Texas Polygamist Warren Jeffs Found Guilty of Sexual Assault

Texas prosecutors will be presenting evidence that a polygamist sect leader found guilty of sexually assaulting two young girls had 78 wives in addition to his legal spouse, according to reports.

The Associated Press reported that prosecutors at Warren Jeffs's sentencing said that 24 of them were below 17 years old.

Jeffs, who headed the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was convicted on Thursday for taking two young followers as brides in what his church calls "spiritual marriages."

Jeffs had previously fired his legal representation and acted as his own attorney.

He is facing up to life in prison.

Jeffs made headlines in 2008 when police raided a Texas compound that housed his reclusive sect, taking away more than 450 children after the ordeal. This was because there were allegations of systemic sexual and physical abuse going on the compound near Eldorado, according to the Agence France-Presse.

The court later ordered the children back to their parents after ruling that child welfare officials had overstepped their authority.

Jeffs, 55, was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list in May 2006 for charges of accomplice to rape in Utah, and was caught outside of Las Vegas in August 2006, according to AFP.

"It's a unique case with regard to the crimes involved at the YFZ Ranch," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott told AFP. "The veil has been pulled back on the sexual assault of so many kids."

Jeffs was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2006, and fathering a child with a 15-year-old girl he allegedly sexually assaulted in 2005, according to the news agency, which reported that Jeffs showed no reaction when the verdict was read, and had said nothing but, "I am at peace" after about 25 minutes of silence in his closing argument.