Flora Jessop: The Troubled
Woman Who Cost Texas $14
Million, and Hundreds of
Innocent People Their Peace and
Safety
Salem,
MO 65560-1668
July
1 2008
Flora
Jessop
By
Gary D. Naler
Author of “The Curse of
1920”
Flora Jessop, the outspoken
media favorite and determined
critic of the Fundamentalist
Latter Day Saints (FLDS), has
had the advantage and luxury of
accruing audiences who want to
believe her or are
understandably uninformed about
Flora’s real life and the FLDS
church itself. Therefore, she
has been able to say what she
wants; and since people are
often hearing what they want to
hear, she has gotten off
scot-free without any
accountability or recourse
whatsoever for what we now know
are an endless string of vicious
lies.
But Flora’s days of
unaccountability have come to an
end. She has now been
instrumental in causing the
state of Texas to carry out an
illegal invasion on an entire
community at a cost to the state
that carries a running tally of
$14 million, and has hurt so
many innocent people that these
silent ones who know her well,
have loved and cared for her,
and endured her continual
destructive behavior, are
finally speaking out.
Martha Jessop, wife of the late
Fred M. Jessop—beloved Bishop
of the Colorado City/Hildale
FLDS community for fifty
years—has written a most
revealing account regarding
Flora’s life (“The Truth
About Flora Jessop,” at
truthwillprevail.org). From
Flora’s birth, until she was
sixteen years old, Martha was
very closely associated with
her. She is an Advanced Practice
Registered Nurse and Certified
Nurse Midwife. Because of this
formal training, the state of
Utah appointed her as Flora’s
legal guardian at the age of
fourteen when it was revealed
that her father had molested
her. Flora was under Martha’s
direct care and supervision,
living in their home, until she
left at the age of sixteen.
In representation of the
sentiments of others, Martha
writes: “After listening to
and hearing of the stories and
lies that Flora has been telling
and putting out to the world
through the media—lies about
how she was ‘abused’ and
‘escaped’ from her childhood
home and religion, I feel
compelled to tell the true story
of Flora.” With Martha’s
help and the help of many others
who have never been interviewed
about these matters or spoken
out, as well as previous news
accounts, interviews, and
information, we will now tell
the true story about Flora
Jessop. And let it be noted that
the account by Martha is
corroborated by Flora’s
mother, Patricia, who upon
reading it stated, “That’s
the whole truth and nothing but
the truth.”
Flora’s Growing-Up Years
Flora was born to Joseph and
Patricia (Pat) Jessop in the
little FLDS town of Colorado
City, Arizona. “Flora was a
beautiful child, well loved and
enjoyable,” Martha recalls.
But she noticed “a tendency in
her to exaggerate and embellish
little incidents. She enjoyed
being in the spotlight and the
center of attention.” Martha
recalls chiding her to “tell
the truth and not make it bigger
than it is,” a quality Flora
never learned.
As Flora got older, she became
“restless and wild, with
unpredictable mood swings,
sometimes seeming impulsive and
aggressive, then swinging back
to the happy and free-spirited
Flora we knew and loved.” As
early as the age of eleven, she
began going out at night,
prowling around, “looking for
fun.” “She seemed to be
dissatisfied with the family
outings and social times with
her friends and siblings,”
Martha recalled.
Her mother and others tried to
deal with Flora’s troubling
behavior; but as her mood swings
became more extreme, she soon
developed a whole new set of
“friends,” often coming home
intoxicated and violent, and it
was highly suspected that she
was using drugs. Today, Flora
often points a limp finger at
the FLDS, and regarding her drug
and alcohol use and loose living
states: “The pain got so bad
in heaven that I was willing to
damn myself to hell to escape
it.” But the fact is, Flora
had already brought her own hell
to heaven long before she left
the FLDS. As is the case with
many alcoholics and drug addicts
or otherwise-troubled people,
for Flora it has always been
easier to point the finger and
assign fallacious blame than to
be honest and take personal
responsibility.
By the early age of thirteen,
Flora was completely out of
control. On one occasion she was
out all night and found with a
fifteen-year-old boy having sex.
“Such behavior went against
everything Flora had been
taught,” relates Martha. Even
so, they did not give up on her.
• Quote: “I went to school
with Flora.… It's true Flora
had a very abusive upbringing,
sex abuse, etc., but she was a
wild child, loved to sneak out
and go to parties.… In my
opinion, she is clinging to the
only thing she really
knows—slamming her upbringing.
Think about it—it pays their
bills doesn’t it?… How would
Flora like the world to know she
was the easiest lay in town? The
point is, I left there in 1986
and haven’t looked back. My
life is great. Flora should do
the same!!!!” (Laddie
Dockstader, FLDS classmate and
friend [punctuation and spelling
corrected for readability])
When Flora was fourteen, Martha
was talking with her about the
impact of loose morals, when she
blurted out, “Well, my father
has raped me!” “It struck me
like a thunderbolt,” related
Martha. “That was terrible! I
was sickened at the thought. I
thought maybe she had made it
up, but she insisted it was
true.”
In Martha’s words, in their
society “child molestation or
abuse of any kind is unthinkable
and unacceptable.” Flora’s
father was turned over to legal
authorities and subsequently
excommunicated from the church.
Despite this decisive correction
that she is well aware of, when
asked if incest was permitted in
FLDS, she replied, “Incest is
not only permitted, it is
accepted.” Evidenced here and
throughout her life, Flora’s
habitual lies have been twisted
ill-intended distortions of
events.
• Quote: “She is a liar.…
[Lying is] Flora’s life
history.… She is not
credible.… I do not see how
any reasonable person can
believe what she says.”
(Benjamin Bistline, author of
“The Polygamists – A History
of Colorado City, Arizona,”
who personally knew Flora as a
child and is an FLDS critic)
One of the things I learned
after examining the FLDS, from
both the inside as well as the
outside, is that they have a
near-zero-tolerance policy for
young men, fathers, and husbands
when it comes to moral
impropriety, evidenced by the
action taken against Flora’s
father. This high standard would
certainly be one reason why
there are fewer men than women
in the FLDS. One man I
communicated with extensively
throughout the many days and
hours of this careful
examination was disfellowshipped
for mistreating his wife. He
said she and his two children
could have gone with him, but
decided not to, and that the
present separation was best for
both of them. What was his
guilt? He had been looking at
pornography. How many homes
would be left in America today
if the same standard the FLDS
follow was practiced by the rest
of society that so misguidedly
judges them?
After Flora’s father was
reported to legal authorities,
she was taken from his home and
placed into Martha’s care as
the court-appointed legal
guardian. In a joint interview I
had with Flora on June 1, 2008,
I mentioned to her that Martha
had raised her after she had
been taken away from her father,
to which she replied, “Martha
was just one of the other wives
in the household.” I find it
both shameful and remarkably
untruthful that the woman who
had reached out to her so much
and was in fact her legal
guardian assigned by the court,
was regarded with so little
respect or gratitude.
Martha, Fred, and others began
trying to help Flora through the
healing process. To limit
destructive influences, she and
her court-appointed counselor
thought it best that Flora be
homeschooled, which she was. For
a while they thought she was
healing, but once again she
became restless and began to
return to her prior ways. “Any
little thing would make her fly
into a rage,” recounts Martha.
On one occasion she attacked
Martha, scratching herself as
she flailed away at her. Then,
exhibiting a characteristic that
would endure to this day, she
called the counselor and accused
Martha of beating her.
Finally, one night she left,
just disappeared, and stayed
gone for two weeks. When she did
call, she was in Las Vegas,
crying and wanting to come home.
Fred drove 160 miles to get her,
finding her scantily clad in
bikini-type clothing.
But still they didn’t stop
loving her. Because of their
concern about her influence on
the other girls, they made her a
little room at the end of a wide
hall, putting curtains across
it. They tried to make it cozy
and cute for her, said Martha.
But consistent with her
slanderous lies and total lack
of appreciation, Flora would
later repeatedly tell her
enraptured and blindly
sympathetic listeners that she
had been locked up at the end of
a hall, imprisoned behind a wall
for “three years in solitary
confinement.” “With
curtains? Oh my!” replies
Martha. “I spent three years
in this room with them trying to
beat Satan out of me for daring
to stand up against God’s
commandments,” Flora lavishly
tells others. The little girl
still cannot stop exaggerating
and embellishing, taking it to
unthinkable pathological levels.
Once back, her involvement in
drugs, alcohol, sex, and
unaccounted absences only
continued. “Her behavior was
quite oppressive,” relates
Martha. “I felt like such a
failure.” She continues,
“One night she was out all
night with a boy—a cousin. He
came the next morning and told
Grandpa [Fred] that they had had
sex. So Grandpa asked him if he
wanted to marry her. He said he
did. Then Grandpa asked Flora if
she wanted to marry the boy. She
said she did. So he helped them
get legally married. Flora was
sixteen. The newlyweds left town
to settle elsewhere, but I
learned later that she left him
several weeks after their
marriage.”
??The August, 2004, issue of
“The Los Angeles Times
Magazine” reported: “In May
1986, she [Flora] entered into
an arranged marriage with a
19-year-old cousin, Philip
Jessop.” “Arranged
marriage”? The only thing
arranged about it was that Flora
and Philip arranged to be out
all night and were caught having
sex.
Phillip’s Sympathetic Marriage
Though the Times article was
supposed to be favorable to
Flora, it astutely noted,
“Over the years, she has told
conflicting stories about how
[her ‘getaway’] happened.”
One thing that she is consistent
about is her repeated and
convincing claim that she
“escaped” from the FLDS,
that she was a victim held in
solitary confinement. Was she
indeed a victim? This is
evidently the case, insomuch
that she lived in an abusive
situation with her father. But
beyond that, she in fact created
her own world of difficulties,
and the reality of an escape is
framed solely within the walls
of her own mind.
Many people undoubtedly reached
out to Flora and tried to help
her. Were their efforts
sufficient? Evidenced by her
life, clearly not; but at some
point people have to take
responsibility for their own
actions. One of those who sought
to be her “savior” was
Phillip. I talked with him by
phone several times. No one
before had ever contacted him so
as to verify Flora’s
statements. I was the first. In
fact, Flora has never been
questioned regarding her life
accounts. Up to now, what she
has said has been blindly
accepted carte blanche. The name
that Phillip goes by is Phil,
and here is his account.
Phil was eighteen years old when
he married Flora. He said that
for two years they had been
“sneaking out” together.
Martha was right in that they
were caught one night in a
sexual affair, by a night
watchman; but Phil did not
immediately go to Fred. He
related that he was first
confronted by his older brother
about the incident. He admitted
to it, and his brother, for whom
he worked, was prepared to carry
out retribution for his actions.
Once again we see that the idea
propagated by FLDS critics that
irresponsible behavior, such as
Phil’s out-of-wedlock sexual
relationship, is accepted is
unfounded. As evidenced here and
in other instances, the FLDS
take swift remedial action.
Phil said that two weeks
afterwards, his stepfather, Bill
Shapley, came over and left a
note for Phil to contact him.
Two days later Phil met with
him. Bill asked him if he wanted
to marry Flora. At the age of
eighteen, Phil said he had a
“savior complex” regarding
Flora—he wanted to “draw her
out of the negative @#*! she was
in.” Bill even tried to talk
him out of marrying her. In
Phil’s words, Flora “had a
rebel streak in her that was a
mile long.” But he made a
commitment to be a friend to her
and to always be there.
Obviously Flora felt this as
well, for she later related,
"He was my friend and he
helped me leave."
The next day, Phil and Flora met
with Fred in his office. As
Martha has noted, they both
wanted the marriage. So on May
3, 1986, Phil, Flora, Fred,
Phil’s mother and stepfather,
and Flora’s father and
stepmother, rode in a limousine
to Las Vegas and the two were
married.
After the wedding, they were
taken to a motel in St. George,
followed by moving in with his
brother. The marriage lasted
only ten days. Phil said Flora
became very cold—their
marriage was “like sleeping
with an iceberg.” He no longer
wanted to be married to her and
asked her what she wanted. He
said she was confused and wanted
to be young. Phil made
arrangements for Flora to stay
at his friend’s house in St.
George, where she remained for
two to four weeks. From there,
he said she went to Las Vegas,
and from there to Kansas City.
The next time he saw her was
about six months later in
Phoenix, where she was with
another man, supposedly a TWA
executive.
“[Flora] learned how to work
people,” Phil relates. “She
was a topless dancer and worked
for an escort service.” Ten
years later she finally filed
for a divorce. He never
remarried.
Phil maintains a great deal of
compassion for Flora, and
retains his commitment to be her
friend. “The sad part,” he
said, “is that her motives are
for the hurting who have
experienced pain and betrayal.
But she has a tainted
perspective, and her methods are
destructive from her pain and
anger.” When explaining why he
married Flora, he said, “She
has told a lot of lies and did
manipulative stuff, but she
needed someone to believe in
her.” Phil gave Flora that
chance.
• Quote: “Flora Jessop was
possibly abused as a child
either by her brother or her
father, both of whom were
excommunicated from the FLDS
church and lost their families.
She moved in with Uncle Fred,
whom her mother married.… She
was never mistreated by Fred
Jessop; he only wanted to help
her. Flora left in 1986. I do
not blame her one bit for being
angry for what happened to her
as a child, but she found
identity and notoriety by
blaming the church for her pain.
I don’t blame her, but she is
wrong.” (Allen Holm, former
FLDS member and older brother of
Fawn Holm who was a part of a
huge media spectacle generated
by Flora in 2004)
Martha Continues
Flora tells her eager listeners
that she was not prepared for
life on the “outside,” that
she was “naive to the point of
being socially retarded.”
Hardly! From the young age of
eleven, to the age of sixteen
when she married Phil, she was
entirely experienced in the
aberrant lifestyle outside of
the FLDS community’s high
standards. She had already
brought her hell into this
heaven, and now she was ready to
drink its cup fully.
In the years that followed,
Flora freely fed her tragic
lusts with drugs, alcohol, sex,
prostitution, and
stripping—with one brief
interruption. Within a year
after leaving, once again she
called Fred. “She said she
wanted to repent and come
home,” wrote Martha in her
account. And once again this
kind and caring man who loved
her and gave her every chance to
do good, took her back. He got
her a room in Cedar City and
paid for it. Yet today Flora
shamefully accuses him of
imprisoning her. He also paid
several thousand dollars for
dental work for her, and visited
and encouraged her. Everyone was
kind to her, said Martha. Phil
said he came to see her a couple
of times as well. But then one
day, once again, she just
disappeared, leaving without
saying a word and giving no
indication as to where she had
gone.
On Court TV Flora stated in an
obvious pathological
prevarication, “I was married
as a child bride to my cousin.
Stayed with him for about three
weeks, then ran like crazy. They
chased me for five years after I
left. I had no support, I lived
on the street, I know what it's
like to try and get out of this
cult and to have no one there
for you. That is why I now try
to help those who want to
escape.
“Yes. They chased me for five
years, and I just hitchhiked
back and forth across the U.S.
for those five years. I did get
pregnant towards the end of
those five years, with my
daughter, and she is the reason
that I stopped running from
them. I realized that I could
not continue to run and protect
my baby, so I stood up and told
them if they wanted me, to come
and get me, because I was not
running anymore. At that point,
I realized that the men from
this cult are like schoolyard
bullies. They only like to pick
on people who are weaker than
they are, and that power comes
from the fear that they have
instilled in the people.”
It is increasingly obvious that
Flora’s lies are without depth
or breadth, and this is
recognized by all who know her.
No one ever chased her. In fact,
she freely returned to seek
their help. In closer
examination, her bizarre account
serves to describe
herself—always running from
the truth, pressing her own
distorted and corrupted agenda,
and instilling false fear in
others regarding the FLDS. For
years Flora sold her body to
destructive vices and
prostitution—today she does no
less with the truth.
• Quote: “I was very much a
part of what Flora was doing
before she ever left.… She was
not forced to stay there. She
could have gone anytime, just
like you and I could.… She was
not forced to stay in this
community.… She could have
gone at anytime.” (Reply of
James Zitting, right-hand man to
Fred M. Jessop, when questioned
by his brother, Les, concerning
Flora)
“For many years now I have
kept quiet about what I knew,”
relates Martha, “thinking
Flora was just hurting herself.
But now, since her lies and
influence with authorities is
affecting the lives of many
innocent people, I think the
truth should be told. The
stories she tells have no
credence and are fabricated. Her
lies about being ‘locked up’
and being ‘used’ by men in
our religious group are
outrageous! She was never locked
up in our community. When she
chose to leave home, she walked
out without difficulty—of her
own free will and choice. Flora
has not been a part of our
religion or community for over
twenty years. We have never
hunted her or tried in any way
to interfere in the life she
chose to live. We have only
helped her when she asked for
help and did it without any
thanks on her part.
“I forgive her,” continues
Martha, “but her lies and
deceit should not be allowed to
continue on as fact.”
“Ruby is a Hostage”
Let’s now move forward to 2001
when Flora began to dramatically
enhance her public slander of
the FLDS, becoming its chief
persecutor. Like the written
account from Martha and the
interview with Phil, what you
are about to read is the first
ever account of actual events
that unfolded regarding
Flora’s oft-touted sister,
Ruby, whom she alleged was
brutally raped at the age of
fourteen. This first-hand
information comes from my
personal phone conversations
with Ruby and her husband,
Haven; with Martha; with former
FLDS member, Allen Holm, the
older brother of Fawn Holm; and
email correspondence with
Ruby’s mother, Pat. For the
first time, the veil of silence,
misunderstanding, and false
information will be lifted.
Back in Colorado City, Flora’s
younger sister, Ruby, made some
decisions that would bring her
life into an unwelcomed
examination and falsely-reported
public spectacle, all because of
the painful intrusion of her
activist sister. On the day that
Flora was married, leaving the
FLDS, Ruby was born. “Ruby
gave me my freedom,” Flora
later said. “She was born the
day I left Hildale. May 3,
1986.” Flora certainly did not
find freedom when she left
Hildale, but rather an even
greater bondage to the
ever-increasing lusts that
controlled her life. In reality,
the freedom Flora needs from
Ruby and others is her freedom
from living a life of continual
lies and of inciting wrongful
harm.
On April 23, 2001, Haven and
Ruby had a church wedding
ceremony in Caliente, Nevada.
But she was being torn at the
time as to whether this was what
she truly wanted. “I needed
time just to find myself,” she
said. Her two older brothers had
already left the FLDS, and three
weeks after the wedding she went
to be with them. But she was
there for only one week and was
already regretting leaving.
Joseph, a friend of hers,
contacted her and offered the
opportunity to return. She
gladly accepted and stayed in
the home of the
always-benevolent Fred Jessop.
“I was never so glad to be
home,” she rejoiced!
But what about Flora? When Ruby
left her two brothers, they
called Flora and told her that
Ruby had gone back home. This
infuriated Flora and she sprang
into action to try to force Ruby
to leave, uninvitedly intruding
into her life. Her plan? She
stirred up others and called
Child Protective Services (CPS),
and in her characteristic style
told them an aggrandized lie.
Does she believe her own
agenda-driven lies? Undoubtedly
so. But when CPS interviewed
Ruby and her mother, they found
no credibility whatsoever in
Flora’s accusations. “[Ruby]
was wonderful—gave no
information of any concern, for
anything,” stated CPS director
Gene Ashdown to Flora, “and
that really, I guess, isn't a
surprise.” In our phone
conversation, Ruby told me,
“CPS wanted to have Flora
there at my questioning, and I
said no. I did not want to have
anything to do with her.”
Upon her return, Ruby turned to
the same home and security that
Flora herself had often fled to
for help in her own times of
trouble, the home Flora later
fallaciously described as
imprisonment for three years in
solitary confinement. But now
Flora sought to accomplish the
same disparaging accusations
relative to Ruby. With
ever-mounting evidence,
Flora’s reports of events are
more than exaggerations, but
have all indications of being
pathological lies.
• Quote: I don’t know what
information you’ve got, but
[Ruby’s] been around [since
she came back]. And I know one
thing, and that is that I was
there personally the day after
she came back. She was sittin’
there with her family and she
was in tears and she says,
“You guys don’t know how
glad I am to be back.”
That’s what she said, and I
listened to it. So people that
say that she’s there against
her will—not true, not at
all.… I know for a fact that,
yes, there was a time there
where she thought that maybe she
wanted to leave; but after she
was gone for how ever many days
she was, SHE WAS MIGHTY GLAD TO
BE BACK. She says, “I found
out that that isn’t what I
want.” (James Zitting,
right-hand man to Fred M.
Jessop, June 17, 2001)
• Quote: Since [Ruby] went
back to Fred’s, you’ve seen
her around?… Have you seen her
around in the last two weeks?…
Well that’s weird.
Somebody’s lying to us.”
(Les Zitting, James’s older
brother who is anti-FLDS and
asked him about Ruby, June 17,
2001)
Always an opportunist, in
classic Flora fashion all of
this made great fodder for
falsely and wrongly inciting
others against the FLDS,
garnering great media attention
and financial support. Flora’s
efforts, as well as the efforts
of other avid FLDS critics, are
agenda-driven, media-driven,
predominated by flagrant
wrongful exaggerations and lies,
have included fraudulent
Attorney General documents (re.,
2002 Napolitano investigations),
and serve only to hurt the
innocent. In 2004, Flora’s
media-grandstanding and
intrusive actions regarding Fawn
Holm and Fawn Broadbent not only
devastated families, but also
infuriated other anti-FLDS
crusaders, and even resulted in
a court ordering her to stay
away from the two girls. In
2006, Flora wildly alleged that
there was an FLDS baby graveyard
with 200 baby graves that were
dug in one month and that
“night burials” were being
practiced, claims that were all
proven to be totally false. Even
so, she has continued to tell
these lies to this day.
Continually, she has proven
herself to be the proverbial
woman who cries “wolf.”
Repeatedly, Flora appealed to
her willing listeners, “This
is about every Ruby that's in
there that wants to be
free." But the freedom Ruby
needs is to be free from the
threats of her obsessed sister
and those like her who make
their lives more difficult and
threatened, to be free to raise
her family, and for Flora to be
free from her own torturous
bondage. The revealing fact is,
none of Flora’s eleven
sisters, or even her own mother,
will have anything to do with
her. “The reason I dislike
seeing Flora is because it is
too stressful for me to see and
hear what she is doing with her
life,” laments Pat.
But with standard purposes of
attracting attention, Flora went
so far as to file a missing
person report on her mother and
make it a media issue. In an
interview, when asked in typical
demonizing questioning if her
family suffers retribution among
the FLDS members for her public
attacks, she stated, “I‘ve
been given messages that my
mother is paying the price for
everything I do.” She is,
Flora, but not by virtue of the
supportive and caring FLDS
members. Rather, she pays the
price of a mother’s broken
heart for a recalcitrant wayward
daughter.
Beginning in 2001, and as recent
as this year, Flora has boldly
claimed that on the night of
Haven and Ruby’s wedding, at
the age of fourteen, Ruby “was
raped so brutally [by Haven]
that she almost died from the
hemorrhaging,” and that her
mother, only “a couple of
doors down,” was not allowed
to intervene. Yet Flora is never
obligated to tell her source of
these repeated outrageous lies.
I asked Haven and Ruby
specifically about these
stunning accusations; and even
knowing all that I know about
Flora, I was not prepared for
their answer. Frankly, based on
what I had read and heard, in my
own mind I had formed more
gracious possibilities, though
still surrounding these
purported accusations. But I was
totally taken aback that the
facts were not anywhere near
what Flora has viciously spread.
Did Haven brutally rape Ruby and
did she almost hemorrhaged to
death? When I asked them if this
was true, Ruby quickly answered,
“Absolutely not! I was never
raped.” Haven added, “I
absolutely wouldn’t do that.
I’d give my life to protect
her.” Even before hearing
this, two men who personally
know Haven assured me that there
was no way he would have done
that. It was totally contrary to
his nature, his character, and
his upbringing.
When I wrote Pat about this
accusation, she confirmed:
“Yes, I was there at the
ceremony. Haven would not do
these kinds of actions, let
alone hurt anyone, and there is
no truth in Flora's claims of
any brutality.” The fact is,
Haven and Ruby had no sexual
relations whatsoever that
evening, or even in the days to
come, and not even in the months
that followed.
Following the ceremony of April
23 and a brief honeymoon in
Phoenix, Ruby was not settled
with either herself or with
marriage. As she stated, she
needed time to find herself. She
related, “I wanted to wait a
little more time and see what I
wanted.” “It was something
Ruby needed,” responded Haven,
“a little more time; and we
gave it to her.”
Over the next six months, the
two of them communicated very
little. When Ruby was more
comfortable and sure of what she
wanted, their relationship began
to progress. One year later, on
May 5, 2002, they were married
before a judge in St. George,
Utah. Ruby was sixteen years of
age, and Haven was twenty-one.
Only after this marriage did
they ever have conjugal
relations.
Despite Flora’s repeated lies
and accusations that marriages
are forced in the FLDS and that
men abuse the women, clearly
this is far from true. Ruby was
in fact given all the time and
freedom she needed in order to
make her own choice, one she was
comfortable with. And consistent
with the FLDS lifestyle, there
was no abuse whatsoever.
However, during this time when
the community was showing
patience and care, a dark storm
brewed outside. In stark
contrast to this peaceful people
who prefer the sanctity of
silence, the brutally vicious
lies of Flora and others flew
like hot embers from troubling
firebrands. In addition to the
rape allegations, other wild
claims were made, including that
Ruby was being brainwashed,
re-educated, even whisked off in
secrecy to Canada or Idaho. But
by and large, Ruby stayed right
there in Hildale. She said she
and her mother did take a little
vacation and went to visit some
friends.
Today, Haven and Ruby remain
happily married. And despite the
unwelcomed willful intrusion of
Flora and others like her, they
are living the life they have
chosen. Looking back at the
struggles she went through in
2001, today Ruby is now able to
say with gratefulness, “This
is my life, and I would never go
back to the world.”
Frankly, I was stunned at their
account. It was not at all like
what I had read and heard, and I
could not grasp how Flora could
contrive something so profoundly
different. Puzzled, I asked
them, “Where could Flora get
such a story?” “Where she
gets all her other stories,”
replied Ruby, “from her
head.”
Does the FLDS have flaws? Of
course they do. Do they have
difficulties within community
life. Certainly they do. Would
there be conflicts and hard
feelings on the part of some
individuals? That is inevitable,
especially when dealing with
teens when they hit those
infamous distressing and
troubling years. But what I have
seen in all my examinations is
that, even so, they are a people
who strive to do what is right,
and who excel immeasurably
better in wholesome and right
living than society that exists
outside of their lives. And most
certainly, I have found that the
accusations made against them by
anti-FLDS critics hold no
weight. In fact, the best
characterization of these acrid
critics is that their
accusations are as worthy to be
trusted as the testimonies of
rebellious troubled teenagers
who rant about their parents.
There are many who have left the
FLDS who we never hear from,
those who could provide a much
more realistic assessment of
FLDS life without the embittered
accusations. But the problem is
that no one, especially the
feeding-frenzy media, wants to
hear from them. They are much
closer to reality, even with
some of their criticisms. But
this is a lynching mob, and the
voice of the reasonable is
drowned out.
One twenty-three-year-old young
man who was raised in the FLDS
and had been away for three
years wrote on a blog regarding
his experience: “I had a very
happy childhood free from
television, drugs, and abuse.…
95% of the men I knew were
honorable and trustworthy.… I
personally know every man on
that [YFZ] Ranch in Texas.
Search the world over, you will
not find men more dedicated,
more committed, and more focused
on living in Peace and living
their religion than within that
group.” He continued, “half
[a figure that is probably
closer to twenty to thirty
percent] of the children raised
within the FLDS end up leaving
[of] their own free will and
choice,” and “95% of them
you will never hear from
again.” But, he noted, “5%
seem to spread rumor[s] and
false accusations everywhere
they turn, either because they
are lonely and need someone or
something to blame, or because
they really were hurt or abused
and somehow think it's the
church's fault.”
A common mantra of both FLDS
critics and CPS is that the men
are “perpetrators” of sexual
crimes. But as we just read and
saw regarding Haven and Ruby,
nothing could be further from
the truth. My experience in
talking with FLDS men confirms
this. One man had waited six
months before he even had sexual
relations with his wife, another
several months as well. The
latter man stated, “You have
to wait until you are
comfortable with one another.
You love one another. You
respect one another. It is very
important that it is the
lady’s idea and she is
comfortable with it. It is not
our place and is repulsive to
force ourselves on women. It
goes against our moral fabric
and goes against everything we
have been taught. That is how
every FLDS man that I know has
been raised. Something of this
magnitude in your life is
important and comes from love
and not lust.”
Despite this reality regarding
these peaceable and moral
people, Flora sought to incite
others with the oft-repeated
claim, “Ruby is a hostage.”
But Ruby was not and has never
been a hostage. Rather, she is
the happily-married mother of
four young children, two boys
and two girls, who love her very
much and whose lives are
threatened by people like their
venomous aunt. Ruby is not the
hostage. But rather, it is Flora
who is the hostage—hostage to
her own blinding hatred and
willful pursuit to gainfully
destroy those who tried to help
her so many times.
If there is anyone who was born
and raised in Colorado City who
needs to be set free from a
“compound,” it is Flora
Jessop, the little girl who was
“a beautiful child, well loved
and enjoyable,” who is held
captive by her own walls of
bitterness and self-gratifying
destructive pursuits. Flora
lived a lifestyle that was
self-destructive, and now she
seeks to destroy those who, even
now, still love her. In all my
contacts and interviews with
FLDS members, I have yet to find
a single person who is bitter
towards her; they all want only
the best for her.
I asked Haven and Ruby one last
question: If you knew Flora was
telling these vicious lies about
you, then why didn’t you say
something? Why didn’t you
speak up and refute them? “In
our culture,” answered Haven,
“we’re not out to find
problems, or to find fault with
other people. We try to mind our
own business, and others can
live their own lives. If some
say something bad about you, you
forgive them, turn the other
cheek, and move on with your
life. Flora really does have
family here that love her…,”
then Ruby interjected, “but we
don’t appreciate what she is
doing…,” and in a seamless
sentence between the two of
them, Haven continued, “and
she needs to come out and be
honest.”
Somehow Flora missed this
instruction about forgiving and
moving on with your life, the
very thing she desperately needs
to do. She is in fact in every
way the antithesis of the
culture she was raised in, a
paradox of all the good and
virtue they seek to practice.
And instead of adopting their
pacifism, she has taken
advantage of this quality
evidenced in her people as a
freedom to tell all her lies
undisputed. As a result, she has
hurt too many and caused far too
much trouble. “Ruby and I were
both betrayed,” wrote Flora.
No, Ruby survived the insidious
attacks of her bitter sister,
and Flora betrays herself, her
people and loving family, truth,
and justice.
The Yearning For Zion Raid
It’s one thing to stand under
a high-wire and try to catch
those who might fall, and quite
another to climb the pole and
cut the wire.
If Flora’s purpose is to help
those who want to leave the
FLDS, and some indeed leave and
have the freedom to do so at
their own will, then why is it
that she seeks to enforce a
destructive control for which
she herself accuses them? But if
her purpose is to grandstand, to
lead the uninformed into
deception, and to foment unjust
actions so as to destroy
peaceful innocent lives, then it
is she who needs to be called
into question and disregarded.
• Quote: Flora is a
publicity-hungry
"fanatic" whose
"demands to have control
over someone else's children are
becoming eerily similar to the
dictatorial attitude of her
sworn nemesis, Warren Jeffs."
She is "misguided and
devious." (“The Phoenix
New Times”)
When the state of Texas and CPS
invaded the YFZ Ranch with
substantial militant force,
removing all of the innocent
children, they did so illegally.
This has been the ruling of both
a Texas Appellate Court and the
Texas Supreme Court. So what was
it that prompted Texas and CPS
to take this highly extreme and
costly action that has now blown
up in their faces?
In March of 2004, Flora traveled
to Eldorado, Texas, where she
met with local law enforcement
officials and held a press
conference. Here she found a
very receptive ear in Schleicher
County Sheriff David Doran.
“Flora has provided us with a
lot of information and I find
her to be very credible,” said
Doran. This relationship
continued over the next four
years, leading up to the YFZ
raid. In fact, after the raid
Doran confidently stated,
"I have had a good
informant who has given me good
information over the past four
years. This person has been
assisting us as we've gone
forward on this operation."
A court affidavit unsealed on
April 9, 2008, stated that
"on more than 20
occasions" Doran's
informant had provided him with
supposed details about life at
the ranch. He has also stated
that the informant was a former
member and was
"instrumental in teaching
me the group's ways."
Putting all the facts together,
it is quite obvious that Sheriff
Doran’s trusted informant was
none other than inflammatory
Flora Jessop. She is the only
former-FLDS person who had been
with him for four years. Later
he said that there was more than
one informant. Indeed,
subsequently there were other
anti-FLDS former members who
provided biased information, but
Flora was the first and
foremost.
Flora had stated prior to these
events, “One day [the FLDS]
will go to war with law
enforcement and the streets will
run red with the blood of the
enemy. We were taught that from
the time we could walk.” She
said the “compounds” aren't
like homes in that they are
fortified, built with thick
walls. “They are very much
armed. They have many, many
weapons," she warned, and
even went so far as to say that
Warren Jeffs is “David Koresh,
Jim Jones, and 9-11 all wrapped
up in one nice little package.
These guys are very
dangerous." How then would
this kind of information affect
Sheriff Doran?
It is now evident who is the
more dangerous—Flora. These
views of Doran’s trusted
informant explain why he called
in such a dramatic show of law
enforcement with extensive
firepower and militant might.
With SWAT-team methods they
crashed through doors and
entered into homes with machine
guns raised in an invasion so
large and with so much might
that it cost Texas $5.3 million
to carry out. But what kind of
resistance did they encounter?
Was it Flora’s forewarned
apocalyptic bloodbath? No, they
encountered nothing more than
shocked adults and scared crying
children. Where were all of
Flora’s promised weapons? Once
again we see why Flora Jessop
cannot be believed. Truth is as
elusive in her life as were the
purported weapons—they did not
exist whatsoever.
At the October 13, 2006,
Exmormon Foundation annual
conference, Flora related her
own purported personal
experience with these gun-slingin’
FLDS men. “The way these guys
work, they’re not gonna come
after me, although they do.
I’ve had many fun instances
where we’ve dealt with bullets
flying and things like that;
but, hmm, I just think they need
to get a better target to shoot
at.” Her account is
nauseating. This blatantly
outlandish statement reinforces
the reality of Flora’s rampant
fantasy for violence, and her
willingness to propagate it.
And this infection of
misinformation has not been
limited to Sheriff Doran. The
Utah Attorney General, Mark
Shurtleff, ranted in an
interview, “Here’s a man
[Warren Jeffs} who had a whole
army supporting him, who thumbed
his nose at the law for years,
who ran from us, who had people
surrounding him with guns,
threatening to go down with
him.” Really? And where have
we heard this before? And when
Jeffs was arrested, where were
all those guns as well? And who,
once again, was telling
Shurtleff this false
information? And as a state
official, why was he one of
these eager gullible listeners?
And remember those wildly false
accusations Flora made about the
baby graveyard? What then could
also have been expected during
the raid, compliments of this
same source? Reported in a press
conference on June 2, 2008, by
FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop,
“They brought in cadaver dogs
and raided all the flower
gardens to try to find babies
and carcasses. It’s how sick
their information has been.”
The source of that information
is clearly evident. Of course,
once again, they found no
babies.
In a letter of June 17, 2008, to
Utah officials, including Mark
Shurtleff, FLDS attorney Rod
Parker noted, “Moreover, as
investigations proceed, Texas
authorities are acknowledging
that in conducting this raid
they reacted to erroneous
intelligence.” He chided Utah
officials for repeatedly
providing Texas authorities
irresponsible information
“from unreliable sources,”
characterizing these as “hate
groups who wish to see the FLDS
destroyed.” As a remedy to
these false insular ideas that
have brought about so many
unjust and excessive actions,
Parker urged them, “It would
take very little investigation
on the part of your office to
realize that your sources are
unreliable.” Unreliable
indeed.
• Quote: “I have a
begrudging respect for
[Flora].… She does more harm
than good, is an unpredictable
bad source, and not credit
worthy.… She talks a good ball
game, but when you look at
her…. She rules over anybody
who gets in her way, including
me.” (Bob Curran, founder of
the anti-polygamist
organization, Help the Child
Brides, and who personally
worked with Flora)
So much more could be said about
this raid. As a much-touted
public figure, how is it that
Flora’s lies could have
incited Rosita Swinton, the
bogus caller who sparked the
raid? Rosita had made similar
calls prior to this, going back
to June, 2005, but never
relative to the FLDS. So where
did she get all of her
information? And what inspired
her to create stories in the
identical pattern of Flora’s
stories? Many questions arise
concerning this that beg to be
answered.
Furthermore, one must also ask
where the responsibility lies
with the media. What grave part
did they play in this drama as
well? Why were they also so
irresponsible in too eagerly and
repeatedly parading a
pathological witness before this
nation without validating her
authenticity?
When Sheriff Doran was asked
about his part in the raid on
YFZ, he replied: “I did not
bring this on them. The call
came in to assist Child
Protective Services. We always
assist. We pulled in the law
enforcement due to the size of
the operation. We pulled in the
law enforcement that was
necessary to carry out the
operation.”
Given the track record of CPS,
it is likely that this is true.
But given the source of
Doran’s information that he
was operating on—Flora—we
can see why he used so much
militant might, and why CPS’s
actions were so extreme. But one
has to also ask how much Doran,
with his errantly skewed
position, even influenced
CPS’s initiation of the raid?
Undoubtedly, in all realms,
Flora Jessop was the major
influence for this despicable,
erroneous, and illegal YFZ
invasion.
There is no question that Flora
stirred the pot and brought this
entire matter to the fevered
destructive lawless frenzy that
it became, including Rosita
Swinton’s part. As she has
done for most of her life, Flora
pressured, cajoled, and lied
until her fomenting stories
became perceived reality. And
one must ask in conclusion: If
what Flora has repeatedly
stated—that these girls are
indeed entrapped abused
prisoners who desperately want
out—then why was it that not a
single one of them fled to her
once they were separated from
there? Why was it that there was
not a single defection, but
rather a unanimous yearning to
return to Zion?
After hearing Flora’s tragic
story—and as you would
suspect, we have not nearly
addressed the host of all her
lies and inflammatory
actions—some might be inclined
to feel sorry for her and
dismiss her perpetually vile and
destructive behavior. This is
what the FLDS community did for
many years. But Martha’s reply
is a fitting answer to this, as
she has concluded: “I forgive
her, but her lies and deceit
should not be allowed to
continue on as fact.” For too
many years Flora has had free
reign to lie, and this has been
done to the unjust harm and
detriment of the innocent lives
of others, particularly of late.
That time has come to an end.
• Quote: Flora has been swept
up in “the TV interviews, the
fame, and the glory. … She
loves the attention. She's
craved it her whole life.…
Nobody wants anything to do with
Flora.” “Flora's been
getting away with these [false]
stories for a long time now, and
it’s time to shut her down.”
(Pennie Petersen, anti-polygamy
activist who grew up with Flora
in FLDS)
-----------
Gary Naler, author of “The
Curse of 1920: The Degradation
of Our Nation in the Last 100
Years,” can be reached at gary@thecurseof1920.com,
phone: 573-729-5439. For more
information, go to
www.thecurseof1920.com or
www.expertclick.com, search
Naler.
Gary
Naler (gary@thecurseof1920.com)
RTC Quest Publications
411 E. Franklin Street #1
Salem, MO 65560-1668
Phone : 573-729-5439
Flora Jessop: The Troubled
Woman Who Cost Texas $14
Million, and Hundreds of
Innocent People Their Peace and
Safety
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