The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous offshoot of mainstream Mormonism centered in the Short Creek community, whose former leader Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence for child sexual assault.
The FLDS traces back to Mormon fundamentalists who continued practicing polygamy after the mainstream LDS Church officially renounced it in 1890. The group centers on the twin border towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah — together known as Short Creek — and historically operated with near-total control over members’ lives, marriages, and finances under a single “prophet.”
Warren Jeffs became FLDS leader in 2002 and was convicted in 2011 of sexually assaulting underage girls he considered “spiritual wives,” receiving a life sentence plus 20 years. He continues to lead the church from prison through intermediaries, and the community remains active, though it has lost significant control over Short Creek’s civic institutions in recent years.