Texas sect man guilty of sexual assault of minor

(AP Photo/Harry Cabluck)

Raymond Jessop, left, the first man to face criminal charges following the raid of a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch in April, 2008, is seen outside the courtroom during a recess in his trial in Eldorado, Texas on Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. He could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison if convicted of sexual assault of a child, a charge stemming from his alleged marriage to an underage girl. His father, Merril Jessop, is in the background.

ELDORADO, Texas— After being duped by false leads and chastised by a court for its handling of polygamist sect children, the state of Texas has won a criminal conviction in its first trial of a sect member charged with sexually assaulted an underage girl.

Raymond Jessop, 38, was convicted late Thursday for having sex with the teen with whom he had a so-called spiritual marriage. He faces up to 20 years in prison when the jury reconvenes Monday to begin deciding his sentence.

Early on, the weeklong raid of the Yearning For Zion Ranch was hounded by missteps. After scouring the ranch for days in April 2008 in search of a caller who claimed to be an abused girl, law enforcement acknowledged "Sarah Barlow" didn't exist.

Several weeks after Texas child welfare officials put all 439 sect children in foster care in one of the largest child custody cases in U.S. history, an appellate court ruled that Texas authorities had overstepped, and the children went back to their parents.

But authorities still seized documents from homes and concrete vaults in the towering limestone temple and annex building at the ranch _ documents that would help convict Jessop and indict 11 other members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Jurors deliberated for little more than two hours before convicting Jessop, who did not visibly react as the verdict was read. Free on bond during trial, he was immediately handcuffed and led to jail.

Lawyers in the case declined to comment on the verdict Thursday.

Jessop allegedly has nine wives. He also faces a bigamy charge, but that case is to be tried later. The girl in the assault case, now 21, was previously in a spiritual marriage with Jessop's brother before being "reassigned" to Jessop when she was 15, according to documents seized at the ranch. She became pregnant at age 16.

Generally, under Texas law, no one under 17 can consent to sex with an adult.

"Any act of sexual assault is a horrendous crime, but an act of a sexual assault of a child is of such an extreme nature we don't even consider whether the victim was able _ much less did _ consent," Assistant Attorney General Eric Nichols said during closing arguments as he stood before photos of the young mother and toddler in prairie dresses.