05 August,2011 11:35 AM IST | | ANI
Polygamist sect leader and Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints head Warren Jeffs has been convicted of child assault charges in Texas
He was found guilty of coercing two teenage girls into a 'spiritual marriage'. Jeff also became a father to a child of a 15 year- old girl.
However he did not react when the verdict was read out, the BBC News (US and Canada) reports. He faces possible life imprisonment for his crime.
The verdict was pronounced after a raid was conducted at a West Texas ranch in 2008, where police had found women dressed in frontier-style dresses and pregnant underage girls.
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A forensic analyst testified Jeffs, 55, had an almost certain DNA match to the child of a 15-year-old mother.
Prosecutors also played audio recordings in which Jeffs was heard instructing young women on how to please him sexually.
Jeffs defended himself saying he was a victim of religious persecution.
Authorities brought charges against several of Jeff's group members.
The 10,000-member sect, which dominates Colorado City in Arizona, and Hildale in Utah, split from the mainstream Mormon church over a century ago.
