KINGMAN, Ariz. — Warren Jeffs, the polygamist leader captured this week after four months on the FBI's Most Wanted list, will face charges of arranging the marriages of underage girls first in Utah and then in Arizona, federal and state officials agreed Wednesday morning.

The decision on venue is an effort by prosecutors to prevent Jeffs, set to make his first court appearance here Thursday morning, from posting bail and returning to the life of a fugitive, authorities said.

The charges awaiting Jeffs in Washington County, Utah, two counts of rape as an accomplice, carry significantly more prison time than the statutory rape and conspiracy charges he faces in Mohave County, Ariz.

"We have more serious charges here in Washington County and flowing from that is an opportunity to have a higher bail amount and make it less likely he would get bail," said Brock Belnap, the county attorney in St. George.

The sentence for rape in Utah is five years to life. In Arizona, the statutory rape and conspiracy charges each carry a maximum of two years and a minimum of probation.

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When he was arrested following a routine traffic stop Tuesday, Jeffs, 50, was carrying stacks of $100 bills, and authorities said they believed he had easy access to large sums of money collected from followers.

"With his resources, no matter what the bond is, I think he could make it," said Matt Smith, Mohave County attorney, noting that Jeffs' current bail on the Arizona charges was $700,000. Under Arizona law, only defendants accused of very serious crimes such as murder could be held without bail.

A Utah judge fixed bail at $500,000 shortly after Jeffs' April indictment, but Belnap said he would be asking for a steep increase when Jeffs is brought to St. George.

The decision to bring Jeffs to Utah first does not necessarily mean that he will go to trial there first, Belnap and Smith said. Both prosecutors said the cases could move forward separately with Jeffs being moved back and forth between the jurisdictions for hearings.

Because of the concerns about bail, federal prosecutors in Arizona said they would not drop charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, as is often done after the capture of a fugitive from state charges.

Ann Harwood, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney in Phoenix, said the charges would remain pending so federal authorities could hold Jeffs if a state court released him.

"He's obviously a flight risk, and we want to have a mechanism in place to keep him in custody if by chance a judge sets the bond low enough for him to make bail," she said.

At the hearing Thursday morning, Judge James Bixler of the Las Vegas Township Justice Court will inform Jeffs of the charges in both states. It was unclear Wednesday whether Jeffs plans to waive or fight extradition. A spokesman for the court said no attorney had filed papers to represent Jeffs at the hearing. Fugitives in Nevada are not entitled to a public defender at extradition hearings.

Jeffs is the Prophet or spiritual leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a sect that broke away from the mainstream Mormon church in the 1890s when it abandoned polygamy.

Most of the church's estimated 10,000 members live in the twin border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah.

The Utah rape charges concern a teenage girl whom Jeffs allegedly compelled to marry an older man. According to an affidavit filed by an investigator, the man forced the girl to have sex. When she complained to Jeffs, he prohibited her from leaving the marriage, saying, "If you do, you'll lose your salvation."

The Arizona charges concern two other women allegedly married by Jeffs as minors to older men. One of those cases, however, seems to be in jeopardy after the alleged victim refused to testify Tuesday at the statutory rape trial of the man she married as a 16-year-old. A judge found Candi Shapley, 20, in contempt and ordered her held in a domestic violence shelter until she agrees to testify.

Shapley's account is the basis for two of the four counts against Warren Jeffs. Smith, the prosecutor, acknowledged that if she continues refusing to testify, part of his case is threatened.

"It affects it greatly," he said, adding, however, that the counts based on the other woman's statements are still viable.