Warren Jeffs, the polygamist Mormon leader jailed in 2011, was accused in a Wednesday broadcast of sexual abusing at least two of his 60 sons and daughters when they were children.
"I thought, I'm not the only one molested, he's done it to her it must be something that was in his nature," Becky Jeffs
told CNN after describing how her sister confided in her that she'd been abused too. "Where does it end? If he had this in him, how can I trust him? How is he really our prophet?"
"One of my earliest memories is of him sexually abusing me," Roy Jeffs told interviewer Lisa Ling. "I was about 4 or 5 years old. I remember him telling me, 'You should never do this.' Then he did it to me."
Becky and Roy Jeffs told CNN that they had both recently left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, and that there are two others who've also left.
Asked how many children they'd guess their father abused, Becky responded, "I don’t know. Sometimes I think ten? Twenty? I hope it’s not more than that."
Jeffs, currently serving a life sentence plus 20 years for the sexual assaults of a 12-year-old and 15-year-old girl, is estimated to have roughly 78 wives and 60 children.
Although he's locked up, Jeffs is said to still be in control of the 10,000-member FLDS church, which is situated in the twin cities of Colorado City, Utah, and Hildale, Arizona. The area suffered during flash floods this month.
The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy over 100 years ago, however some breakaway sects like FLDS continue the practice.
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