Sect leader refuses to aid custody case

HURRICANE, Utah -- A polygamous sect leader has refused to divulge the location of an ex-follower's wife and child, an attorney said.

Warren Jeffs was interviewed by attorneys for Wendell Musser in the Washington County jail Friday, but provided no substantive information, attorney Roger Hoole said.

"He pulled out a piece of paper and read: 'I'm not going to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me,' " Hoole said. "He apparently concludes that his actions are criminal, although this is a civil case."

Musser served as a caretaker to Jeffs' many wives in a string of Colorado houses while the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints was on the run from police in 2006.

Musser said he was kicked out of the church after a drunken-driving arrest a year ago and cut off from his wife, Vivian Barlow Musser, and son, Levi, who turns 2 on Monday.

Musser, 22, sued Jeffs in May, seeking information about his family. Musser claims the separation was ordered by Jeffs, who is said to rule his flock with an iron fist, even from jail.

Musser had a brief reunion in late May, but his wife rejected him, refused to say where she was living and wouldn't allow him to hold Levi.

Fifth District Court Judge James Shumate ordered Jeffs to provide information by July 25 or face a deposition by Musser's attorneys.

The interview lasted about an hour, Hoole said. Jeffs was represented by his Las Vegas-based criminal attorney Richard Wright, who did not return a call seeking comment.

When asked whether he would meet with Musser alone to discuss the issue, Jeffs again read the prepared statement, Hoole said.

Shumate's order also gives Hoole the ability to attach a daily fine of $600 to Jeff's commissary account. Hoole said he hadn't decided how to proceed.

"I'm not a bit done," he said from the parking lot outside the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane.

"We are going to move forward and reunite Wendell and his son," he said.

Jeffs, 51, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of rape as an accomplice for the 2001 religious marriage of a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.