Salt Lake City: A polygamous church in Utah led by Warren Jeffs before he was jailed in 2007 has named a new president who is facing bigamy charges.
Wendell Loy Nielsen, 69, was named president in documents filed with the Utah Department of Commerce. He has long been a senior leader in the hierarchy of the southern Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
He previously served as a counsellor to Jeffs and his father, Rulon Jeffs, who led the church until his death in 2002.
Nielsen "has been running the day-to-day affairs of the church for some time," church spokesman Willie Jessop said.
"He has the trust of the people."
A successful businessman, Nielsen lives at the faith's Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas.
He faces three counts of bigamy for having allegedly married three adult women in 2005. Handwritten family records seized by police during the raid showed Nielsen may have as
many as 21 wives.
In 2008 he was one of 12 men indicted by Texas authorities on criminal charges that followed a raid on the ranch after an allegation that a teen bride had been
physically and sexually abused.
Nielsen was named president of the church in papers recorded last month. Warren Jeffs officially resigned as president of the church in late 2007.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 16, 2010, 13:09