of morals and everything but just scared me. I tried to convince myself it didnt happen but all my life it would come to my mind. I never told anybody. Why didnt you tell anyone . Because father knows best. To me, he was so perfect i kept telling myself, this is an accident, something is wrong. It is not a father daughter relationship. Sexuality is not. But i didnt feel like i could speak up, only he could have his say and i had to go with it and carry on. This is the first time becky has publicly opened up about what her father did to her when she was just a little girl. Its common for child victims of sexual abuse to suppress traumatic memories, keep quiet and internalize their secret and for decades, becky did just that until she learned she wasnt alone. Okay. Here is picture of me holding roy. Roy jeffs is beckys younger brother and he, too, knows what its like to keep a secret. What ive seen of roy is a boy that has tried with all his might to please his father and never could be completely accepted by him. Father excluded him from the other boys and i didnt ever know why. The reason my life has gone the way it has is because of what he did to me. The possibilin quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. At at t we monitor our Network Traffic so we can see things others cant. Mitigating risks across your business. Leaving you free to focus on what matters most. Geico motorcycle, great rates for great rides. In a suburb of Salt Lake City, 22yearold roy jeffs is enjoying a freedom hes never known. The first movie i watched was in 2012. I was still in the flds. It was in secret. I scoped out the theater and made sure there was nobody watching me. All right. Have a great day. Will do. I felt like i was a really bad person but it was kind of fun. [ laughter ] in many ways, roys life is stranger than fiction. He, too, is the son of the prophet, warren jeffs 11th child. Before his sister becky, roy was the first of jeffs kids to flee. Did you tell anyone that you were leaving . No. If you tell anybody, they will be all over you trying to get you to stay. I didnt want them to change my mind. Why did you want to leave . There was just no more hope anymore. I mean, as hard as i tried to be a good person or to follow their rules, i could never be good enough. Three months ago, roy and becky reunited in salt lake. The city where they grew up. Its taken a bit to get to know each other again. I knew him as my little brother that i took care of. Its a memory that becky and roy share right here in salt lake. At the base of Little Cottonwood canyon sits an abandoned house in a suburban neighborhood this is becky and roys childhood home. As a little kid, i can remember Early Mornings weeding in the garden. My favorite memories are the mountains and reservoir we swam . Youall lived here before you father became the prophet. What was he like back then . Pretty normal. He would take us up the canyon hiking and go on picnics every once in awhile. At the time, warren had seven wives and 20 children. On the outside, the family appeared happy as roy says, a normal polygamist family but beneath the surface, some of those children were suffering in silence. One of my earliest memories is of him sexually abusing me. I was 4 or 5 years old and this is where my dad did it. I remember him telling me, you should never do this, and then he did it to me. He made me feel like i had done something bad. I remember father saying to me, becky, youre acting different toward me, and i remember feeling like i feel different towards you. Now when i think about it, i relate it to the sexual abuse. What was it like for both of you living in this house with him knowing what he had done to you . I just thought that was a mistake. I didnt allow myself to dwell on that all the time. I always felt like he was perfect. I never held him accountable for it at all. When did youall share what had happened to you when you were kids to each other . It was almost immediately. I let him know youre not the only one in this. And how did you feel when you found out . Angry inside. I knew it happened to me and then to know it was a brother, too. And to also be twofaced to us and appear to be such a good person. Yeah, thats the hardest part. Before warren became prophet, he was principal of alta academy, an flds school in st. Lake city, for 22 years. Here he perfected his image as a family man with good morals and religious conviction. In 1998 warrens father the prophet closed the school and called upon his flock to commune in short creek, an flds compound on the utah arizona border. Warren moved his family and four years later after the death of his father, was named the next prophet. He had a sense of power after he became the prophet and automatically started taking control of peoples lives. Started marrying my grandpas wives. Did anybody say anything about it . No, no, because we were taught he did right all the time. We were taught to not socialize, to not gossip, to not talk about what was going on. And why was that . Honestly, now, i think it was to help my dad be able to do what he felt like he wanted to do. He realized he had so much power, what should i do with this power . I can do anything i want, and so he did. And it went clear the wrong way. By the time warren was through, he married up to 80 women, 12 under 16 years old. To the fundamental mormons, plural marriage has always been a principle of faith. Marrying children is not. When he started bringing in 12, 13 year old wives, what are you thinking . Its natural as a daughter to think, why dont you be a father to these daughters instead of trying to be a husband to these young girls . Do you think he used his role as prophet to oh, yeah. To justify oh, yeah, he did. I think he did. He did not have other men marry 12yearolds, only he married 12yearolds. For becky and roy, these girls were once their classmates and friends. But now they were supposed to call them mother. There was one of them i went to school with. How old was she . 14 then. There was probably in all close to ten that were right around my age and younger. And what did you think about the fact that he had these wives that were 11, 12 years old . Then i thought it was cool because they were cute and i was 14 and they were 12 and i you know, naturally had a crush on them. But these girls now belong to his father and if warren suspected disobedience, he would send the offender away to repent. There were no exceptions, even for his son. I was so honest with my dad he knew everything about me. I would tell him about temptations i was having towards the mothers. These are girls younger than me and im 14. He said because youre looking at my wives and being tempted toward them, then i want you to go away from that land. Roy was torn from his birth mother and sent to live with a cousin 500 miles away. I didnt realize how much i loved her and how much she meant to me until after she was gone. Roys mother is warrens third wife. He hasnt seen her in four years. All that remains of their relationship are a few photos. He didnt allow any phone conversations so she would send me mail. She had that picture taken and she sent that to me. Obviously this was really hard for your mom as well. Could she protest . She could but there would be consequences. Do you think youll ever see her again . I dont know. I dont know. Roy and becky have in many ways be orphaned by their faith. There is no way to know exactly where their mothers are, but one possibility is short creek, still home to the flds. Even today, its a place that warren tightly controls from prison. And becky wants to show me for herself. What are your thoughts right now as we embark upon this place where you used to live . On one hand, i dont want people to think im out to get them or do something against them because thats what some people are going to think. I want to get the message across that things arent how they seem. Theres a network that never stops improving. Thats grown faster than any other, covering nearly every american. And these geese. But its not who you think. Squawk its tmobile. Our new extended range lte signal reaches twice as far. And is four times better in buildings. Think you know our lte coverage . Think again see for yourself at tmobile. Com coverage nothing artificial. Just real roasted turkey. Carved thick. Thats the right way to make a good turkey sandwich. The right way to eat it . Is however you eat it. Panera. Food as it should be. Becky and i are heading to short creek, a place she hasnt seen in nine months. Does everybody know four of warrens kids have left . Its pretty wellknown by now. What do you think that means to them . I think it would make them very curious why would they leave . They had everything. They are children of the prophet, why would they leave . Its estimated 5,000 flds members live here, an area that encompasses two towns. At first, short creek feels like any other small town but it doesnt take long to notice a difference. These are such big walled off compounds. When youre in there you feel like you cant live your life freely without being watched all the time. Im noticing all the windows are closed. Yeah, it seems like they would be on red code lockdown right now have. That means everybody shut your blinds, lock your doors. Stay quiet, stay secluded. Dont be seen. I bet thats a security vehicle coming to check on us. Hi. Do you think all these trucks are monitoring what were doing . I think that people have called each other and security is out watching just to monitor the situation. They dont know whats up. Security and secrecy is designed by warren to maintain control over his flock including his own children. When becky turned 18, he married her off to a man 12 years her senior who already had three wives. At first, she protested but over time, they fell in love and had four boys. Becky had envisioned a simple, happy life but all that changed after warrens arrest. From his prison cell, the prophet dictated harsh new revelations that would affect everyone. He banned marriage, school, even toys. If the faithful didnt obey, they risked punishment and no one, not even warrens own kin were immune. In 2011, warren declared beckys husband an apostate, no longer in Good Standing with the church. He told becky to take her kids and leave. I thought, i cant do this because my boys love their father so much. We got to do with the prophet says. So i wiped away my tears and said okay, ill start packing up. I didnt even give him a hug goodbye, i shook his hand and said thank you for all youve done and left. Do you know why he was cast out . He could hold his own and be somebody and that is a threat to father. Becky was ordered to remove any evidence that her husband existed, to cut him out of every photo. Today she has no pictures of the two of them together from their past. Would you say that your father cast out anyone he thought he couldnt control . At first i didnt think that. I just thought if that person is cast out because they are wicked until it came so close to me. But warrens control over beckys life wouldnt end there. A few months later, warren declared becky a bad mother. He then took three of her children away and commanded her to retreat with her eldest son to what is called a house of repentance. We were given strict rules when we got there. We werent supposed to communicate with each other. Like prison. One day i totally lost it and broke down and truly convinced myself i must be a very wicked person. Becky confessed her brokenness to her father but he showed no mercy. He took away her eldest son and sent her childless to live in colorado with her sister and repent. We took pictures and i said ill smile for this picture because this will be my funeral picture. Im going to kill myself. I am. There is nothing to live for. But then, beckys sister revealed something about their father that would change everything. One day my sister starts bawling and bawling and i said whats the matter . My sister said from the ages of about 8 to 17 he had sexually abused her. We both cried together. I thought im not the only one molested. Hes done it to her. It must be something that was in his nature. Thats all. Where does it end . If he had this in him, how can i trust him . How is he really our prophet . How many people do you think your father has hurt . Every Single Member in there. Literally every Single Member has been affected. Every adult i know of has a personal message of correction from him. Today in short creek, life is on hold. In 2008 the world watched as federal agents raided warren jeffs texas con pound and discovered evidence of his heinous crimes. Warren jeffs is four years into a life sentence but those who still follow him seem to be locked into a life sentence of their own. As things look now, they are just going to grow old waiting for something to happen. Why is that . Because the prophet has said only he can perform marriages because the lord has only given him the right to do it. And so nobody is getting married. Nobody has gotten married since the day he was captured and put in prison. What happens if your father dies in prison . Im sure that hes already told somebody to take over if that happens, probably be one of his brothers. His brothers are running things now . Yeah. Lyle jeffs has been in the news lately. Hes warrens brother and enforcer responsible for relaying warrens messages to the people and carrying out his orders. He even declared his own son tom an apostate. Becky hasnt seen tom, who is her cousin, in three years. But tonight shes ready to share her story with him. Hey, tom, how are you . Good. You remember this one. Hey, thomas. How are you doing . Good. Like becky, tom recently left the flds and is also viewed as a traitor by his own father. He told the whole family i was a rank apostate and i did nothing to him. Why exactly did you leave . I got sick of all the restrictions and after i left the church, i still believed warren is who he said he was and i had all the respect in the world for him but i finally got a lawyer and he put all the evidence in front of me. It disgusts me. Becky, do you want to share anything with tom . He molested some of us when we were little and then, you know, my sister, she dealt with it constantly, so of course, we cant support him. Yeah. I mean, to find out thats the man we were supporting, how could this have happened all these years and nobody know about it . I mean, its it messes with your head. It does. When i first left, i thought i made the worst decision in my life and now i come to find out, it was the best decision i ever made in my life. I want people to know that he sexually abused some of his children so that they realize when he accuses them of immorality and sends them away, it doesnt mean theyre guilty of it. I imagine thats how hes trying to hide his own sins, by pointing at others. How many kids do you think your father molested . I dont know, sometimes i think 10, 20. I hope its not more than that. When youre not confident your companys data is secure, the possibility of a breach can quickly become the only thing you think about. Thats where at t can help. At at t we monitor our Network Traffic so we can see things others cant. Mitigating r

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