Jessop receives 10 years in prison, $10,000 fine for Marrying 12 yr old to 50 yr old Jeffs
The former bishop of a polygamy-sanctioning sect received the maximum sentence of 10 years and a $10,000 fine late Tuesday afternoon for conducting a marriage ceremony between a 12-year-old girl and the then-50-year-old sect leader, Warren Jeffs.
Coke County jurors took just under an hour to deliberate on the sentence of Fredrick Merril Jessop, 75 and the former bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, having found him guilty of the third-degree felony on Monday.
“What do we do with a man who has put out in harm’s way so many people, who worked as some twisted Pez dispenser popping off daughters for the prophet?” lead Prosecutor Angela Goodwin said in her closing arguments.