This is a rush transcript from “Hannity,” May 21, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: It has been two years since fundamentalist polygamist leader Warren Jeffs headed to jail for marrying off a minor to her own cousin. But his acts of terror are still being brought to light by the people who trusted him the most.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY (voice-over): These were the images the world saw of an insulated community rocked by horrific abuse at the hands of a man who calls himself a prophet.
In 2007, Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was sentenced to two terms of five years to life after being convicted of forcing a child into marriage. It was that sentencing that would mark the close of one man’s bitter battle against his own uncle and the church that he once belonged to.
In his new book, “Lost Boy,” Brent Jeffs opens up about his life in the FLDS community and how he helped bring down his uncle, Warren Jeffs.
Brent grew up in a polygamist family with three mothers and over 20 brothers and sisters. He recounts hours of brain-washing church services, the strict rules on what you could wear, and how you could and could not act. He reveals that they would even receive death threats that God would strike them down if anyone didn’t follow the prophet’s decrease.
But although the crimes against young girls and women were exposed after his conviction, the history of the FLDS, quote, “lost boys” stayed underground. In the book, Brent Jeffs opens up about his molestation, starting at the age of 5, at the hands of his own uncle, a ritual that he would later come to finds out was performed on many boys in the church.
Confusion and rage followed Brent through much of his adolescent years. At the age of 14 he found himself kicked out of the church and out on the street, just like hundreds of other boys. Warren Jeffs would routinely push out the teenage boys, so he would have access to all the young brides that he wanted.
But in 2006, Brent Jeffs fought back, filing a lawsuit against Warren that would drive the FLDS leader into hiding and land him on “America’s Most Wanted.”
And although Jeffs is behind bars, Brent is fighting to help other lost boys come to terms with the abuses that they suffered at the hands of a man who is closer to a demon than an angel of God.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: And joining me now is the author of “Lost Boy,” Brent Jeffs.
Brent, thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.
BRENT JEFFS, AUTHOR, “LOST BOY”: Thank you very much.
HANNITY: Your story makes me want to cry. No child should have to go through this. But you had three — your father was married to three women.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: You had 20 brothers and sisters.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: You were raped as a young child.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: Repeatedly.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: Tell us how this all came to be, what you remember, when you remembered it.
JEFFS: Well, for me, growing up in the church was all I knew. Being surrounded in a community in a huge — big concrete wall all the way around me, hardly ever seeing the outside world, you know, wondering kind of what’s out there. I’ve always had a bit of a wonder, you know, what’s going on out there. Kind of going to the grocery store every once in a while with my mom.
But for me it really all started happening when I was a little boy and Warren raped me.
HANNITY: He raped you personally, and it happened a number of times.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: And then when the boys got older you told a story, quote, “disobedient.” He would literally exile them.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: And mothers would be forced to drive their own children out of town and leave them.
JEFFS: Leave them to fend for themselves.
HANNITY: In their teenage years.
JEFFS: In their teenage years. These poor boys had no one to turn to. They got driven out to the edge of town. And the only people they had to turn to were their friends that had been kicked out previously.
HANNITY: When you had — you had a brother, Clayne — who was using drugs, like another brother of yours, killed himself.
JEFFS: Yes.
HANNITY: Do you think it’s a result of this?
JEFFS: Absolutely. Clayne was raped so bad by Warren, so brutally, that it haunted him for his whole life. I — we had no idea why he had such drug abuse and why it was so there for him and why it controlled him. When he told me what happened to him, my heart broke in half.
HANNITY: And now — and Warren Jeffs — how many people did he do this to? How many young — young children did he rape?
JEFFS: You know, for me and my brothers and my family, me and my brothers, it’s got to be hundreds of these kids. He was a principal of the school. He had access to anybody in the school.
HANNITY: What — when you went to the trial, you were telling me something before we came on air, that the people that were still following him, it’s like they’re numb; they’re brainwashed; they’re hypnotized. Is that a fair description?
JEFFS: They are more than brainwashed. It’s a step beyond that, and I can’t even explain to you what that is, because when I was down in Texas when that raid happened, I looked at these boys that I went to school with. There was nothing in their eyes. There was no soul left. Everything they represented was dark.
HANNITY: And you knew this was happening to them, too?
JEFFS: Absolutely. And they are so brainwashed, they believe anything.
HANNITY: But we kept hearing that they would marry these young girls at these young ages, but we never heard that they were going after young boys, too.
JEFFS: Yes, absolutely.
HANNITY: And is that why they would kick them out?
JEFFS: Yes. That was one of the reasons why, and also, these older men in the church who had the power saw these young boys upcoming in the church and knew that these young boys would be married off to these young women. They wanted these young women.
HANNITY: Wow. It’s — it’s — you wonder how it can happen in America. And you just think how can this evil be perpetrated on such a large scale?
JEFFS: It’s absolutely crazy.
HANNITY: But in many ways, in spite of all that trauma you survived, and now you — in many ways you helped put this — this animal behind bars where he belongs.
JEFFS: Yes, absolutely.
HANNITY: I bet — I hope you’re proud of that.
JEFFS: I am extremely proud. I am so thankful to everyone who has supported me in this and who’s been by my side. My family has stood behind me this whole way.
HANNITY: Well, thank you for being with us, and I’m glad you’re doing OK. And hang in there.
JEFFS: Thank you.
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