Hidden recorders, coded letters and an army of brides

By Associated Press   

 – Jeffs lead the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which broke away from the main church when it banned polygamy in 1890

 – He was jailed in 2011 for sexually assaulting two child ‘brides’, 12 and 15

 – Now his brides and followers try to sneak his commands out of prison

 – Prison guards must look out for secret microphones and codes

Earlier this year, a wife of former polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs tried to visit him at a Texas state prison with a tiny microphone implanted in her hollowed-out watch.

Another time recently, a woman planning to visit the convicted sex offender was denied entry after a metal detector found something buried in her hair and she refused to show it to a corrections officer.

Such is game of hide-and-seek authorities play with the self-styled prophet of the breakaway Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, who is serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting his 12- and 15-year-old child brides at a church compound in West Texas.

Prison officials said it was the second time recently that Jeffs’ wives – of whom some church members say he has as many as 70 – were caught trying the microphone-in-the-watch ploy.

Those and other details emerged in Phoenix earlier this month at a trial involving Arizona and Utah church followers that offered a rare glimpse into how Jeffs still tries to exert control from behind bars.