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| SAST Photo by Yfat Yossifor |
By Rosanna Fraire, Reporter
• San Angelo Standard Times
SAN ANGELO, TEXAS - Eldorado and San Angelo are featured in a new Netflix true crime series about polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs and the FLDS church. It was trending at No. 6 on the streaming site on Monday, June 20.
The series "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey," explores the world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which built a community of as many as 700 people on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Schleicher County outside the small town of Eldorado.
When the ranch was raided by law enforcement in April 2008 after a call alleging underage girls were being forced into marriage, it sparked the biggest child custody case in US history.
San Angelo found itself in the national spotlight with FLDS families housed in the city — more than 400 children were involved — while trials were held at the Tom Green County Court House.
The FLDS initially built a community in Short Creek — made up of the twin towns of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona — but increased scrutiny from media, law enforcement and residents of the towns prompted them to purchase land outside Eldorado in 2003.
Warren Jeffs had taken over as the "Prophet" or "President" of the FLDS after his father Rulon Jeffs died in 2002.
Warren Jeffs was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List in 2006 for his flight from the charges that he arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls in Utah.
He also faced numerous charges in Arizona, including sexual conduct with minors.
He was ultimately extradited in 2011 to San Angelo, where he was found guilty of sexual assault of a minor and aggravated sexual assault against a child for the girls he married at the ages of 12 and 15.
Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years.
In April 2014, the State of Texas took physical and legal possession of the YFZ Ranch.
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