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Audio recordings of two April hearings concerning the children of Lyle Jeffs show that his estranged wife was worried her children would be shipped off and hidden.

Jeffs is the man said to be running the day-to-day operations of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. His first wife, Charlene Jeffs, has filed for divorce and sought custody of their youngest two children.

Fifth District Juvenile Court in St. George released audio recordings of two hearings concerning Charlene Jeffs' custody petition. In the first hearing, on April 20, Charlene Jeffs' attorney told Judge Michael Leavitt that large trucks have been seen leaving Lyle Jeffs' compound in Hildale.

"The children, we believe, are in the process of being moved from the community," the woman's attorney, Roger Hoole, told Leavitt.

Hoole asked Leavitt to deem that Lyle Jeffs had been served with the custody petition so that the court case could proceed. Normally, someone is served court paperwork by a process server, sheriff's deputy or registered mail, but Lyle Jeffs is reclusive and no one was able to find him. Hoole and Charlene Jeffs instead taped the paperwork onto the doors of the compound and told people they saw there — including FLDS security and Hildale's police force — about the paperwork.

Leavitt agreed with Hoole that Lyle Jeffs had been sufficiently served. He then set another hearing for April 29.

In the intervening nine days, Hoole and Lyle Jeffs reached an agreement.

Charlene Jeffs received shared custody of the children, a 17-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, with the kids primarily residing with her. They will see their father every other weekend and for a stretch during the summer.

Other terms include:

» Lyle Jeffs must provide $1,000 a month in child support. It declines to $600 when the boy turns 18.

» Lyle Jeffs is responsible for paying for the children's health care and education.

» He must provide a vehicle and expenses for the boy to drive him and his sister back and forth between the parents' homes.

» Lyle Jeffs must pay his wife two-thirds of her housing costs, not to exceed $2,000 a month.

But below Lyle Jeffs' signature on the agreement, he wrote: "RESPONDENT SIGNS UNDER PROTEST OF MOTHER BEING CUSTODIAL PARENT."

At the April 29 hearing, the Leavitt asked what the father meant by that. Lyle Jeffs did not attend the hearing, but Charlene Jeffs attempted to answer the judge's question.

Charlene Jeffs said she and her husband worked out the custody agreement, she agreed to all his requirements — including paying living costs rather than alimony — except for one. She wanted to be the custodial parent.

"The only thing that he wanted that I would not do was the custodial part, and that's the part he was protesting," Charlene Jeffs explained to Leavitt.

Leavitt was satisfied with the agreement, but had some questions about how the children would be taken to their mother later that day. Hoole, who has represented dozens of other former FLDS members, said such transfers are usually done in a park in Hildale or adjacent Colordo City, Ariz. In this case, the meeting would be in Maxwell Park because it's on the Utah side.

But there was discussion with the judge about who from law enforcement would attend the transfer and whether a guardian ad litem would be there. Charlene Jeffs told Leavitt the transfer of the children had to go exactly as she agreed it would be with her husband, that he is not one to accept last-minute changes or surprises. "I've seen him just stop everything and turn the opposite way if it's not exactly the way he talked about," Charlene Jeff said in court.

Later that day, with some Washington County Sheriff's deputies present, the Maxwell Park meeting happened and the teens went with their mother.

The hearings before Leavitt only addressed child custody. Charlene and Lyle Jeffs' divorce case is pending.

Twitter: @natecarlisle