Eldorado, Texas » Scrutiny of a controversial polygamous sect will turn to this small West Texas town Monday as the first criminal trial arising from an investigation at its ranch begins.

Raymond Merril Jessop faces one count of sexual assault, a second-degree felony, for allegedly having sex with a minor in November 2004. Months earlier, Texas authorities say, the 16-year-old became his plural wife during a ceremony conducted at the Yearning For Zion Ranch. If convicted, Jessop faces up to 20 years in prison.

Jessop, 38, is one of 12 men indicted last year by a Schleicher County grand jury on charges related to underage marriage. He also faces a bigamy charge, but that is not part of this trial, which is expected to last two weeks.

The indictments followed an investigation in April 2008 at the YFZ Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Authorities now acknowledge the call that triggered the investigation was a hoax.

Officials took custody of 439 children and kept them in state custody for two months before a Texas Supreme Court ordered they be returned to their parents.

Investigators also carted off hundreds of documents and photographs, some already used as evidence in child custody proceedings.

Tom Green County Judge Barbara Walther, who is presiding over the case, earlier this month denied a defense motion that sought to bar use of that evidence in the criminal trials.

Eric Nichols and Angela S. Goodwin of the Texas Attorney General's Office are prosecuting the case. Jessop is represented by defense attorney Mark Stevens of San Antonio.

Jessop, who has worked in construction and trucking, is the son of Merril Jessop, who oversees the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas.

Prosecutors provided an outline of their case against Jessop last month in a court document that identified "extraneous" information they plan to use either during the trial or at sentencing.

According to that document, Jessop has at least nine wives; he allegedly spiritually married six of them at the sect's Texas ranch.

The state says three of Jessop's wives are daughters of sect leader Warren S. Jeffs, including one who was 15 at the time of their alleged marriage; two are Jeffs' sisters. Jessop has at least 12 biological children and 10 stepchildren.

The state, citing comments made by Jeffs in private dictations, says that Jessop placed his teenage wife in danger in 2005 by not seeking medical help when she labored for three days before giving birth to her first child at the ranch. The document recounts Jeffs saying that going to a hospital was not an option because of the girl's age and "the associated governmental pressures against the Prophet."

The state filing also alleges Jessop helped harbor Jeffs while he was a fugitive and gave a "coercive correction" to one of the sect leader's spiritual wives when she was 13. Jeffs is serving two five-to-life sentences in Utah after being convicted in 2007 of accomplice to rape, based on a marriage he conducted in 2001.

Jessop, the state says, also engaged in money laundering to hide the source of funds used to pay for work at the YFZ Ranch and listed several wives as executives in a company he co-owned to gain business contracts based on gender.

Stevens, Jessop's attorney, filed an objection to use of that material in the trial, arguing it is irrelevant and that the state cannot "prove by competent evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Jessop did any of these things."

Prosecutors have listed 62 people they may call as witnesses during the trial or, if Jessop is convicted, at sentencing. Those witnesses include law officers and caseworkers who participated in the ranch investigation, DNA forensic analysts with the University of North Texas' Center for Human Identification, several of Jessop's wives and former FLDS members Carolyn Jessop and Rebecca Musser.

brooke@sltrib.com