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Uncertain future for US polygamy sect

Warren Jeffs has led the breakaway Mormon sect for four years
The arrest of US religious leader Warren Jeffs over alleged sex offences has brought his reclusive polygamous sect back into the public eye.
The 50-year-old head of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), was caught near Las Vegas after spending at least two years on the run.

He went into hiding after being charged in Arizona with sexual misconduct for allegedly arranging marriages between minors and older men. He is also wanted in Utah on charges of being an accomplice to rape.

Although placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List three months ago, Mr Jeffs was eventually found as the result of a routine check by traffic police in Nevada.

His arrest means the breakaway Mormon sect, which has an estimated 10,000 members, must face the prospect of having its way of life examined in court.

The FLDS split from the Mormon Church more than a century ago after the latter renounced polygamy.

The isolated sect now dominates the towns of Colorado City, in Arizona, and Hildale, in Utah, less than a mile away. A compound in Eldorado, Texas, is also home to a growing community.

Members believe a man must marry at least three wives in order to ascend to heaven.

Boys expelled

Mr Jeffs - who became leader, or prophet, four years ago on the death of his 98-year-old father, Rulon - is reputed to have between 40 and 70 wives and nearly 60 children.



The charges he faces revolve around claims he arranged marriages between older men and under-age girls.

Two years ago, five boys also launched legal action claiming they had been unfairly expelled from the community so elder members of the sect would have less competition for wives.

The authorities believe as many as 1,000 teenage boys have been forcibly separated from their families, faith and community chiefly on those grounds.

Life in the compounds is said to be closely controlled, with women obliged to wear 19th Century-style dresses and braided hair and the church deciding which wives to give or take away from the men.

While polygamy is illegal in the US, the authorities have reportedly been reluctant to confront the FLDS for fear of sparking a situation similar to the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, which led to the deaths of about 80 members.

'Dangerous' prophet

Arizona's attorney-general Terry Goddard said the capture of Mr Jeffs - who had a $100,000 (£52,600) bounty on his head - had been down to "good luck and good policing".


Warren Jeffs was placed on the FBI's most wanted list in May

The charismatic former teacher was "dangerous for a number of reasons", he told the BBC's World Today programme.

"He has been the leader of a large polygamist sect which has many, many allegations that young women, in particular, have been taken into plural marriages without their consent and way below the legal age," Mr Goddard said.

Officers who searched the Cadillac Escalade in which Mr Jeffs was travelling with a brother and one of his wives seized at least $54,000 (£28,400) in cash, 15 mobile phones, laptops, radios and three wigs.

Close ranks

Speculation has now begun about what may happen to the community should Mr Jeffs be found guilty and jailed.

Mr Goddard told a Phoenix radio station that the arrest marked "the beginning of the end of... the tyrannical rule of a small group of people over the practically 10,000 members of the FDLS sect".


Sect members may remain loyal to their leader even if he is jailed

Other observers suggest that, at the least, members may splinter into smaller groups, thus weakening the sect's influence over their thinking.

However, some who have had close dealings with the group predict that putting Mr Jeffs on trial could make him a martyr in the eyes of supporters.

Rod Parker, a lawyer who previously worked for the FLDS, told the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper that sect members would not "change prophets" just because he was in jail.

And former FLDS member Ross Chatwin told the paper he believed Mr Jeffs was likely to remain in control with the help of compound leaders in Nevada and Texas.

Observers note that there has been little sign of Mr Jeffs' grip on the sect waning during more than two years on the run.

An FBI agent's report that Mr Jeffs had complained of being the victim "of what he termed religious persecution" suggests the sect may simply see the arrest as yet another attack on its faith and close ranks.


http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5297990.stm
 
Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2006
Who Will be the Next Polygamist Prophet?
Fugitive leader Warren Jeffs is arrested, but that doesn't necessarily mean the end of his sect

By PETA OWENS-LISTON

During his 14 months in hiding from the FBI, Warren Jeffs managed to continue controlling and directing his followers — members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who number an estimated 10,000, most based in the border towns of Hildale, UT and Colorado City, AZ. Although wanted for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution charges of forcing underage marriages, he conducted even more underage unions, exiled men from their homes and families who were considered "unworthy," and ordered followers not to pay their taxes. Some fear that his arrest could now create a power vacuum within his sect and attract other Jeffs-minded leaders interested in doing it their own way. There is also the possibility of an exiled member returning to establish new leadership.

Carolyn Jessop, a former member of Jeffs' sect, points out that there are two high-powered, charismatic men who could possibly move back to Colorado City and take Jeffs place: one is her ex-husband, Merrell Jessop, who oversees the sect's compound in Texas; the other is Wendell Neilson, who likely oversees another compound. But she considers this unlikely. "I don't think Warren would give away any of his power — he's too controlling and hungry for it and these men would be threats to his leadership. Plus they would never go against Jeffs' wishes." Jessop predicts that Jeffs will rely on his full-brother, Lyle Jeffs, to act as his puppet and carry out his "revelations" from prison. "He has had it too good for too long to let this thing go — he would rather watch the whole church dissipate than let someone else take over power," says Jessop.

Rod Parker, an attorney who has represented the sect's members including Jeffs, believes that Jeffs will maintain his leadership status. "The whole premise of their beliefs is that Jeffs has been chosen by God to be their leader and the fact that he is in custody doesn't change that — he is still going to be viewed as their prophet." Although, logistically carrying out his role may mean relying on a hierarchy of power. "Being a fugitive never stopped him from running the church, so why would it now?" asks Parker.

Historically, when Mormon leaders have been jailed or hidden as has happened twice in the past, it has unified members and enhanced the stature of the leaders. The view is that a leader who remains firm and resolute in his beliefs despite serious consequences to himself is a leader to look up to.

But Jeff's trial could also provide positive change for many of his followers. "The authorities have been extremely secretive about what they have on [Jeffs]," says Jessop, "and when it goes to court, a lot of crimes and illegal activity are going to go public and make people realize that these fundamentalist communities need to be handled." (Jeffs' lawyer could not be reached for comment.)

The sect follows the original fundamental teachings of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, which include the practice of polygamy. The Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left polygamy behind in 1890 and now excommunicates members who practice it.

While on the run from the law for more than a year, Jeffs told his followers that authorities would never capture him, because God was protecting him. Members of the church believed him; after all, he was their prophet — the "speaker of God's will." But on Monday night, Jeffs' faith bumped into the law, when a Las Vegas trooper pulled over a burgundy Escalade on a routine traffic stop. Sitting in the back was Jeffs, who has been on the FBI's Most Wanted List since May with a $100,000 reward for any tips leading to his capture. One of his estimated 40 wives, Naomi Jeffs, and his brother Isaac Steed Jeffs were with him as well as a number of on-the-run travel essentials, including: several wigs, $67,500 in cash, 14 cell phones, a radar detector, two GPS systems, seven sets of keys, a photograph of Jeffs and his father, and a Bible and a Book of Mormon.

In Utah, Jeffs faces two felony counts of rape as an accomplice, for allegedly arranging the marriage of a teenage girl to an older man. In Arizona he faces multiple counts of sexual conduct with a minor and multiple counts of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. Jeffs is being held in federal custody in a Las Vegas county jail pending a court hearing on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. It is not yet clear whether Jeffs will face extradition to Arizona or Utah. "Everyone will get their turn with Jeffs," said Tim Fuhrman, Special Agent in charge of the FBI field Office. Charges against Jeffs in Utah are most likely to carry the longest sentence.

Like most Westerns, a shoot out or some form of violence was expected in Jeffs' capture. The FBI had warned that Jeffs typically travels with armed bodyguards and some of his followers had vowed to die or kill for him. Nobody wanted another Waco. Catching Jeffs on the road, where he would have little protection outside his bodyguards, was the most favored approach. Since he is the only one allowed to perform marriages and is responsible for assigning wives to husbands, traveling was likely. It is unknown where Jeffs spent his time while hiding out, but he has ties to Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, British Columbia and Quintana Roo, Mexico. "He never had to appear in public, he had people who did that for him," points out Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.

The peaceful conclusion to Jeffs' capture has left Shurtleff hopeful. "This should send a message that nobody is above the law and hopefully it will encourage some [victims] to come forward." Shurleff anticipates changes in the group's community, especially in the twin cities of Hildale, UT and Colorado City, AZ, where the sect is based. "Their feelings about him, their fear of him, their loyalty to him — we're hoping will start to crumble."

"This is a very historical move on the FBI's part," says former polygamist Rowenna Erickson, who hails from the Kingston polygamy group, which is unrelated to Jeffs' and has its own lawsuits related to abuse. "There are a lot of groups that need to be addressed and this will ripple out and have a negative impact on those polygamy groups."

Born premature, Jeffs was favored by his father, former sect leader, Rulon Jeffs; with some 60 siblings, being singled out was a rare treat. "He was considered the golden boy and never had to work a day in his life," says investigator Sam Brower who has been working on polygamy civil cases for the past three years. Jeffs was known to be the primary gatekeeper for access to the prophet, his father, when he was alive but ailing in health. "I'm convinced he's also a sociopathic narcissist who is extremely cunning," says Brower. It is estimated, that Jeffs now has 80 wives, some 250 children and millions of dollars at his disposal.

"Money, sex, and power is what fundamentalist polygamy is about and that is what Warren Jeffs represents," says John Llewelln, who points out that Jeffs is the leader of the largest and most secretive of the fundamentalist polygamy groups. Llewelln has authored four books on polygamy and is a former polygamist himself; he also worked as Salt Lake County's deputy sheriff, specializing in sex crimes investigations. "From the fundamentalist Mormon polygamist point of view, Jeffs is the quintessential Mormon polygamist because he does not hold himself accountable to any government or societal rules — only his religion. His followers view him as having done nothing wrong except to live his religion and do what a prophet does."

http://www.time.com/time/nation/printou ... 20,00.html
 
Reluctant child bride was warned she'd lose 'salvation'
By Ann O'Neill
CNN

(CNN) -- Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs warned a teenage girl forced into a "spiritual marriage" to submit to sex with her husband or face "losing your salvation," Utah authorities claimed in an affidavit.

The five-page document was filed in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday in support of two charges that Jeffs' practice of arranging marriages between young girls and older men makes him an accomplice to rape.

Jeffs, who is believed by his followers to be a prophet, appeared in a Las Vegas courtroom and agreed to return to Utah to face the charges. Conviction carries a penalty of five years to life in prison.(Watch the "prophet" answer to the judge -- 2:33)

Authorities in Arizona also have two counts of sexual conduct with a minor along with an additional charge of conspiracy pending against the charismatic 50-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Utah case will be prosecuted first because it carries the harshest sentence. His maximum penalty in Arizona upon conviction would be six years in prison.

The girl, who was between 14 and 18, is identified in the document as Jane Doe. She was assigned a husband after a church leader had a "revelation," but told Jeffs she felt she was too young to marry, the affidavit states. Jeffs responded that it was her spiritual duty. (Watch ex-followers describe a "wolf in sheep's clothing" -- 8:05)

The marriage ceremony was performed in Las Vegas. Jeffs was captured outside the city on Monday night in a traffic stop, ending two years on the run.

A month after the marriage ceremony, the affidavit states, her husband reminded the girl that Jeffs had instructed them to have children to "replenish the earth," and "now was the time." She had sex against her will, according to the document.

According to the affidavit, she later told Jeffs she "hated having husband-wife relations" and was uncomfortable with her husband touching her, the affidavit states.

Jeffs told her she had to stay in the marriage, according to the affidavit. The document said he advised her that her husband was her "priesthood head and leader."

According to the affidavit, Jeffs gave these instructions: "Go back and repent. You go give yourself mind, body and soul to your husband like you're supposed to. He will take you into the heavenly kingdom. Go back and do what he tells you to do."

Jeffs told the reluctant bride that having a baby would "change everything." (Watch former child brides explain the culture of obedience -- 8:07)

"No matter what happens you cannot fight with the priesthood because if you do you'll lose your salvation," he said, according to the affidavit.

Followers have told authorities that Jeffs has said he "will not be subject to earthly courts," the affidavit states.

Prosecutors argue that Jeffs should be held without bail because he otherwise will continue to perform "spiritual marriages" between young girls and older men.

Jeffs also told his followers in 2002, "Our prophet and celestial law -- the principal of revelation -- are under attack" by local law enforcement authorities.

"There is a combined effort in the state of Utah and the state of Arizona to come against our prophet and his people, trying to stop the work of God," Jeffs said at a church meeting, according to the affidavit.

His followers are willing to hide and support Jeffs, the affidavit says, and he has access to safe houses in Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota, and Canada, according to the document.



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/31/jeffs ... index.html
 
Polygamist Leader Waives Extradition

Friday September 1, 2006 12:01 AM

By KEN RITTER

Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The leader of a polygamist sect said Thursday he would not fight extradition to Utah on charges he arranged marriages between underage girls and older men.

Warren Jeffs made his first court appearance since he was arrested Monday after more than a year on the run. The charismatic religious leader with an estimated 10,000 followers spoke almost inaudibly, and his blue prison jumpsuit hung loosely off his bony frame.

Jeffs, who was not represented by a lawyer, nodded when a Las Vegas justice of the peace asked whether he would be extradited to Utah. He is charged there with two counts of rape by accomplice and could get life in prison if convicted.

``What would you like to do?'' Justice of the Peace James Bixler asked. Jeffs replied, ``Go ahead and be extradited.''

The 50-year-old leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - a sect that broke away from the Mormon church more than a century ago and has been disavowed by the Mormons - was arrested after a traffic stop outside Las Vegas.

The manhunt had lasted more than a year and placed him on the FBI's Most Wanted List. The 2007 Cadillac Escalade in which Jeffs rode was carrying three wigs, 15 cell phones, several laptop computers and $54,000, police said.

Gary Engels, an investigator with Arizona's Mohave County attorney's office who has tracked Jeffs for years, surmised the fugitive may have just picked up the money before he was arrested.

``I have no doubt they had couriers running money to him,'' Engels said of Jeffs' followers.

Engels said he thought Jeffs might have been in southern Nevada to visit sect members who moved in recent years from Hildale, Utah, and neighboring Colorado City, Ariz.

He said the SUV was owned by John Wayman, a sect official who manages a company that recently moved from Hildale to Las Vegas and changed its name.

Engels had seen only photo and video images of Jeffs until Thursday's court hearing.

``He looked very thin, very gaunt,'' Engels said. ``He looked like a man who's been on the run, a man under a lot of stress.''

Two prosecutors from the Washington County attorney's office in Utah were in court, as was Jeffs' brother, Isaac Jeffs, 32, who was driving when they were stopped. Isaac Jeffs did not speak with reporters.

The prosecutors, Jerry Jaeger and Ryan Shaum, said Jeffs would be moved within several days. He is to be jailed at the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah.

The federal warrant on which Jeffs had been held, accusing him of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, remained active Thursday, said Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City.

``We're waiting to see if it is needed,'' Rydalch said of the charge, which carries a possible penalty of up to 10 years in federal prison.

Jeffs faces criminal charges in Arizona as well, but Utah will prosecute him first because it has a stronger case and its charges are more serious.

Prosecutors hope the arrest will break Jeffs' hold on his followers and lead them to speak out about their lives within the sect and the arranged marriages of young girls there, some just 13 years old.

In past attempts to prosecute polygamists within the sect, victims have faced powerful pressure to stay quiet from family members and their insular communities along the Utah-Arizona line, where Jeffs is regarded as a prophet.

``They pretty much have to renounce their entire heritage to go against the prophet,'' said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. ``That has got to be hard to do.''

Jeffs has refused jailhouse interviews this week.

---

Associated Press writer Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix contributed to this story.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/stor ... 28,00.html
 
Polygamist Sect Survives in Isolation

Saturday September 2, 2006 6:46 PM


By JENNIFER DOBNER

Associated Press Writer

HILDALE, Utah (AP) - Driving toward this tiny town feels like nearing the edge of the earth, a place of jagged red-rock peaks surrounding dry valleys covered in pinyon trees.

It seems like the perfect place to hide.

For about a century, that's what members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have done here and in adjoining Colorado City, Ariz. - living in isolation to practice their religion without interference.

However, the arrest of the sect's self-proclaimed prophet, Warren Jeffs, has increased outside attention on the group and its practice of polygamy, which sometimes includes marrying teenage girls to men 20 years or more their senior.

Jeffs, 50, a fugitive wanted on criminal charges in both Utah and Arizona for more than a year, was arrested outside Las Vegas late Monday during a traffic stop. He waived extradition to Utah to face two counts of first-degree felony rape as an accomplice, accused of arranging a marriage that led to the rape of an underage girl. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Polygamy was a tenet of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - the Mormons - but the practice was abandoned in 1890 when Utah became a state. The church now excommunicates members found practicing polygamy, and the practice is banned in both the Arizona and Utah constitutions.

However, strident believers in ``the principle,'' as it is known, have remained steadfast.

Members of the FLDS practice polygamy because they believe that plural marriage secures their exaltation in heaven and that the number of wives a man marries corresponds to the level of glory he'll achieve.

Warren Jeffs assumed leadership of the church in 2002 after the death of his 98-year-old father, Rulon Jeffs, who had 65 children by several women. Warren Jeffs reportedly took nearly all his father's widows as his own wives. He is said to have about 40 wives and nearly 60 children.

There is no census data on polygamy, but a survey by a plural marriage advocacy group, Principle Voices of Polygamy, estimates about 37,000 people are living the lifestyle in the western United States and British Columbia. Based on the data, the largest known organized community is the FLDS, with about 10,000 members in Hildale and Colorado City.

In the FLDS faith, sisters may marry the same man, who may be a cousin, an uncle or even a stepfather. Church leaders decide who marries and when.

FLDS members are taught to believe that their leader is ``the prophet of God over us in our lives,'' said Carolyn Jessop, a former FLDS plural wife who was married for 17 years to a man 32 years older. She fled with her children in 2003.

The most obedient and faithful believe that God speaks to Jeffs, according to Jessop and other former members.

In a letter circulated through the sect last spring, Jeffs told followers he ``had walked with the savior and they wept together for the condition of the people,'' said Richard Holm, another former church member.

In 2003, Jeffs stripped Holm of his wives, 17 children and church membership, one of dozens of men cast out for unknown acts and deemed unfaithful or unworthy. Also cast out have been young men seen as competing with older men for marriages with young girls.

Critics say such excommunications show how Jeffs' need for control and obedience have moved the faith from what was once described as a community guided by love to one of secrecy and segregation.

When Jeffs took over, ``that's when it became more like an army,'' said Michael Chatwin, 40, who returned to Hildale this summer after 15 years away. ``It was like you were enlisted in his army, and things became more cold and callous.''

Jeffs ordered children pulled from public schools. He banned books, music, television and other forms of entertainment, unless he was the writer or performer.

Jeffs imposed dress codes that include long white undergarments. He banned bright colors, including red, the color of the devil. However, when arrested he was riding in a bright red SUV, wearing shorts and a white T-shirt - clothes his followers are not allowed to wear.

``It's the ultimate hypocrisy,'' said Lori Chatwin, a former FLDS member and a cousin by marriage of Michael Chatwin.

Jeffs was born prematurely, and his parents considered his survival a miracle, marking him as chosen by God and bringing special attention, especially from his father, said Flora Jessop of Phoenix, who fled an abusive Colorado City family in 1996.

``That's bound to create a monster. It created somebody who held it over the other kids and made him mean,'' she said. ``If he gets upset with someone, anything or anyone they care about gets wiped away.''

There has been no indication whether Jeffs has - or will - secure an attorney to speak for him. In addition to the criminal charges, Jeffs has been named in lawsuits dating to 2004, but he has failed to defend himself, or even appear in court, in any of those cases, choosing instead to go into hiding. None of those cases have gone forward in his absence, but remain pending.

Former FLDS members say they hope Jeffs' capture will reveal how his demands for perfection fall flat and relieve members of the shame they say Jeffs has often heaped upon them.

``It's a window of opportunity,'' Jessop said. ``The church is absolutely not going to collapse, but I think that with Warren gone, the stranglehold he's had on the people is gone.''


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/stor ... 73,00.html
 
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Catholics oppose Mormons in Slovakia

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Associated Press

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Catholic bishops urged their faithful against supporting the registration of the LDS Church in Slovakia, saying that would be a betrayal of the Catholic Church.

Earlier this month, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had asked all Slovaks "who care about religious liberty" to sign a petition supporting its bid to set up a church. Slovak law requires 20,000 signatures for a church to be legally registered.

Slovak bishops released a statement, however, saying the LDS Church's doctrine was "not in line with the doctrine of the Catholic Church."

"We call on all Catholics ... not to sign this petition and not to betray the Catholic church," the bishops' statement said.

The LDS Church said Monday it was not looking for converts from Catholicism.

"We respect the decision of every citizen, and the petition was in no way meant to convert anybody to our faith," spokesman Petr Valnicek said. "Religious liberty is all we had in mind."

Slovakia, a central European country of 5.4 million, is predominantly Catholic.

There are only about 100 Mormons in Slovakia, and nearly 2,000 in the neighboring Czech Republic.

The LDS Church, based in Salt Lake City, claims more than 12 million members worldwide.

"The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints respects the laws of each nation. In seeking legal recognition, church President Gordon B. Hinckley has said we "go through the front door," meeting all the requirements that governments expect of us," said Michael Otterson, a church spokesman.

"In this case, the church has appreciated working constructively with the government ministry responsible for such matters in the Slovak Republic. That nation, as a recent member of the European Union, is emphasizing more openness, democracy and freedom of religion, and the church is grateful to be a part of a process which will bless the lives of all its people."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith. The LDS Church acknowledges theological differences with the Catholic Church. Among the issues on which there is disagreement are the LDS Church's use of additional scripture such as the Book of Mormon and different interpretations of the Trinity, Otterson said.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/192750/
 
Polygamy

Back in fashion
Nov 30th 2006 | WASHINGTON, DC
From The Economist print edition

Big love dares to speak its name


IN 2001, Warren Jeffs officiated while a 14-year-old girl married her 19-year-old cousin. It was the first marriage for the bride and meant to be the first of many for the groom. Mr Jeffs is the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). With perhaps 10,000 members, it is the largest of the polygamous sects that spun off from Mormonism more than 100 years ago. On November 21st prosecutors in Utah argued that Mr Jeffs should be charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice.

The case has brought renewed attention to polygamists in America. The practice is illegal, and widely reviled. A Gallup poll in May 2006 found that 93% of Americans consider it immoral. The threats of prosecution and persecution have usually been enough to keep polygamists subdued. But lately they are becoming emboldened. For one thing, the scorn is often mutual. “It would be easier to lie, cheat, and steal like you guys do,” one polygamous husband told a television reporter. “I have a certain amount of disgust for monogamy.” Besides, the debate over gay marriage has led to a wide national dialogue over traditional morality. Earlier this year, the television network HBO aired a series about a polygamous family. “Big Love”, which got respectable ratings, portrays plural marriage as more demanding than deviant.

Mormon fundamentalists argue that anti-polygamy laws infringe religious liberty. The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah agrees, saying there is no reason to criminalise “private, consensual, adult relationships that are motivated by sincerely-held religious beliefs”.

The idea that the government has no business meddling in relationships between consenting adults is, of course, a pillar of the gay-marriage movement. Opponents of gay marriage have always argued that opening the institution to homosexuals would put America on a slippery slope to polygamy, incest and worse. But Mormon fundamentalists do not want to get into bed with sinners like homosexuals. And gay-rights advocates have distanced themselves from polygamists. They argue that sexuality is intrinsic, while polygamy is a choice with grievous social consequences.

So far, the public response to polygamy has been practical, not philosophical. In Utah and Arizona, which are home to sizeable Mormon fundamentalist enclaves, the official policy is to ignore plural marriages unless they are associated with incest, fraud or abuse. The Canadian Department of Justice took a similar line earlier this year, when it recommended decriminalising the practice.

As the Jeffs case shows, polygamy-rights activists have an uphill public-relations battle. Abuse and coercion are only the most obvious dangers of polygamy. Last year the Phoenix New Times reported that inbreeding among the FLDS “is producing a caste of severely retarded and deformed children.” The FLDS has also cast out more than 400 young men. These “lost boys” were supposedly excommunicated because of moral lapses like wanting to go to public schools. They also presented unwelcome competition for wives.

Another stumbling-block for polygamists is that numbers are not on their side. Millions of Americans are gay, and many millions more have gay friends or relatives. Polygamists are hard to come by, despite the order to be fruitful and multiply. Principle Voices, a pro-polygamy group, reckons that there are only about 37,000 Mormon fundamentalists in America.

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displ ... id=8364053
 
regardless of whether its right or wrong.

if its illegal, why isnt something done about it?
 
I think that the attitude the cops take is:

If its between consenting adults then we dont worry.

They do seem to crack down on the cults which practice child abuse.
 
They are practicing child abuse!
Just seems to me that the Polygamist Mormon god botherers are a bunch of Paedophilic rapists...and use their religion to try and get out of it.

You cant tell me that a 13 year old 'wife' would happily have sex with a man she bearly knows and that is old enough to be her dad!

Makes me want to puke. :splat:

And im not surprised that they have horrendous birth defects if they marry cousins, nieces etc.. If they carry on they'll just kill their whole communities off as generations of kids will be born with genetic cock ups. :headbutt:
 
You cant tell me that a 13 year old 'wife' would happily have sex with a man she bearly knows and that is old enough to be her dad!

I agree with you completely. But not every polygamous community engages in childabuse. The cops & DAs sometimes make a pragmatic choice not to launch prosecutions when its between consenting adults.

In many US States Adultery and Forniction are still on the books as crimes but are not prosecuted.

I think these communities stink, they are patriarchial and I am sure that women are badly exploited in them. But when its between consenting adults I dont think its the business of the State.
 
Polygamy Sect Leader Back in Court

Thursday December 14, 2006 7:46 AM


By JENNIFER DOBNER

Associated Press Writer

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - Prosecuting Warren Jeffs on charges of rape as an accomplice could enhance, not diminish, the way the polygamist sect leader is revered by faithful followers, historians say.

The case against Jeffs, head of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was scheduled to resume with a hearing Thursday to determine whether the case should go to trial.

The outcome isn't likely to lessen the 50-year-old Jeffs' popularity. The FLDS sect traces its roots to early Mormon theology, which promoted plural marriage. The modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints disavows polygamy and renounced the practice in 1890 as a condition of Utah's statehood.

The FLDS, however, consider themselves ``fundamentalist Mormons'' who continue to believe polygamy will bring glory in heaven. They also consider Jeffs a prophet of God with dominion over their salvation.

``Prosecution will actually strengthen his position as a leader,'' said Martha Bradley, a University of Utah professor and author of a history of government raids on the FLDS community. ``You just can't underestimate the power of becoming a martyr.''

Authorities rounded up and imprisoned FLDS church members in the 1940s and 1950s, but the prosecuted returned home to the community on the Arizona-Utah state line as heroes, Bradley said. The persecution also strengthened the community's resolve to continue its religious practices.

Bradley predicts that pattern will repeat, even if Jeffs is tried and convicted of the two first-degree felony counts that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

Washington County prosecutors contend Jeffs forced a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-cousin in 2001. The union resulted in sexual relations that also occurred without her consent, the now-20-year-old woman said in a court hearing last month.

Jeffs is also charged with multiple felonies in Mohave County, Ariz., but won't face those charges until after the Utah case is complete.

At the helm of the FLDS church since 2002, Jeffs disappeared from public life in 2004 after lawsuits filed against him and his church alleged abuses of some members. Criminal charges in Arizona and Utah followed in 2005 and 2006. Earlier this year, Jeffs was named to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Jeffs was arrested Aug. 28 in a traffic stop on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas, Nev. He is being held without bail in the county's Purgatory Correctional Facility.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 86,00.html
 
Polygamist Leader to Appeal Venue Ruling

Wednesday March 28, 2007 3:16 PM

By JENNIFER DOBNER

Associated Press Writer

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) - Attorneys for polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs will ask the Utah Supreme Court to overturn a judge's ruling that Jeff's criminal trial should stay in the county where his group is based.

Fifth District Judge James L. Shumate on Tuesday rejected the defense's request to move the trial out of Washington County, although he acknowledged the jury pool may be tainted by months of publicity about Jeffs and his faith.

Jeffs, 51, is charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice in the spiritual marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin in 2001. No trial date has been set.

Most members of his Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints live in the twin border towns of Hildale, Utah, - in Washington County about 45 miles east of St. George - and Colorado City, Ariz. The sect split from mainstream Mormonism after the broader church renounced polygamy in 1890.

Jeffs' attorneys wanted the trial moved to Salt Lake County, where they said their polling data showed less bias toward their client.

Shumate said news articles and opinion pieces in St. George's daily newspaper, The Spectrum, had provided an unjustifiable and inappropriate drumbeat of influence since Jeffs was arrested last fall near Las Vegas.

``That is an abuse of the nearly unfettered power of the press,'' he said.

Despite denying the defense motion for an immediate change of venue, Shumate said he would order a move if it appeared an impartial jury could not be empaneled.

The defense attorneys took no questions after the hearing and there was no immediate indication when they would go to the Supreme Court.

Jeffs also faces felony sex charges in Mohave County, Ariz., where Colorado City is located, for his alleged role in two underage marriages. He is under federal indictment that accused him of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/s ... 07,00.html
 
The darker side of Mormonism

Just as the Mormon Republican Mitt Romney emerges as a major contender for the US presidency, a blood-soaked new film and a high-profile trial are exposing the dark side of his religion. And suddenly, the biggest obstacle on his road to the White House is the faith he holds so dear. Rupert Cornwell reports
Published: 24 May 2007

It was 11 September, a crystal-clear morning with the first hint of autumn crispness, as though a cynical, mocking God had set the stage for what would be the worst act of religiously inspired terrorism in US history.

But we are not talking about New York or Washington, DC in 2001. The setting was the uplands of remote south-eastern Utah, exactly 150 years ago, in a corner of an American West that was still a violent work-in-progress. Within minutes, some 140 pioneers - a wagon-train of men, women and children headed for California - lay dead in a massacre,that would not be surpassed until the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.

For decades, the Mountain Meadows-Massacre has lain relatively undisturbed at the margins of the national consciousness. But it is about to be projected centre-stage. Next month, September Dawn, a new film by the writer and director Christopher Cain that purports to recount at last the true story of that dreadful day, iks released in the US. And America will be revisiting this most shameful act in the annals of the Mormon Church as, for the first time, a candidate from a faith still best known for its long-abandoned cult of polygamy has a serious shot at the Presidency.

Mitt Romney is not the first Mormon to have made a bid for the White House. Mo Udall, a quixotic Arizona congressman, tried in 1976, and eight years earlier, a promising campaign by the former Michigan governor George Romney - Mitt's father - self-destructed when he let slip that he had been " brainwashed" by the military into supporting Vietnam. Right now, however, Romney Jr would appear to have a better chance than either.

Along with Rudolph Giuliani and John McCain, he is a "top-tier" candidate with a potent fund-raising machine; strong organisations in the key early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, and a glittering résumé as businessman, saviour of the scandal-threatened 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and, most lately, a generally successful governor of Democratic Massachusetts.

But, just as this fierce and unprecedentedly early campaign for the presidential nomination goes into overdrive, all Romney's carefully crafted positions on immigration, abortion and the rest, risk being overwhelmed by this revisiting of his religion's past.

For those concerned with the image of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the past 12 months have been trying. Last August, Warren Jeffs, the leader of a fundamentalist polygamist sect that long ago broke from mainstream Mormonism, was arrested on charges of coercing young girls to marry older men - supporting FBI estimates that between 20,000 and 40,000 Americans still indulge in polygamy, even though the practice is both illegal and was banned by the Mormon Church in 1890.

On a lighter note, cable-TV viewers have been treated to a hit sitcom Big Love, about a stressed-out husband-of-three from Salt Lake City, owner of a chain of DIY stores, who juggles three homes, three mortgages and three sets of children. It is returning for a new series this summer, just as September Dawn hits the screens.

Those with an interest in the facts, and in the cultural and social background of Mitt Romney, have just been treated to a two-part, four-hour documentary on public television called The Mormons. The programmes on PBS were scrupulously even-handed, intended, in the words of their producer, to " blow away" old prejudices. Whether they did so is unclear. But whatever stereotypes were destroyed on the small screen, they are likely to be revived on the large one by September Dawn.

****

"I am the voice of God: anyone who does not like it will be hewn down," thunders the sonorous voiceover, which cinema buffs will quickly recognise as belonging to Terence Stamp, as the murderous story unfolds. Stamp plays Brigham Young, the second president of the Mormon Church, and among the most riveting and controversial figures in American religion.

Forget polygamy (though Young was no slouch in that department). Not to put too fine a point on it, the film portrays the man hailed as an " American Moses", and revered by his people as "The Lion of the Lord ", as a bigoted,bloodthirsty maniac who maintained that non-believers deserved death. In short, an Osama bin Laden of his age, breathing fire and brimstone against the US government of the day from within his country's own borders.

By any standards Young was an epic figure - a pioneer, a coloniser and a prophet to his people. Born in Vermont and trained as a carpenter, he converted to Mormonism when he was 31. Quickly, he rose to become an influential missionary, a member of the Mormons' governing Quorum of 12 Apostles, and finally the Church's second president. In 1847 and 1848, he led his followers to the virgin lands of Utah, and proclaimed himself the territory's first governor. He supervised the building of Salt Lake City and founded universities.

He also found time to have 20 wives, by whom he sired more than 50 children. With a piercing gaze and prodigious force of personality, his authority was unchallenged.

Thanks, in good measure, to the foundations laid by Young, the modern Mormons are thriving, the most successful of the indigenous sects that emerged in the US in the 19th century. The Church's 5.8 million US members are mainly concentrated in Utah and its neighbouring states. Their number includes not just Romney, but Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader and one of the two most powerful Democrats in the land, as well as the influential Republican Senator Orrin Hatch.

But for Mormonism's first half- century of life, the Church was a persecuted minority. It was harried by the populace in the North-east and the Midwest where it originated, and threatened by the federal government even after it had migrated to Utah. The Mormons are Christians who believe in the Old and New Testaments. But their adherence to the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of debated origin, and their recognition of modern prophets as well as ancient ones - not to mention the practice of polygamy - had many Americans of the day regard them as an immoral cult. To some, they remain precisely that today, and September Dawn is unlikely to ease such misgivings.

The Mountain Meadow-Massacre has long been a source of controversy. The diaries and personal papers of victims and perpetrators alike are lost. But thanks to court evidence, and the memories of the children who survived it, the basic facts are not in dispute. The pioneers had set out from Arkansas on their way to California when their wagon-train was attacked on 8 September 1857. Their assailants were either local Paiute Indians, who had been mobilised by the Mormons, or Mormons disguised as Paiute. The pioneers initially managed to repel the attack. But after four days of resistance, they were so short of ammunition and water that they had no option but to sue for a truce. A Mormon representative negotiated a deal for them to hand over their possessions in return for their safety. The men were separated and escorted away in single file, each with a Mormon militiaman guard. Suddenly, a cry rang out: "Do your duty!" Each Mormon shot the prisoner next to him. The women and children travelling ahead were butchered in their turn; only the youngest, those under 10, were spared and sent to live with Mormon families before they were finally returned to relatives in Arkansas.

In the end, the only person punished was John Lee, the adopted son of Brigham Young, who, in 1877, was executed for the crime. Cain says that his film is based on Lee's confession. But before his death, Lee insisted that he was merely a scapegoat, sacrificed to save his master. And, to this day, direct descendants of those who survived contend that Young knew about and even ordered the massacre.

September Dawn is unequivocal: Young was behind the whole thing. Cain wrote the script and, he told The New York Times in 2006, based Young's role in the massacre on his own court depositions. "I sat watching and thought, 'Maybe I made that up, I don't think he would have said that.' And I went back and pulled it up - and man, he did!"

Then there is Young's threat to outsiders seeking to supplant him, reportedly discovered in church archives: "I will loose the Indians on them, and I will slit their throats from ear to ear." In another sermon, he declared: "If any miserable scoundrels come here, cut their throats."

At this point, a remote 19th- century atrocity becomes a parable for 9/11 - and the actor Jon Voight, who plays a Mormon bishop in September Dawn, makes no bones about it. Voight is an unabashed conservative in mostly liberal Hollywood. But, he insists, the film "is a true documented event of a group of fanatic religious believers who received one man's evil permission to massacre another religion". The US and the West are now facing a comparable problem, he argues, "with Islamic-fanatics calling for the destruction of America and all of democracy. There's always a face of evil putting on a mask of godlike beliefs to destroy true believers in innocence and good."

Last year, Cain drew a similar comparison. "You start asking yourself the question: what makes a young kid - of any faith, in any part of the world - strap abomb on his back and walk into a school, or a mosque, or ... a bus full of innocent people and blow himself and them all up? You start looking around and, all of a sudden, it's what religious fanaticism can turn into."

But was the Mountain Meadows-Massacre really an instance of vengeful religious-fanaticism? Could it not have been a dreadful overreaction to a perceived political threat, or a brutal cover-up of an act of looting - or, just possibly, a mistake? This last is the official Mormon version. Young, the church insists, did try to stop the massacre,and sent a rider to order his followers to allow the wagon-train to continue. But, by the time the messenger arrived, the deed had taken place.

At a memorial service, when the new monument was dedicated at the Utah site eight years ago, Gordon B Hinckley, the Mormons' current leader, said that there was "no question in my mind" that Young was opposed to what happened. Had there been a faster means of communication, it "never would have happened".

The truth will never be known. Young's religious convictions were certainly of a rare intensity, but the massacre,must be set in the circumstances of the time. The US Civil-War was still four years away, and, in 1857, the Mormons had every reason to feel threatened by the federal government. James Buchanan had entered the White House earlier that year, vowing to stamp out the "barbaric relic" of polygamy. That spring, he sent out a new governor to Utah, to break Young's theocratic rule.

The Mormons feared attack; and may have suspected that the wagon-train pioneers were invaders sent by the government. Indeed, the following year, Buchanan sent 2,500 troops to bring Utah to order.

The third theory has it that the real prize in those hard- pressed times, was the $300,000-worth of possessions and goods that the settlers were carrying with them to California. Cain's film suggests that the Paiute were duped by the Mormons, only to realise that they had been deceived and decide to take no further part in the crime about to unfold.

****

So, what will be the impact on Romney's campaign? On the face of it, very little. After all, the evils of segregation and slavery didn't stop Southerners Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton from winning the White House. Even more preposterous is the notion that the film seeks to suggest a link between the Mormon faith and 9/11, in order to smear Romney. The film was conceived and filmed long before he entered the presidential race, late last year.

Moreover, whatever the stereotypes of Mormonism that the PBS programme sought to dispel, Romney conforms to none of them. Despite his telegenic looks and executive style, he is a pedestrian speaker. The suspicions about him have nothing to do with polygamy: unlike Giuliani and McCain, on their third and second wives respectively, the 60-year-old Romney married his high-school sweetheart Ann in 1968, and remains happily married to her today.

Rather, they surround his belated switch to conservative positions on abortion and gay-marriage, in contrast to his relatively liberal line when he was governor of Massachusetts. And Romney also yields to no one in his hawkishness on terrorism in its modern guise.

"Some have said we ought to close Guantanamo Bay," he said during the second Republican candidates' debate last week. "My view is, we ought to double Guantanamo." It was his most applauded line of the night - although he did not do as well as in the first debate in April, which he was widely reckoned to have won.

But public doubts about Mormonism persist. John Kennedy overcame similar doubts 47 years ago, when America's first Catholic President had to convince voters that he was not an agent of the papacy - and, in a recent Boston Globe poll that showed Romney ahead in New Hampshire, 86 per cent of respondents said that his religion made no difference. But New Hampshire voters are a quirky bunch, who pride themselves on their objectivity. Elsewhere, it may not be so straightforward, especially given many voters' reluctance to admit prejudices to pollsters.

A Washington Post/ABC poll in February found that only 29 per cent of people would be less likely to vote for a candidate because he or she was a Mormon, down from 35 per cent a few months before. But white evangelical Protestants are cooler: 38 per cent of them indicated they would not vote for a Mormon. This reluctance could matter in important early primary states such as South Carolina, where Christian conservatives play a prominent role. Romney's good fortune is that, for different reasons, both McCain and Giuliani are also regarded warily by the religious right.

Thus far, it has taken not a Republican, but a Democratic gadfly to air such doubts in public. Don't worry, the Rev Al Sharpton, the civil-rights campaigner (and erstwhile Presidential candidate himself) reassured Americans this month: "Those who really believe in God will defeat Romney." Right now, a majority of voters probably have no idea that Romney even is a Mormon. But pleading ignorance will be that much harder when September Dawn hits the screens next month, with its tale of a September 11 massacre,a century-and-a-half ago, that may have been ordered by a mighty Mormon leader - and evokes the modern trauma of 9/11 that has moulded American politics for the past six years.


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/ame ... 579328.ece
 
Update: DPS Serves Arrest Warrants at Religious Compound Northwest of S.A.

Last Update: 1:00 pm

By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer

ELDORADO, Texas (AP) -- Authorities served search and arrest warrants Friday at a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs following a complaint to state child welfare investigators.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger confirmed the warrants but declined to provide details. They were served a day after state troopers sealed off the polygamists' ranch near Eldorado on Thursday night so investigators could interview children to see if they're safe.

Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the DPS and other law enforcement helped investigators gain access. She said CPS is "investigating whether any children are in danger" but said no decisions had been made on whether to remove any children.

Vinger said CPS was responding to a complaint but could not say whether the complaint was made from within or outside the ranch. He wouldn't say how many people were being interviewed or how many officers were involved.

"At this point the people at the FLDS ranch are being cooperative," he said early Friday. "They're providing us with the people we need to talk to. ... This is an ongoing situation."

Schleicher County Justice of the Peace James C. Doyle said local officials were notified Thursday that law-enforcement agencies were investigating at the compound.

"There are DPS cars on the road blocking all entrances into that area," he said.

The retreat was built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The congregation, known as FLDS and led by the reclusive Jeffs since his father's death in 2002, is one of several groups that split from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Salt Lake City decades after it renounced polygamy in 1890.

In November, Jeffs was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison in Utah. That was after he was found guilty of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who wed her cousin in an arranged marriage in 2001.

In Arizona, Jeffs is charged as an accomplice with four counts each of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives. He is jailed in Kingman, Ariz., awaiting trial.

The group's retreat, about 160 miles northwest of San Antonio, is located on the fortress-like YFZ Ranch. The letters stand for Yearning For Zion, and the group is known for its secrecy around the town.

In 2004, the group bought a former exotic game ranch about 160 miles northwest of San Antonio for $700,000 and began an ambitious construction program anchored by an 80-foot-tall, gleaming white temple. In 2006, officials there estimated 150 people lived there.

The remote area is not far from Eldorado, a livestock and mohair center and Schleicher County seat and population center. It is home to about 1,800 of the 2,800 residents of the Edwards Plateau county.

Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

"Remote" is a relative term, though when you're out in West Texas you usually feel like you're in the middle of nowhere even when you're downtown. This is not far at all (in Texas terms) from my old home in San Angelo. I remember when they moved in people were saying as long as they didn't bother anybody they were welcome. It's not as if they were hippies. Eldorada, btw, is pronounced ELdorAYda, even though most people in the area can pronounce Spanish perfectly well. It's just always been pronounced that way.
 
PeniG said:
Eldorada, btw, is pronounced ELdorAYda, even though most people in the area can pronounce Spanish perfectly well. It's just always been pronounced that way.

Eldorada ? How'd the 'a' get on the end of that?
 
It's actually a schwa sound - same as the unvoiced vowel we use in the, of, and so on. Schwas are all over American accents.
 
Girls out of polygamous compound
April 05, 2008 09:25pm

"US authorities have removed 52 girls from a polygamous sect's compound in western Texas and questioned the remaining members of the breakaway Mormon church.
Those removed yesterday were aged from six months to 17 years old, according to the Child Protective Services (CPS) in Schleicher County.

"The caseworkers need to have an opportunity to assess their needs and try to find out what the appropriate action will be," said CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins.

According to The Houston Chronicle, social workers spent Thursday night and Friday questioning people living at the complex and determined that 18 of the girls had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse.

The girls lived at the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) led by Warren Jeffs, an avowed polygamist who is now serving time in jail.

Jeffs, who was considered to be their prophet, was arrested near Las Vegas in 2006 and sentenced to life in jail for being an accomplice to rape. He also faces federal charges in Arizona and Utah."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html
 
Violence feared in search for sect teen
April 06, 2008

"POLICE and members of a polygamist sect under investigation for possible child abuse are facing off over access to a Mormon temple where a suspected victim of the abuse was believed to be held, local media reported.

"In preparing for entry to the temple, law enforcement is preparing for the worst,'' Allison Palmer, an assistant district attorney told The San Angelo Standard Times.

They want to have "medical personnel on hand in case this were to go in a way that no one wants'', she added.

The complaints of the girl are reported to have sparked a massive police operation yesterday, during which authorities removed 52 girls between the ages of six months and 17 years from a compound in Eldorado, Texas, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

However, sect members have refused to allow Texas Child Protective Services access to the compound's temple, reports said.

Non-Mormons are barred from entering Mormon temples under the church's doctrine.

"It appears to be of great concern to them if a person from outside their congregation even attempts to step inside their place of worship,'' Ms Palmer is quoted as saying."

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html
 
Claim: Girls groomed for sex with men
April 09, 2008 10:03am

"HUNDREDS of young girls removed from a polygamist sect in Texas were being groomed to accept sex with adult men as soon as they reached puberty, officials said in court records released today.

Girls as young as 13 were "spiritually married'' to men on the compound and forced to have sex with them "for the purpose of having children,'' according to an affidavit by an investigator with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

A number of young girls who were pregnant or had recently given birth were discovered on the ranch after a desperate call for help was made by a 16-year-old girl who was pregnant again just eight months after giving birth to the child of her 50-year-old husband.

"There is a pervasive pattern and practice of indoctrinating and grooming minor female children to accept spiritual marriages to adult male members of the YFZ (Yearn For Zion) Ranch resulting in them being sexually abused,'' investigator Lynn McFadden told the court.

"Similarly, minor boys residing on the YFZ Ranch, after they become adults, are spiritually married to minor female children and engage in sexual relationships with them, resulting in them being sexual perpetrators,'' she said. "

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/stor ... 02,00.html
 
Court papers detail life inside polygamist ranch

Last Update: 6:28 am

Aerial view of the polygamist compound in El Dorado, Texas. (CNN) ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - Attorneys for a Texas polygamist sect who are fighting closure of the church compound are scheduled for a court hearing today.

Meanwhile, court documents are revealing a 16-year-old girl's account of life on the inside.

The documents detail secret calls the girl made to a family violence shelter. The teen claimed she had been forced to marry a man more than three times her age, becoming his seventh wife. She said her husband sexually assaulted her and would beat her while other women held her infant. The calls prompted an investigation of the ranch, which was raided last week.

The church and church leaders have filed motions asking a judge to quash the search on constitutional grounds, saying authorities didn't have enough evidence and that the warrants were too broad.

More than 400 children from the ranch are now in the state's custody. Court papers say a number of teen girls are pregnant.

This is going to keep coming in dribs and drabs for days.
 
Drib. I'm afraid I can' t get excited about a bed. There must be beds all over the compound. And keeping a bed in the temple for ritual deflowerings of virgins is so, so pulpishly pornographic it activates the "absurd" sensors. Possible, reasonable, true, or not, I can't believe in it. The important question, the thing that ought to be in the headline, is - where is the girl who called? Multiple times? Who in the nature of things will be a key state witness?

Bed Found in Polygamist Temple

Last Update: 12:12 pm

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Slideshow
The main temple and its secondary structure on the grounds of the 'Yearning For Zion' Ranch, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas. (AP) ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - Agents searching a 1,700-acre polygamist compound in West Texas found a bed in the soaring limestone temple and prosecutors believe it was used for male members to have sex with their underage wives after sect-recognized unions.

The discovery was revealed Wednesday as troopers completed their weeklong search of the grounds of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said spokeswoman Tela Mange.

The temple "contains an area where there is a bed where males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of 17," according to an affidavit quoting a confidential informant who had been providing information to the Schleicher County sheriff for years.

Texas law prohibits polygamy and the marriage of girls under 16.

The search of the compound in Eldorado, 40 miles south of San Angelo, began last Thursday after a 16-year-old girl called a local family violence shelter to report her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her.

She called several times before counselors figured out how young she was, a discovery that legally obligated them to call authorities even though the hotline typically promises confidentiality, shelter officials said Thursday.

Since then, the state has taken legal custody of 416 children, who are being housed at two sites in San Angelo, about 200 miles west of San Antonio. Another 139 women voluntarily left the compound known as the YFZ Ranch and were being housed with the children.

Court documents said a number of teen girls at the compound were pregnant, and all the children were removed on the grounds that they were in danger of "emotional, physical, and-or sexual abuse."

On Wednesday, state officials said the women and children were in good overall health but would not comment on pregnancies. About a dozen children appear to have chicken pox but were being separated at the evacuation sites, which include an old historic fort and a convention center here, said Child Protective Services spokesman Chris Van Deusen.

Authorities were trying to determine the identities and parentage of many of the children; some were unwilling or unable to provide the names of their biological parents or identified multiple mothers.

During their search of the compound, agents found a bed in the temple with disturbed linens and what appeared to be a female hair, said the affidavit signed by Texas Ranger Leslie Brooks Long and unsealed Wednesday. The temple also contained multiple locked safes, vaults and desk drawers.

Officials still aren't sure where the 16-year-old girl is who made the initial call, and she is not named among the children in initial custody petitions by the state.

Tammy Harris, the executive director of the shelter that took the girl's calls, said Thursday the shelter called Child Protective Services and law enforcement as soon as workers determined that she had given birth at 15.

"This is a very overwhelming situation," said Harris, who declined to give details of the calls made by the girl. "It is something that is new to most of us."

Texas has an outstanding arrest warrant for the man alleged to have been the girl's husband, Dale Barlow, 50. He's a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor in Mohave County, Ariz., last year. Troopers arrested two other men over the week and charged them with interfering with the search.

Lawyers for the sect had wanted to cut off the wide-ranging search as it dragged on but agreed in court Wednesday to the appointment of a special master. The special master will vet what is expected to be hundreds of boxes of records, computers and even family Bibles for records that should not become evidence for legal or religious reasons.

Gerry Goldstein, a lawyer for the church, said the search of the temple was analogous to a law enforcement search of the Vatican or other holy places. Prosecutor Allison Palmer argued it was to uncover any evidence of criminal activity, not to malign a religion.

The Texas investigation is the state's first of FLDS members, but prosecutors in Utah and Arizona have pursued several church members in recent years, including sect leader Warren Jeffs. He is serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old wed to her cousin in Utah. Jeffs awaits trial on other charges in Arizona.

---

Associated Press writer Amanda Lee Myers in Phoenix contributed to this report.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
Drab. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e202576e-7825-4a16-904f-0e3187257529
Texas Authorities: Hands Were Tied in Polygamist Sect Case

Last Update: 6:22 am

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SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - For four frustrating years, an informant fed Sheriff David Doran information about the polygamist sect that built a compound in the West Texas desert not far from his office in Eldorado.

But those milling about the 1,700-acre compound would scatter whenever he and a Texas Ranger visited, leaving them without the concrete evidence they needed to open a criminal investigation, Doran said Thursday as authorities defended their decision to leave the sect alone after it moved in 2004.

"I have no regrets because we never received any outcry, a complaint. There was no evidence of illegal activity nor an offense in plain view," he said. "You can always suspect something, but until you get something that puts you on that property, there's not a whole lot you can do."

A raid was finally triggered April 3, after a family violence shelter received a hushed phone call from a terrified 16-year-old girl saying her 50-year-old husband had beaten and raped her.

State troopers put into action the plan they had on the shelf to enter the compound, and 416 children, most of them girls, were swept into state custody on suspicions that they were being sexually and physically abused.

Doran said it was not until after the raid began that he learned that the sect was marrying off underage girls at the compound and had a bed in its soaring limestone temple where the girls were required to immediately consummate their marriages. A number of teenage girls are pregnant, investigators said.

It had been no secret that the sect believed in marrying off underage girls to older men, and authorities believed the group was capable of abuse, Doran said.

"But there again, this is the United States," he said. "We are going to respect them. We're not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry."

Had there been one earlier, authorities would have acted as they did last week, Doran said. "We would have done it in a heartbeat," he said.

Authorities in Texas suspected there would be trouble ever since members of the renegade Mormon splinter group - the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - bought an exotic game ranch and began building.

Warren Jeffs, the sect's prophet and spiritual leader at its longtime headquarters in the dusty, side-by-side towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was charged in 2005 and 2006 with forcing underage girls into marriages. He was convicted in September in Utah of being an accomplice to rape and is serving up to life in prison.

Doran had made occasional visits to the compound - he even called to tell members of Jeffs' capture in 2006 - but he said he saw nothing to warrant a criminal investigation.

"You can only press someone so far without having a criminal investigation going on," he said, adding that members aren't forthcoming when talking to outsiders.

Doran declined to say whether the informant, a former sect member, was in Texas, or Utah or Arizona.

Barry Caver, a Texas Ranger who sometimes went with Doran to the compound, said a general welfare check wouldn't have produced much because they could talk to just three or four main people there.

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott said state authorities handled the case properly.

"You cannot go in and bust in someone's house if there's not probable cause to do so," Abbott said.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who has written about polygamy, said even Jeffs' conviction was not enough to barge in on the Eldorado sect.

"They would need a contemporary statement or evidence at trial that an individual at the (Texas) compound is practicing polygamy," Turley said.

Officials still have not been able to identify the teen who made the call from the children being held at two sites in Texas.

The man alleged to be the 16-year-old's husband, Dale Barlow, is a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in Arizona.

"I do not know this girl that they keep asking about," he told Utah's Desert Morning News on Wednesday. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."
---

Associated Press writers Michael Graczyk in Houston and Jim Vertuno in Austin contributed to this report.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
Drib. http://www.woai.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=903158f0-646a-4a4c-8510-08d02b8da2ec
Sheriff worked with informant to learn about polygamist sect

Last Update: 4/10 2:59 pm

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Aerial view of the polygamist compound in El Dorado, Texas. (CNN) ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - A Texas sheriff says he has been working with a confidential informant for four years to get information about life inside a polygamist compound.

The sheriff declined to say whether the informant was in Texas or other sect compounds in Utah or Arizona. But he says it wasn't until authorities searched the Texas compound that he learned about the beds allegedly used by men for sex with underage girls they had married. The beds were found on the top floor of the temple.

Despite having the informant for four years, state authorities are defending their decision to leave the sect alone during that time. They say the group still has civil rights that are going to be respected.

Officials still have not identified the 16-year-old girl who called to report she had been beaten and raped by her husband. They say they don't know if she's one of the girls who's currently in the hands of child welfare officials.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
Drab. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=ffa4ccdc-93f7-4296-a1ef-91d86bdc8dd2
Mothers from Polygamist Sect Say State Mistreating Children

Last Update: 7:02 am

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - The mothers of children removed from a West Texas polygamist sect's ranch after an abuse allegation are appealing to Gov. Rick Perry for help.

In a letter sect members say was mailed to Perry on Saturday, the mothers from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints claim some of their children have become sick and even required hospitalization.

They also say children have been questioned about things they know nothing about since they were placed in the legal custody of the state.

Perry's spokesman Robert Black said Sunday that he has not seen the letter and couldn't comment.

Some 416 children were rounded up and placed in temporary custody in a raid that began 11 days ago, after a domestic violence hot line recorded a complaint from a 16-year-old girl. She said she was suffering physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her 50-year-old husband.

The one-page letter, signed by three women who claim they represent others, says about 15 mothers were away from the property when their children were removed.

"We were contacted and told our homes had been raided, our children taken away with no explanation, and because of law enforcement blockade preventing entering or leaving the ranch, we were unable to get to our homes and had no-where to go," it said. "As of Wednesday, April 9, 2008, we have been permitted to return to our empty, ransacked homes, heartsick and lonely."

The mothers said they want Perry to examine the conditions in which the removed children have been placed.

"You would be appalled," the letter said. "Many of our children have become sick as a result of the conditions they have been placed in. Some have even had to be taken to the hospital. Our innocent children are continually being questioned on things they know nothing about. The physical examinations were horrifying to the children. The exposure to these conditions is traumatizing them."

Asked about claims that children were hospitalized, state Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marissa Gonzalez said she had not seen the letter and would have to review it before commenting.

On Sunday, state officials enforced a judge's order to confiscate the cell phones of the women and children removed from the polygamous sect's private ranch.

The emergency order was sought by attorneys ad litem for 18 girls from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who are now in the legal custody of the state, Gonzalez said.

The order carries an April 13 date and was signed at 9:20 a.m. by state District Judge Barbara J. Walther. It calls for the removal of all electronic communication devices including phones, PDAs and smart phones.

In a copy of the order provided to the AP, lawyers said the phones should be confiscated "to prevent improper communication, tampering with witnesses and to ensure no outside inhibitors to the attorney-client relationship."

Gonazalez estimated that at least 50 phones were taken.

The children are currently being housed in San Angelo's historic Fort Concho and at the nearby Wells Fargo pavilion. About 140 women from the ranch are also with the children, although they are not in state custody.

In their telephone calls, women and children had been calling relatives to report they are living in cramped conditions - cots cribs and playpens are lined up side-by-side - and that many of the children are afraid.

An FLDS man who told the AP that his family members are among those inside the fort called the removal of phones a punishment.

"This was nothing more than retaliation of CPS to punish those who were disclosing whiat is really happening behind that wall of this concentration camp," said Don, who asked that only his first name be used.

Affidavits filed by child protection workers said that upon investigating, they found a pattern of abuse existed at the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo.

The 1,700-acre fenced ranch, a former game preserve, was bought by the FLDS in 2003. A number of large dormitory-style homes have been built, along with a small medical facility, a cheese factory, a rock quarry, water treatment plant and a towering, white limestone temple.

The children are currently being housed in San Angelo's historic Fort Concho and at the nearby Wells Fargo pavilion. About 140 women from the ranch are also with the children, although they are not in state custody.

On Saturday, five FLDS women staying at the fort told the Salt Lake City-based Deseret News the temporary shelter is cramped - cots, cribs and playpens are lined up side-by-side - and that many of the children are frightened.

Authorities said they have not yet located the teenage mother who's call for help triggered the raid at the ranch.

Texas authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the alleged husband, a man identified as Dale Barlow of Colorado City, Ariz., one of two communities on the Utah-Arizona border that have been the traditional home-base of the secretive church.

Texas Rangers met with Barlow and his probation officer in St. George, Utah on Saturday, but did not arrest him. Barlow is serving three years probation after pleading no contest to sexual misconduct with a minor - a teenager to whom he was spiritually married.

"As for Mr. Barlow, we are continuing to look into whether we have a warrant on the correct person," said Tela Mange, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. "Until we are able to locate and talk with the complainant it will be difficult for us to know for certain the correct identity of the alleged suspect."

The sect practices polygamy in arranged marriage that often pair underage girls with older men. The faith believes the practice will brings glorification in heaven.

A judge will decide this week if the children will remain in state custody or return to their families. Hearings are scheduled for Monday and Thursday.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

In a short related story that repeats much of this info with less detail,
State officials say about a dozen children have the chicken pox.

I was expecting the sickness to be upper respiratory infections related to allergies - 'tis the season - but chicken pox is a surprise. This means they weren't vaccinated. If the FLDS has a policy against vaccination, this could be an unspeakable horror a week from now - 416 unvaccinated children in crowded conditions and one infectious disease already on the loose!

Still no sign of the complainant. Story possibilities rise unbidden in the mind. Was she a hoax created by officials anxious for a good enough excuse to break the door down? Is she lurking among the others, afraid to come forward? Was she murdered and disposed of somewhere on the 1,700 acres (plenty of room to hide bodies there; but West Texas soil is caliche, hard to dig in).

Housing in Fort Concho is a startling move. We're talking about a national historical monument run on a shoestring here, restored and reconstructed buildings, a small recreation group for special occasions, a gift shop. No wonder they're cramped! And I don't think they even have showers on the site (no reason they should for its normal use), or a proper kitchen. It's been a long time since I was there, so they might have added features like a restaurant. It argues against conspiracy theories that they're using such an obviously impromptu holding area. This is not a well-planned and executed operation, or they'd have found a better venue for holding the kids.

Additionally, it's going to be a legal nightmare at public expense, as hinted by this paragraph in a story from Sunday:
The Texas legal community is responding to the challenge of recruiting as many as 350 court-appointed lawyers for the children in advance of Thursday's hearing. Texas State Bar President Gib Walton said the group has already conducted free legal training for volunteer lawyers so that each child can have representation.

The bolded phrase begs for clarification!

There is at least one non-fundamentalist Mormon church in San Angelo - I attended it once in company with a Mormon classmate. I wonder why journalists are not soliciting and representatives of the church are not offering opinions or assistance?
 
Drib, and the dreaded "government" angle rears its ugly head!
http://www.woai.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=3f9a596b-c7c0-442c-835d-943fe624a321

Defense Contracts Helped Finance Polygamous Sect

Last Update: 7:14 am

ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - Government records show that the Defense Department awarded $1.2 million dollars in contracts to a parts supplier linked to a West Texas polygamist retreat.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that the money is among millions in taxpayer dollars that helps finance the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The church's members include those at the Eldorado polygamist compound, which has been unraveled by a massive child welfare probe. State officials are investigating allegations that children there have been physically and sexually abused.

The Star-Telegram reports that New Era Manufacturing, a Nevada company whose president and chief executive is a church leader, has received $1.2 million dollars in defense contracts.

A spokesman for New Era said it would be inappropriate to comment, quote, "given everything that's going on."

Fort Worth Republican Kay Granger, who sits on the House Appropriations Committee, says the contracts make her, quote, "very uneasy."

The raid on the Eldorado compound followed a call to a domestic violence hot line from a 16-year-old girl who said she was beaten and raped by her 50-year-old husband.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Darn straight it should make her uneasy - talk about your can of worms! Note the lack of any cited evidence that the bidding process was corrupt or the contract awarded improperly. If the American public starts demanding personal and religious background checks on government contractors, the process could become even more complex, expensive, unjust, and monopolistic than it is!
 
A very small drab, with a new mystery attached. What, oh what, is this evidence the lawyers are expected to object to en masse?
http://www.woai.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=036195e6-9277-4822-908a-00e942589511

Hearing resumes in polygamist case

Last Update: 1:48 pm




Slideshow
Members of the Texas polygamist sect arrive to court for a child custody hearing in San Angelo, Texas April 17, 2008. (CNN) SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - A court hearing has resumed in Texas, where a judge will be deciding what happens to hundreds of children who were seized from a polygamist compound.

Shortly after the hearing began this morning, Judge Barbara Walther called a recess, to let the 350 lawyers read the evidence and decide whether to object as a group or individually. The hearing resumed about an hour later.

The lawyers are represesnting the 416 children and dozens of parents from a renegade Mormon sect that is accused of forcing underage girls into polygamous marriages.

Dozens of the mothers are gathered at the courtroom and at a satellite courtroom nearby. Those who are in the courtroom itself have been sworn in as witnesses.

Outside, a man who says he's a father of some of the children waved a photo of himself surrounded by four young children, in an effort to show they were not being abused. He said, "These children are all smiling, we're happy."

More than 400 children were taken into custody after a judge signed an emergency order nearly two weeks ago. The order gave the state custody of the children after a 16-year-old girl called an abuse hot line claiming that her husband, a 50-year-old member of the sect, beat and raped her. The girl has yet to be identified.
©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
 
Drib. If they think this is chaos, wait'll they start trying to place the kids in an underfunded, overstretched foster care system. The San Antonio Coliseum is at least a better venue than Fort Concho. It's the arena where the annual Stock Show and Rodeo and other large events are held, so it has lots of outbuildings, plumbing, a snack bar kitchen, and space. There might or might not be showers, but there are certainly facilities that can be turned into showers.

Custody Hearing for Seized Children Begins
Reported by: Leila Walsh
Email: [email protected]
Last Update: 4/17 10:09 pm

One of the largest child-custody hearings in U.S. history is underway In San Angelo. The fate of 416 children taken from a polygamist sect compound in Eldorado is at stake.

The city is having to use two court rooms to accommodate the crowds. They're using the auditorium at City Hall as the over flow court room. There are hundreds of lawyers and family members in both court rooms, all communicating by video.

There was a line out the door at the Tom Green County Court house in San Angelo, before the hearing began on Thursday morning.

The more than 400 children were seized from a FLDS polygamist ranch after a 16-year-old girl reported she was beaten and raped by her 50-year old husband.

The state wants to retain custody of the children, many of whom are now staying at the San Angelo Coliseum.

"I would caution that people be careful in rushing to judgment," said Mary Batchelor, a former polygamist family member herself. "We are dealing with families and family bonds, it's huge trauma on these kids and also a culture shock for them.

The attorneys from both sides say they will work to see that justice is served.
 
Dribble, drabble.
http://www.woai.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4346f8aa-682d-4411-9212-d45431c81106
Polygamous Sect DNA Testing to Begin

Last Update: 6:41 am

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - More than 400 children taken from a polygamous group's Texas ranch will undergo DNA testing this week. It's an attempt to determine who their parents are and if any sexual abuse took place.

Officials plan to begin taking DNA samples today at the coliseum in San Angelo where the children are being housed. They may need three or four days to complete the job

A judge ordered the tests at the request of state officials.

When the DNA sampling is completed, state officials will begin to relocate some of the 416 children from the coliseum and will separate the children younger than 4 years from adult mothers, pending future decisions on foster care.

The custody case is one of the nation's largest and most complicated. The ruling Friday capped two days of testimony that sometimes became disorderly as hundreds of lawyers for children and parents competed to defend their clients in two rooms linked by a video feed.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


http://www.woai.com/news/national/story.aspx?content_id=d6c81f89-bd22-4740-8aee-88ac11ad5a6b
DNA samples to be taken from polygamous sect kids

Last Update: 8:38 am

Authorities hold up sheets to protect the identity of the children and women who were removed from the polygamist compound in El Dorado, Texas April 4, 2008. (CNN) SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - Three men who belong to a polygamist sect in Texas say they'll cooperate in DNA testing if it helps them get their children back.

One man identified only as "Rulon" tells the "Early Show" on CBS the men will do whatever they need to do to get the children back "in their peaceful homes."

Starting today, officials plan to begin taking DNA samples from more than 400 children to determine who their parents are and if any of the children have been sexually abused. The work could take three or four days.

State prosecutors argue that the polygamist church encourages underage marriages and births, subjecting children to sexual abuse or the imminent risk of abuse.

"Rulon" says sect members are reconsidering whether girls under 18 should have sex with adult men.


©2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

To put that bolded statement in perspective: Texas (home of abstinence-only "sex education" :evil: ) has one of the highest teen-pregnancy rates in the U.S. I went to seventh grade (12-13 years) with a girl who disappeared the next year, and I had no reason to doubt the in-school gossip which claimed that this was because she had "gotten pregnant on purpose" because she "didn't want to go to school anymore." That was over 30 years ago, but West Texas is conservative in the sense that social change happens very slowly if at all.

Although one of the recurring pictures posted with these stories shows the sheet the children are hidden from photographers behind (!), other pictures show women from the compound coming and going from the courthouse in peculiar modern versions of someone's idea of pioneer outfits, pastel wrappers with long skirts and sleeves and high necks, but no petticoats, corsets, or bustles to give them shape. They don't walk like long-skirted women, either, but stride out to the limits of the dress.
 
From what I've read, the whole operation is flawed, and perhaps illegal.

For example, the man named in the warrant is actually in Arizona, on probation. His record can be found online. Seems that the San Angelo sheriff's office couldn't figure this out.

And now, it seems that the girl who called the authorities is actually a woman in Colorado who has a history of hoax calls to police.

Excuse me for not cutting and pasting lengthy excerpts. The second story is from the Salt Lake Tribune, April 18, 2008. The first story can found in the same paper, April 9 or so.

Looks to me like the authorities fumbled this badly.

Of course, it won't matter in the long run. The "cultists" are screwed, and their rights in this matter have already been disposed of.

Texas, it's a whole other country; a police state.
 
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