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| Teressa Wall Blackmore is now fighting for custody of her children because of FLDS retaliation for her testimony on behalf of her sister, Elissa Wall, during the Rape as an Accomplice trial of Warren Jeffs. Go here for more information on this terrible situation and how you can help Teressa maintain custody of her children! | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Breaking News | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Here's the latest on what's happening. These news articles are listed in chronological order. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Arizona prosecutor dropping one case against Warren Jeffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Monday, March 17, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Because one of the alleged victims refuses to testify, the Mohave County Attorney is dropping one case against Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. In a motion to dismiss filed in Mohave County Superior Court, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith asks a judge to drop a case with prejudice that charged Jeffs with sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. In the motion, Smith writes that the victim "has been contacted and has indicated through her attorney, Mik Jordahl, that she would not cooperate or testify in the present case." "The state cannot prove its case without the testimony of the victim," Smith wrote in the court document, filed March 10. "For this reason, the state requests this case be dismissed with prejudice at this time." Dismissing a case "with prejudice" means that it likely will not be refiled again. Smith has acknowledged in the past the case was on shaky ground. He dismissed the case against FLDS member Randy Barlow because the alleged victim refused to cooperate. In a 2006 letter to the judge in the case, Candi Shapley described herself as "the supposed victim of a case that has been blown out of proportion in an effort to get Warren Jeffs." Shapley said she felt prepared for a marriage granted by Jeffs. She said she felt pressured to testify by Mohave County authorities while her baby was having surgery in Salt Lake City. "Of course I said whatever they wanted me to say," Shapley wrote. "I wanted to get it over with and be done with it. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prosecutor files motion to dismiss 2 charges against Warren Jeffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Amanda Lee Myers The Associated Press Houston Chronicle Originally published March 17, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| PHOENIX — An Arizona prosecutor has filed a motion to dismiss two of 10 charges against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs because the alleged victim refuses to testify. Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith said Monday that he received a letter from Candi Shapley's attorney explaining that she doesn't want to take the stand against Jeffs. "She does not want to have to deal with all the family and community pressures to be involved in this case," Smith said. "And that's her decision, and I'm going to respect it and have always respected it." Shapley's attorney, Mik Jordhal, did not return a call for comment Monday. Shapley was 16 when Jeffs presided over her marriage to Randolph Barlow, who is more than a decade older than her. Shapley had cooperated with authorities, but surprised prosecutors when she refused to testify against Barlow at his 2006 trial on sexual assault charges. Her refusal in the Jeffs trial came as no surprise to Smith or defense attorneys. "It is frustrating," Smith said. "But when you see a pattern of this type of thing, you just have to realize that's part of it and you just have to move on." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Warren Jeffs Heads To Court In Hopes Of Getting 2 Charges Dropped | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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KTNV Channel 13 - Las Vegas Originally broadcast March 19, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Polygamous sect leader, Warren Jeffs, heads to court Wednesday. The leader of the fundamentalist LDS church is charged as an accomplice with four counts of incest and four counts of sexual conduct with a minor. His lawyers want to get two of those charges dropped Wednesday. According to the "Desert Morning News," that is because one of the alleged victims has refused to testify. Jeffs spent over a year on the run before he was arrested just outside of Las Vegas in August 2006. He was convicted last year in Utah of rape as an accomplice. Keep it tuned to Channel 13 Action News for the latest on this story. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Fall trial estimated in Jeffs' Arizona cases | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Aaron Royster Kingman Daily Miner Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| KINGMAN, Ariz. — The Mohave County Attorney said he estimates a fall trial in the cases remaining against Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs, 52, seemed to be in better spirits as he smiled to his supporters when he entered the courtroom on Wednesday morning, wearing prison garb with a camouflaged bulletproof vest. At the case management hearing, Mohave County Judge Steven F. Conn alerted Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith and Jeffs' defense attorney, Michael Piccarreta, to the ruling dismissing with prejudice a 2005 case at the request of the state. After a witness in the case indicated that she would not testify against Jeffs, Smith filed a motion to dismiss it. Jeffs still faces four counts of sexual conduct with a minor and four counts of incest in two separate cases accusing him of arranging marriages between teenage girls and adult male followers in the Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah area. Conn set a hearing for 8 a.m. on May 19. A trial date could be set at the hearing, though Smith said it would be unlikely to happen at that time. "This case will be tried probably in the fall as this case will not take as along as other serious cases," Smith said. Piccarreta filed a motion requesting the case be classified as complex, which will allow for the case to take longer without infringing on Jeffs' constitutional right to a speedy trial. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 'Lost Boys' dropping lawsuit against Jeffs, FLDS Church | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Six young men who sued the Fundamentalist LDS Church and its leader, Warren Jeffs, are dropping their lawsuit. "My clients feel like they've accomplished what they needed to," their attorney, Roger Hoole, told the Deseret Morning News late Wednesday. "The only thing left to go after is money, and that's not what they wanted." The six filed court papers in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court seeking to dismiss the lawsuit they filed in 2004, accusing Jeffs and the FLDS Church of ousting them from the communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., and cutting them off from their families. The young men became known as the "Lost Boys." "We have met our goals," Walter Fischer, one of the original plaintiffs, said in a statement issued by his attorney on Wednesday. "The only thing left to do is to go after money, and this case has never been about that." According to Hoole, the young men succeeded in helping to separate the FLDS Church's real estate arm, the United Effort Plan Trust, from the polygamous sect. In 2005, a judge took control of the $110 million trust amid allegations Jeffs and other top FLDS officials had mismanaged it. "Doing this was critical to protect the FLDS people, who live in church-owned homes and are dependent on staying in the church's good favor for their housing," plaintiff Richard Gilbert said in the statement. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Judge drops 2 of 10 Arizona charges against Warren Jeffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Amanda Lee Myers The Associated Press Houston Chronicle Originally published March 19, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| PHOENIX — An Arizona judge has dismissed two of 10 charges against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, who appeared briefly at a court hearing Wednesday. Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn made no rulings at the 15-minute hearing in Kingman but set various deadlines for the prosecuting and defending attorneys. No trial date has been set. Meanwhile, Conn agreed Monday to dismiss one charge each of sexual conduct with a minor and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor against Jeffs at the request of the prosecuting attorney. The charges stemmed from the arranged marriage of a 16-year-old girl with a man more than a decade older than her. Jeffs presided over the marriage. Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith wanted the charges dismissed because the alleged victim in the case is refusing to testify against Jeffs. She had previously cooperated with authorities. Jeffs, who was already prosecuted in Utah, is still charged in Arizona 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, one of whom was in his 50s. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Polygamist leader back in court | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Jim Seckler Mohave Daily News Originally published Wednesday, March 19, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| KINGMAN - The leader of a polygamist sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Colorado City made his second court appearance Wednesday still surrounded by heavy police protection. Wearing a bulletproof vest in court, Warren Steed Jeffs, 52, now faces eight felony charges in two 2007 cases involving two underage victims. He is charged with four counts of incest and four counts of sexual conduct with a minor. The first 2007 case charges him with two counts of incest and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving an underage girl between May 1 and June 30, 2002, and between Aug. 15 and Sept. 15, 2002. The second case charges him with two counts of incest and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor involving another underage girl on Aug. 31, 2003, and in September 2003. Jeffs allegedly arranged marriages between older men and their teenage relatives. Jeffs' Tucson attorney, Michael Piccarreta, said Wednesday he expects to file numerous motions - including remanding the case back to the grand jury, suppressing evidence and dismissing all criminal charges because of comments made by Mohave County Attorney's Office investigator Gary Engels. Engels reportedly made remarks about the case at a Republican function that hinted of religious intolerance, Piccarreta said. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 seek dismissal of suits vs. jailed polygamist leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Jennifer Dobner The Associated Press Arizona Daily Star - Tucson, AZ Originally published March 20, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| SALT LAKE CITY — Seven men who filed civil lawsuits against the head of a polygamous church are now asking a court to dismiss the cases, their attorney said Wednesday. Six men — known as Lost Boys — filed suit against Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 2004, claiming they were unfairly kicked out of the church. Another man, a nephew of Jeffs', filed a separate suit that year alleging he had been sexually assaulted by his uncle. The Associated Press does not typically name victims of alleged sexual assault. The lawsuits defaulted, and none collected damages. Instead, the men waited for the state to take over a $114 million church property trust and then sued the trust. In a settlement, each was given three acres of southern Utah land, and a $250,000 fund was established to help other FLDS young people. Attorney Roger Hoole said dismissal papers for the original lawsuits were filed in 3rd District Court Wednesday, "signaling that their objectives have largely been met." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Book excerpt from Daphne Bramham's The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Marni Soupcoff National Post - Toronto, Ontario Originally published March 20, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The following is an excerpt from The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada’s Polygamous Mormon Sect by Daphne Bramham.
In November 2001, a month after the United States, Canada and a coalition of other countries attacked Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden, President George W. Bush talked about the kind of life women and children were leading under the tyranny of the Taliban. Women are imprisoned in their homes, and are denied access to basic health care and education. Food sent to help starving people is stolen by their leaders. The religious monuments of other faiths are destroyed. Children are forbidden to fly kites, or sing songs," he said. "A girl of seven is beaten for wearing white shoes." A few weeks later, Laura Bush filled in for her husband on his weekly radio spot. "All of us have an obligation to speak out," she said. "We may come from different backgrounds and faiths — but parents the world over love our children. We respect our mothers, our sisters and daughters. Fighting brutality against women and children is not the expression of a specific culture; it is the acceptance of our common humanity." The Bushes were referring to the Taliban in Afghanistan, but they might well have been talking about women and children in the United States and Canada living under the tyranny of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), the largest polygamous sect in North America. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Wyler pre-trial postponed | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Tiffany DeMasters The Spectrum Originally published March 20, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE - Wayland Wyler's new defense attorney asked the judge Wednesday afternoon for more time to review the case before rescheduling a pre-trial. Defense attorney Alan Boyack is now representing 41-year-old Wyler in a case where he has been charged with two counts of sodomy of a child, both first-degree felonies. "I've only recently came on board and there is a fair amount of investigation that needs to be done in a community that is sometimes difficult to obtain information," Boyack said. He added he hasn't had the opportunity to review the transcript of the preliminary hearing and his private investigator hasn't had the opportunity to interview witnesses. Senior Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum said they anticipated the continuance. "We just hope whatever investigation he (Boyack) needs gets done so we can get the trial reset so the alleged victim and family can move on with their lives," Shaum said. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| The polygamist's bride | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Trials of teenage wife Debbie Oler suffered in various ways after marrying a British Columbia Mormon leader | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By DAPHNE BRAMHAM, Canwest News Service The Montreal Gazette Originally published Saturday, March 22, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Vancouver Sun's Daphne Bramham has been writing a continuing series of columns and reports on the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C.
The following is an excerpt from Bramham's new book, The Secret Lives of the Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect. It wasn't just the exhortations and expectations of the priesthood leaders that made Debbie Oler anxious to marry. She also believed in the power of revelation, and that by fasting and praying she would come to know God's plan for her. And what she came to believe was that God not only had chosen her to be Ray Blackmore's wife, but that he would tell her how to cure Ray of his leukemia if she loved him enough, was obedient enough and prayed hard enough. That fall, after her fourteenth birthday, Debbie told her father about her revelation and how she felt about Ray. Dalmon Oler approached the prophet LeRoy Johnson on his next visit to Lister, B.C. The prophet listened but said nothing. Debbie was heartbroken and, in her distress, poured out her heart to her friends, and Ray's busybody son heard almost every word. "Oh what an uproar at school," Winston Blackmore wrote in his questionable account of the strange romance. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Polygamists' secrets laid bare | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Journalists takes governments to task for not acting | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Catherine Ford, For the Calgary Herald Originally published Sunday, March 23, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Secret Lives of Saints:
Child Brides and Lost Boys in a Polygamous Mormon Sect by Daphne Bramham (Random House Canada, $32.95, 432 pages) - - - - The fatal flaw in polygamy is arithmetic, writes Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham. Given that a society normally produces as many boys as girls, what does a polygamous community do with all the extra men? Kick them out, of course, preferably before they present a challenge for the charms of girls their own age. But the story of these "lost boys" is incidental to the focus of The Secret Lives Of Saints, although they are the collateral damage of the tale. The real damage is the fate of young, pubescent, nubile girls. This is one society where protection would come in the form of physical ugliness. Bramham is unsparing in her criticism for the "religion" of fundamentalism, for the law, the legislatures concerned and, ultimately, the lies that underpin the promotion of polygamy as some sort of normal, albeit alternative, lifestyle. She is scathing in her condemnation of the notion that it is appropriate to marry off girls barely in their teens to men old enough to be, and in some cases are, their own grandfathers. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Police misconduct hits record high | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Tuesday, March 25, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ST. GEORGE — A record 35 cases of police officer misconduct were brought before the agency that certifies and disciplines officers. The majority of the cases the Utah Peace Officer Standards and Training Council dealt with on Monday involved sexual misconduct, prompting POST's newly appointed director to suggest more ethics instruction to officers and cadets. "Officers think, 'That's not happening,' when in fact it is," POST executive director Scott Stephenson told the Deseret Morning News. "We're hitting ethics really, really hard." As they ran down the long list of officers facing sanctions, many council members took a hard-line stance. In some cases, they rejected what they believed were lighter suspensions. "Whether it's one time or repeated times, I really think we have to send a strong message that that type of behavior is intolerable," said Utah Department of Corrections director Tom Patterson, when reviewing the disciplinary actions against four Utah County sheriff's deputies involved in a jailhouse sex scandal last year while on-duty and off-duty. The deputies received suspensions ranging from two to four years and have resigned from their jobs. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Author delves into life in Bountiful | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lifestyles Black Press - British Columbia, Canada Originally published March 26, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Exploring polygamy
Author delves into life in Bountiful Religious extremism seems worlds away from Victoria. However, the southern part of our province is a hotbed of religious extremists. A tiny communal town with less than 1,000 people, Bountiful, B.C., is one of North America’s well-known settlements for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who openly practice polygamy — the practice of taking multiple wives. The tiny community recently gained national attention when Utah’s Warren Jeffs, the former leader of Mormon fundamentalist polygynist sect who had close ties to the town, was arrested and convicted of being an accomplice to rape after he arranged an extralegal marriage between an adult follower and underage girl. Winston Blackmore, the leader of Bountiful, B.C., once a follower of Jeffs and close confident, has since denounced the former leader as a "false prophet." Blackmore currently has around 22 wives (at last count) and has allegedly fathered more than 100 children and allegedly impregnated 15 year olds. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stalled in House, bill on child bigamy gets second chance in Senate | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Daniel J. Quigley Cronkite News Service The Arizona Republic Originally published March 27, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stalled legislation that would bar courts from granting custody to parents engaged in child bigamy got a second chance Thursday when a Senate committee approved attaching it to another bill. Rep. David Lujan, D-Phoenix, is pushing for the change, saying it would help women leaving polygamist sects because those women often have few resources, which can compel courts to give full or shared custody to fathers who practice child bigamy. Under Arizona law, child bigamy includes married adults taking minors as spouses or causing minors to marry adults who already have spouses. Lujan's original bill, HB 2009, would bar courts from awarding custody or unsupervised parenting time to a parent who engages in child bigamy unless a judge states in writing that there is no significant risk to the child. That bill won unanimous approval from the House Committee on Human Services but stalled when the Judiciary Committee declined to hear it. On Thursday, the Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee approved adding the language of Lujan's bill to HB 2275 sponsored by Rep. Pete Hershberger, R-Tucson. Hershberger's bill would limit evidence courts can use to grant temporary orders of child support, custody or parenting time to a paternity test or admission of paternity. The committee's move sends the measure to the full Senate and then, if it passes, back to the full House. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children around dangerous work can have tragic results | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death of Bountiful teen who was using heavy equipment is under investigation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Daphne Bramham Vancouver Sun Originally published Friday, March 28, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| A 14-year-old boy is dead, killed at mill site near Cranbrook nine days ago. Steven Clancy Blackmore was apparently trying to manipulate some heavy equipment at a lumber mill with a pole when the weight of the equipment "must have been too heavy and fell back on the victim," according to an RCMP press release issued six days after the accident. "When found by his father, the pole was pinned across the victim's neck." Neither his father nor paramedics was able to revive him. The victim is a nephew of fundamentalist Mormon leader Winston Blackmore. The work site is owned by Palmer Bar Holdings Inc., whose sole director is Duane Palmer. Palmer is Blackmore's bishop in the community of Bountiful and superintendent of the government-funded Mormon Hills School. The boy's father, Karl Blackmore, told RCMP that his son was not working at the site and was not an employee of Palmer Bar Holdings. The father told police that he took his son with him after the mill was closed to unload some wood. While the father did that, his son was apparently left on his own to scramble around heavy equipment. RCMP, the provincial coroner and WorkSafeBC are all investigating. WorkSafeBC has yet to determine whether the boy was working at the site. But its investigator is checking to ensure that the site is safe for visitors as well as employees, according to Roberta Ellis, the vice-president of investigation policies. She said the inspector will be looking at whether the company's training and supervision for new and young workers is adequate. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| New scoreboard delights Colorado City school | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, March 29, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach Natalie Zitting is down to just six basketballs at the El Capitan Public School in Colorado City, Ariz., and she doesn't know where she'll get the money to buy more. But she's smiling — the Eagles finally have a scoreboard. "It's awesome!" Zitting said. "Any progress helps the kids, and helps them feel they're the same as any other school." The scoreboard was donated last week by Chris Sonntag, whose company sells bleachers, scoreboards and playgrounds used in schools. "They're nice, good people and I just felt like they deserved a break," he said. A story in the Deseret Morning News in February highlighted the challenges the El Capitan Eagles have faced. At games, the kids from the polygamous border towns have endured taunts of "plyg kids" or "go home to your wives!" as well as threats of violence. Some schools wouldn't play them after hearing they were from Colorado City. "When I read that, I thought: 'They deserve better,"' Sonntag said, explaining why he was donating the gently used scoreboard to the school. Others have rallied around the Eagles. The nearby Kaibab Piute tribe donated $1,000 to help install the scoreboard. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| the polygamy problem | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Canadians don't condone the practices of fundamentalist Mormons, yet nothing is done about plural wives, 'lost boys' and abuse. Daphne Bramham's analysis is a must-read | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Don Grayston, Special to the Sun The Vancouver Sun Originally published Saturday, March 29, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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THE SECRET LIVES OF SAINTS: CHILD BRIDES AND LOST BOYS IN CANADA'S POLYGAMOUS MORMON SECT
BY DAPHNE BRAMHAM Random House Canada, 439 pages ($32.95) - - - Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham took the road to Bountiful and found it paved with child abuse, forced marriage, greed, lies, fraud and the suckering of the provincial government. The story she tells in The Secret Lives of Saints, a well-researched book on the community, is gripping, illuminating and infuriating. Bountiful, near Creston in southeastern B.C., has been the home of a polygamous community of fundamentalist Mormons since the 1940s. The villain of the piece is Winston Blackmore, millionaire bishop, husband of (at last count) 26 wives and father of 109 children. He is the folksy, shrewd patriarch of an essentially pre-modern society, which he controls by his knowledge of the modern/postmodern world in which the rest of us live -- a world to which he largely denies his followers access. On the wall of his office is the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which he confidently believes gives him, through its reference to freedom of religion, the right to practise polygamy as a religious duty. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Billboard offers 'escape' | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, March 20, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| BOUNTIFUL — The words stand out amid the signs for new houses and fast food. "Escape polygamy." From Ogden to St. George, billboards are popping up in an evangelical Christian ministry's efforts to reach out to those seeking to leave polygamy. "It's an awareness campaign for people to know that someone is there and to give them this number," said Doris Hanson of A Shield & Refuge Ministries, which is behind the billboards. Hanson is starting the campaign as part of her ministry's efforts to reach out to people dealing with abuse and neglect in polygamous communities and provide help through provisions, education and prayer. "We will provide anything we can to help someone leave," she said in an interview with the Deseret Morning News. A Shield & Refuge Ministries was born, in part, out of Hanson's own experiences in polygamy, which she called "abusive emotionally." Hanson said when she finally left the Kingston group in 1964, she had few people willing to help her. "I don't want anyone to think that I'm doing it out of revenge, bitterness or anger. I don't have any of that," she said. "I don't want to see others go through what I went through." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| A disturbing trip to Bountiful - abuse in the name of God | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| An angry B.C. journalist demands to know who is going to protect the young from the polygamists | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Kim Hughes Toronto Star - Ontario, Canada Originally published March 30, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Secret Lives of Saints:
Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect by Daphne Bramham Random House Canada, 464 pages, $32.95 Suggesting a North American religious group is like the dreaded Taliban is a grave accusation. Fighting words, you might say, and sure to spin heads. But Vancouver Sun columnist Daphne Bramham has plenty of strong language for the polygamous Mormons of Bountiful, B.C., Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Ariz. – members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS for short. In her riveting and unsettling book, The Secret Lives of Saints, Bramham variously calls them extortionists, misogynists, racists, child abusers and, most disturbingly, pedophiles. She says the Taliban has nothing on the FLDS where revolting attitudes toward women and children are concerned. Though she concedes that "credit" for the "North America Taliban" designation belongs to Utah Attorney General and FLDS nemesis Mark Shurtleff, Bramham's book is a forceful corroboration of the comparison. Not for nothing did American FLDS leader Warren Jeffs occupy a spot opposite Osama bin Laden on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List before his capture outside Las Vegas in 2006. He would eventually be found guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice. Yet as Bramham demonstrates time and again throughout The Secret Lives of Saints, nobody save a few vigilant reporters, prosecutors and escaped former FLDS members seems especially outraged about the plural marriages, child brides, cultish schooling and us-versus-them mentality of the sect. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Men suing trust, FLDS are booted from farm | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Two brothers who filed a lawsuit against the United Effort Plan Trust and against Fundamentalist LDS Church leaders are being asked to move out of the Iron County dairy farm they live on. "We are being evicted from our homes and that's the same thing that Warren Jeffs did," Sterling Harker told the Deseret Morning News on Thursday. The special fiduciary of the court-controlled UEP Trust confirmed Thursday he asked Sterling J. Harker and his brother, William S. Harker, to leave the property in the wake of their multimillion dollar lawsuit. "They sued the trust, and so I fired Sterling as an employee and asked them to leave the farm," Bruce Wisan said, adding that communications between the two sides have not progressed. The lawsuit filed in Cedar City's 5th District Court contends that shares of the dairy farm were improperly handed over to the FLDS Church in 1997 at the request of Warren Jeffs, whom the lawsuit claims was acting for his father, then-leader Rulon Jeffs. When Sterling Harker expressed reservations, the lawsuit claims he was told: "It is what the prophet wants. You must support the prophet." The lawsuit states that over time, both William and Sterling Harker were removed from the farm's corporate filings. Years later, a portion of the farm was sold, and Sterling Harker was told to move out. He filed a lien against the transaction. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| FLDS towns to get occupancy deals | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupancy agreements to live on land in the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., are being distributed to every home — with the hope that people will sign them. If not, they face the possibility of eviction. "Some of those people will be receiving letters as well, saying they have 15 days in which to sign those occupancy agreements," said Bruce Wisan, the court-appointed special fiduciary of the United Effort Plan Trust. "We'll ask them to leave if they're not willing to sign those occupancy agreements." Wisan said he has to force the issue to know who's living where, to get taxes paid and collect assessments. The fiduciary is trying to implement court-ordered reforms including subdividing the communal UEP Trust, eventually paving the way for private property ownership. In 2005, a judge in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court took control of the trust, which controls homes and property, over claims that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and other trustees of the UEP had mismanaged it. Since being appointed by the judge to manage the UEP Trust, Wisan has had to battle people in the community to collect property taxes or subdivide the property. Lately, his attempts to collect a $100-a-month fee for infrastructure improvements in the towns has yielded only 35 payments. Another letter has gone out warning that failure to pay could result in evictions. The perception among some is that Wisan is being heavy-handed. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Agents at polygamist ranch checking 'safety of children' | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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CNN Originally broadcast April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| (CNN) -- Texas authorities are investigating "the safety of children" at a ranch occupied by about 400 followers of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, officials said Friday. Authorities have sealed off the 1,900-acre ranch near Eldorado and no one is allowed to enter or leave, officials with Child Protective Services and the Department of Public Safety said. The people living at the ranch are cooperating, authorities said. Escorted by police, social workers entered the compound in south central Texas at 8 p.m. Thursday after receiving "a referral," said Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner. Child Protective Services "is conducting an investigation into safety issues of the children who live within the compound," she said. Meisner would not provide details about the referral but did say officials responded "within days" of receiving it. As of Friday morning, Meisner added, her agency had "not determined that there is a safety issue with these children." Several law enforcement agencies are assisting with the investigation, said Tela Mange, of the Texas Department of Public Safety. "The people at the ranch have been cooperative and they are providing the investigators with everyone they want to talk to," she said. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 52 children removed from Eldorado-area sect ranch; man, 50, faces impregnation-of-minor allegation | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| A 50-year-old man is accused of marrying and fathering a child with a 16-year-old girl at the polygamist YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, according to a search and arrest warrant released just before 5 p.m. by Tom Green County district court. The warrant, signed Thursday afternoon by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, led state authorities to remove 52 children from the ranch, owned and run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "We are dealing with many victims," Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said in a news conference in Eldorado. "There's evidence they have been abused, or are at imminent risk or harm. It is not safe for them to remain on the compound." The girls' ages range from 6 months to 17 years, Meisner said. Eighteen have been placed in the custody of CPS, she said, and case workers are interviewing the children in Eldorado's civic center, where they have been provided food and cots. The warrant authorizes law enforcement to seize records detailing the birth of children to the 16-year-old girl, any records or books listing the marriage of Dale Barlow and the girl and any children born to them, as well as any "medical records, documents or files related to (the girl) and the birth of her child." The Standard-Times does not print the names of juveniles or those listed as victims of alleged sex-related crimes. The FLDS compound has been sealed since late Thursday, after Walther signed the warrant at 5:30 p.m. that day. Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said troopers have not arrested Barlow. According to state law, a girl younger than 16 cannot be married, not even with parental consent. According to the warrant, the girl turned 16 in January and has a baby about 8 months old. See photos of the raid | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dozens of children removed from polygamist ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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CNN Originally broadcast April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- Authorities say they removed 52 children, ages 6 months to 17 years, from a West Texas ranch occupied by followers of imprisoned polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs. Eighteen girls have been placed in the temporary custody of the state under a court order, said Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner. Authorities said they continue to search the 1,900-acre YFZ ranch, and at least one suspect is being sought by police. Meisner said troopers and child welfare officials arrived at the secluded ranch Thursday evening with arrest and search warrants. They were responding to a report of "physical abuse" and neglect involving a 16-year-old girl. At this point in the investigation, she added, the abuse does not appear to be sexual. Another Child Protective Services spokesman, Darrell Azar, said the 18 girls were placed in state custody because it appeared that they "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse." Law enforcement and child welfare officials were at the ranch all night Thursday and throughout Friday. Meisner said the search was expected to continue into the night. No arrests had been made by early Friday evening, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman said in a recorded message. The children were taken in two borrowed church buses from the ranch to a civic center near Eldorado. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 52 children taken during raid | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Randy Mankin The Eldorado Success The Spectrum Originally published April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, Texas - Two buses from First Baptist Church of Eldorado were used Friday afternoon to remove 52 children, mostly girls, from the YFZ Ranch, a large Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints complex north of Eldorado, Texas. Residents of the YFZ Ranch are members of the church once led by self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Washington County, Utah on two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in arranging and performing a marriage between one of his male followers and his underage cousin. Jeffs faces similar charges in Arizona as well as a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. He was on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives list until his capture near Las Vegas in 2006. The children removed from the complex Friday were taken to the Schleicher County Civic Center approximately two miles south of town. Once there they were reportedly turned over to Texas Child Protective Services. Meanwhile, other buses were observed headed back into the YFZ Ranch. CPS workers are seeking immediate temporary custody of 18 of the children ranging in age from 6 months to 17 years. The other 34 children are being interviewed and treated as if they are "at risk," according to investigators. It is not clear who will end up with custody of the children once hearings are held Monday before 51st District Judge Barbara Walther in San Angelo, Texas. Authorities set up a perimeter around the YFZ Ranch late Thursday afternoon to support an effort by CPS to investigate a report that an underage girl had been sexually abused at the ranch. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| State removes 52 girls from polygamist ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| CPS received a tip about sexual abuse in isolated religious sect | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By JANET ELLIOTT Houston Chronicle Originally published April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| AUSTIN — Fifty-two girls, including 18 suspected abuse victims, were removed by state officials Friday from the West Texas compound where a religious sect kept them isolated from the outside world. The dramatic departure by school bus involved many of the girls living at the community near Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo. The complex of dormitory-style buildings and a large temple was founded four years ago by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl. Boys were allowed to remain at the Yearn for Zion Ranch but will be questioned by investigators from Child Protective Services, said agency spokesman Darrell Azar. Child abuse investigators and officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrived at the complex Thursday in response to a report CPS received Monday alleging a 16-year-old girl had been sexually and physically abused. On Friday, they executed a search warrant at the compound. The warrant is for records dealing with the birth of any children to a 16-year-old and any records listing a marriage between a 50-year-old man and the girl, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times, which cited court records released late Friday in Tom Green County. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 52 girls removed from FLDS compound in Texas | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Friday, April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Child welfare workers have taken custody of 52 girls from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's compound in Eldorado, Texas, after a raid over allegations of child sex abuse on the Utah-based polygamous sect's ranch. "We legally removed 18 children. We concluded they had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. "Under Texas law, either one is grounds for removal." An additional 34 girls were taken Friday afternoon to the nearby city of San Angelo, where they are being interviewed to determine if they should be placed in state protective custody. Police are also serving warrants in connection with the investigation. "At this point we are now serving search and arrest warrants at the property for individuals covered in those warrants," Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said. "Nobody's been arrested at this time." Texas child protective services workers were on the YFZ Ranch Thursday and Friday, interviewing the children who live there. Authorities said the investigation began when a 16-year-old girl who lives there called child protective services on Monday. "She said she was being sexually abused," Schleicher County Attorney Raymond Loomis told the Deseret Morning News. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| BREAKING NEWS: Authorities remove girls from FLDS ranch near Eldorado | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Matt Phinney and Paul S. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - State authorities have removed at least two dozen adolescent girls from the secluded YFZ Ranch after Child Protective Services officials spent the morning interviewing children at the gated Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints compound in Schleicher County. The girls, removed in two buses owned by Eldorado's First Baptist Church, stared straight ahead; some lifted jackets to the windows to block themselves from view of the media. About 2:45 p.m., they were taken away from the ranch, about three miles north of Eldorado, a city of about 1,900 some 44 miles south of San Angelo. About an hour later, one of the buses re-entered the compound carrying only the driver and one other person. The action followed a morning of anticipation as law enforcement served a search warrant at the ranch in response to a child-welfare complaint. Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange confirmed that authorities were serving one search warrant and had received one arrest warrant they had yet to serve at the Mormon splinter sect compound. She declined to provide further details. The warrants, signed by Tom Green County District Judge Barbara Walther, and the affidavits filed with them have not been released pending a decision on whether they can or should be made public, a court administrator said. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Six bus loads of children removed from YFZ Ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Community turns out to help feed and house the youngsters | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Breaking News The Eldorado Success Originally published April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, TEXAS -- Buses from Schleicher County ISD and First Baptist Church of Eldorado were pressed into service Friday to transport 167 children away from the YFZ Ranch where they had been removed from their parents custody by Texas Child Protective Services in accordance with a court order issued by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther. The children range in age from 6 months of 17 years. There are 96 boys and 71 girls. CPS is trying to determine if the parents of the babies are among the young girls they took into custody, or if the parents even live at the YFZ Ranch. CPS is seeking immediate temporary custody of 18 of the children while the remainder are to be interviewed to determine if they are "at risk." Community members as well as congregations from a several Eldorado churches began preparing food for the children. They also helped prepare cots and bedding in hopes of making the children as comfortable as possible. The move to take the children into custody began with a CPS that an underage girl at the YFZ was being sexually and physically abused. Law enforcement officers sealed of all the roads, leading to the YFZ Ranch late Thursday afternoon. The lawmen demanded entry to the ranch just before midnight that evening and they escorted CPS workers on to YFZ property without incident. CPS interviews of the children lasted throughout the night and well into the afternoon on Friday. That's when a number of buses began transporting children from the YFZ Ranch to the Schleicher County Civic Center south of Eldorado. There the children were turned over to CPS workers. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Midland County Sends Aid to Eldorado | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Camaron Abundes NewsWest 9 - KWES-TV - Midland, Texas Originally broadcast April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| MIDLAND- An eight member SWAT Team from the Midland County Sheriff's office was in Eldorado, Friday, helping dozens of law enforcement agents from around Texas in a raid at the Fundamentalists Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound. Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter says they also sent an armored personnel carrier to help gain access on the compound. "They had the temple surrounded with their vehicles refusing to allow admittance. We rolled the armored personnel carrier up and they complied," said Sheriff Painter. Sheriff Painter says his team worked with about 60 other law enforcement agents to search the buildings on the compound. "We have information, young people, females, that are in the compound some of them might be held against their will others that may have been used as sex tools or whatever you want to call it. Some of them have children, these young ladies are sixteen or under," Painter said. See photo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| State looks to house girls removed from compound | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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KXAN Austin News Originally broadcast April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| AUSTIN, Texas (KXAN) -- Dozens of children were removed by the state from a religious compound in West Texas Friday. Troopers with the Department of Public Safety served search and arrest warrants Friday at the site in Eldorado, which was built by polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs is in prison, convicted of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl in Utah. A complaint led Child Protective Services to the compound, and the agency is looking for temporary homes for more than 50 girls younger than 17, some of whom are reportedly pregnant. The bus, carrying 52 girls from 6 months to 17 years old rolled out of the Eldorado compound Friday afternoon to an uncertain future. "We are dealing with many victims, and of course, the setting is different than we're accustomed to," said Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for CPS. The raid began Thursday evening after a call for help from inside the compound reported there had been physical abuse to a 16-year-old girl. "That is the information we have received -- needing help, needing our assistance," said Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| San Angelo Judge Issues Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Michael Stafford NewsWest 9 - KWES-TV - Midland, Texas Originally broadcast April 4, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, TEXAS - The latest out of Eldorado, no more information, a judge in San Angelo has issued a gag order. Law enforcement officials remain in Eldorado after raiding the compound of convicted Polygamist Leader Warren Jeffs on Friday. Officers from Midland, the Texas Rangers, and Child Protective Services descended on the compound Friday morning after allegations of abuse surfaced. They later stormed the facility just before noon. 52 girls were removed and 18 are in CPS custody. Child Protective Services says the girls, range in age from infants to 17 years old. Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter told NewsWest 9 he received reports that some of the girls who were removed from the compound are pregnant. A judge so far has given the State custody to about one-third of the girls. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| State takes 52 girls from sect's West Texas ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By BILL HANNA and JACK DOUGLAS JR. Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| State officials removed 52 girls from a polygamous sect's compound in Schleicher County on Friday, a day after authorities blocked access to the secretive West Texas outpost in response to a report of child abuse, officials said. The girls, ranging from 6 months to 17 years old, were put on buses at the YFZ Ranch outside Eldorado and driven north to San Angelo, where they were being housed at a civic center, Child Protective Services officials said. Eighteen were taken into legal custody and will be placed in foster care, CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. "We're assessing their needs and making arrangements for their placement," Crimmins said. "The caseworkers need to have an opportunity to assess their needs." "Legally, logistically it's a challenge for us -- the number of children we're removing into care all at once in a sparsely populated part of the state. I don't know how difficult it will be to place them, but we will do so." The other 34 children were being interviewed late Friday. The YFZ Ranch is owned by followers of a secretive sect known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which is based in Utah and Arizona. The investigation began with a call reporting the physical abuse of a 16-year-old girl at the compound, CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner told The Associated Press. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Seclusion ends for splinter sect | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Matt Phinney San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - Several dozen confused girls stared out from within a shuttle bus borrowed from the First Baptist Church of Eldorado as a law enforcement motorcade made its way to town. In a bus behind it, other girls held coats up to the window to block the view of reporters and photographers who were waiting at Rudd Road and U.S. Highway 277. "We're dealing with children that are not accustomed to the outside world," said Marleigh Meisner, public information officer with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. The girls, 52 of them, were escorted Friday from a ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a notoriously reclusive group that moved to a ranch north of town about four years ago. The girls were moved from the ranch about 2:45 p.m. Friday, and 18 were placed into the custody of the Child Protective Services. The action came near the end of a long day for area and state law enforcement and child protection officials, who converged in Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo. The ordeal started about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and continued through the night. Law enforcement officials and child protective services personnel entered the ranch to investigate a complaint of abuse. By early Friday, media began assembling on the roadside, miles from the compound metal gates. In all, about 10 outlets were in Eldorado by Friday afternoon, including CNN. Local residents drove by Rudd Road watching the group of satellite trucks and live broadcasts, and some even stopped to snap a few pictures. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 167 kids taken in Texas raid | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Police seeking man in child-bride marriage | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorities have removed 167 children from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's compound near Eldorado, Texas, after a raid over allegations of child sex abuse on the Utah-based polygamous sect's ranch. School buses and church buses commandeered by law enforcement ferried the children from the YFZ Ranch. Some of the girls, wearing the prairie-style dresses so common to the fundamentalist border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., appeared nervous. Child protective services workers said they range in age from 6 months to 17 years. Authorities said 18 girls were immediately placed in state protective custody. "We concluded they had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. "Under Texas law, either one is grounds for removal." The children are being kept at a civic center where cots have been set up and local churches are providing food. "There's 96 boys and 71 girls," Randy Mankin, the editor of the Eldorado Success newspaper, said late Friday night. "I understand there's some underage girls that are pregnant." The children are being interviewed by child welfare workers to determine whether they need to be placed in protective custody or foster care. A court hearing will be held on Monday, Mankin said. "We're dealing with children that aren't accustomed to the outside world, and so we're trying to be very, very sensitive to their needs," said Marleigh Meisner with child protective services. More people will be questioned on the YFZ Ranch today. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Official on children at FLDS ranch: 'It is not safe for them to remain' | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony and Matt Phinney San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Accusations that a 50-year-old man illegally married and had sex with a now-16-year-old girl led to the removal Friday of 52 girls from a secretive Schleicher County polygamist compound. Some of the girls, ages 6 months to 17 years, showed signs of having been abused or were in danger of abuse, said state Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner. Those 18 girls have been placed in CPS custody, Meisner said. "We're dealing with many victims," she said. "There's evidence they have been abused, or are at imminent risk of harm. It is not safe for them to remain on the compound." Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said Friday evening officers were still searching for Dale Barlow, identified as the subject of an arrest warrant - signed by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther on Thursday afternoon and released just before 5 p.m. Friday. According to the warrant, authorities were to seize any records or documents detailing the marriage of Barlow and the 16-year-old and the resulting birth about eight months ago of a girl. It also orders the seizure of computer equipment, hard drives and data storage equipment from the ranch, as well as DVDs, videotapes and photographs. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas polygamist compound sealed off by troopers | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Child welfare officials investigate a complaint that girls may have been abused at the YFZ Ranch, built by the sect led by jailed self-styled prophet Warren Jeffs. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Miguel Bustillo Los Angeles Times Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOUSTON -- State troopers sealed off a polygamist compound in a remote stretch of Texas on Friday, and child welfare officials removed 52 girls after a complaint that a 16-year-old had been physically and sexually abused, authorities said. The investigation at the YFZ Ranch, a walled-off complex just outside the town of Eldorado that is anchored by a towering white temple, came as welcome news to local officials, who had complained for years about the religious sect hunkered there. "We know they're violating the law, but someone has to raise their hand and testify, and until that happens we don't have anything," said James C. Doyle, a local justice of the peace who has flown frequently over the compound in his private plane. "Those young girls are so brainwashed, it's hard to know what they'll say." Texas Department of Public Safety officials disclosed shortly after noon that they were going to execute search and arrest warrants on some of the compound's inhabitants, but did not explain why. As of Friday evening, no one had been arrested, a spokesman said. A Child Protective Services spokesman confirmed that officials had removed 52 girls by bus, ranging from 6 months to 17 years of age. Of those, 18 were taken into state custody due to concerns about abuse and neglect, while the others were being interviewed by caseworkers to determine whether they too should be taken from their parents. "Generally speaking, a removal occurs when there is no other way to protect a child from abuse or neglect," spokesman Patrick Crimmins said. "It could be that abuse has happened, or that we felt there was a really good chance that it would." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| More children removed from FLDS Ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published Saturday, April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO — State officials confirmed this morning(0405) that more children were removed overnight from the YFZ ranch polygamist compound overnight, and that the total number of children taken away from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church property is likely well over 100. "It's more than it was yesterday, but I don't have a number for you," said Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for the state's Child Protective Services agency. Fifty-two children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years were taken off the ranch in shuttle buses by authorities Friday during an investigative raid that began Thursday night, involving Department of Public Safety law enforcement officers, officials from Child Protective Services and other agencies. An additional two buses were sent to the ranch this morning and have not returned. Buses also removed children from the compound overnight. At least 100 children are being kept at Eldorado's community center and the Eldorado First Baptist Church fellowship hall, said Linda Love, owner of the Sutton County Steak House in nearby Sonora, which served dinner to the children Friday night and breakfast this morning. Love said officials told her to expect to serve about 225 people – an unknown mix of children, volunteers and law enforcement – for dinner today. "They're singing songs," she said, standing outside First Baptist Church. "So happy and sweet and precious. It's heart breaking." The DPS is no longer answering questions about the situation, according to a recorded message on the agency's public affairs phone line. Spokesman Tom Vinger in the recorded message cites requests from the Tom Green County District Attorney's office for the agency to cease commenting on the matter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hildale and Colorado City worry over Texas raid | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Ben Winslow Deseret Morning News Originally published Saturday, April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Through whispers and phone calls, the news of the raid on the YFZ Ranch is spreading through the Fundamentalist LDS strongholds of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. "Everybody's talking about it," said ex-FLDS member Isaac Wyler, who lives in the border towns. As he drove through the towns formerly known as "Short Creek" on Friday, Wyler told the Deseret Morning News he was watching a flurry of activity. Outside an FLDS-run private school, he said dozens of cars were parked there. "I'm sure everybody's having little meetings," he said. Reminiscent of the infamous 1953 raid on Short Creek, where polygamists were rounded up and put in jail and their children put in foster care, people on both sides of the polygamy debate were worried about the impact of this latest action in Texas. "It seems like a huge, massive step for law enforcement to come in like that and raid this community," said Mary Batchelor of the pro-polygamy group Principle Voices. "It's terrifying." Ross Chatwin, another ex-FLDS member, feared the Texas raid would serve to further entrench and isolate the FLDS from the outside world. "Warren (Jeffs) and the leaders, they're wanting something like this to happen so they can fullfil a prophecy that it will turn into another Nauvoo or '53 raid," he said. "My biggest fear is we're playing right into their hands." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Old-time religion, old-fashioned abuse | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By DAWN RAE DOWNTON The Globe and Mail - Toronto, ON Canada Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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THE SECRET LIVES OF SAINTS: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect
By Daphne Bramham Random House Canada, 464 pages, $32.95 There's big love for Big Love, the Tom Hanks-produced, Golden Globe-nominated HBO series about a renegade sect of polygamous Mormons, which is now entering its third season and acclaimed by critics everywhere. But Mark Olsen, one of the show's creators, recalls another emotion: when, early on, he "actually had the nerve to drive, very quickly, through Colorado City," the Arizona-Utah border town that's home to 8,000 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the FLDS), on which Big Love is ever-so-loosely, and myopically, based. Polygamy was outlawed in the United States and Canada and renounced - half-heartedly - by the mainstream Mormon church in 1890. That drive through God's brothel was "scary, scary," Olsen remembers. "We drove in, chickened out, drove right out again." Compare Big Love to The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in Canada's Polygamous Mormon Sect, Daphne Bramham's new book on the FLDS, and you'll see how Olsen took a powder on the truth of polygamy. Cruelty doesn't play on prime time, after all, but quirky does. Bramham doesn't do quirky. A journeyman columnist for The Vancouver Sun who's written extensively on the FLDS in Canada, she's unflinching - though still she missed interviewing the U.S. FLDS "Prophet" Warren Jeffs. She had to. Jeffs, 52, was a fugitive headlining the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list with Osama bin Laden until 2006, when he was caught. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| FLDS members bar authorities from temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - State officials have now removed 183 women and children from the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, but a group of sect members have refused to allow law enforcement access to the compound's temple, local prosecutors say. Citing their religious convictions that no nonbeliever should set foot inside the temple, a group of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have rejected authorities' requests to search the temple for a 16-year-old girl whose complaint triggered the massive, three-day raid, said Allison Palmer, who as first assistant 51st District attorney, would prosecute any felony crimes uncovered as part of the investigation inside the compound. "Within the religion that we have encountered, their place of worship is very special to them," she said Saturday. "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." Palmer said if no agreement is reached, authorities will forcibly remove the sect's followers "as peaceably as possible." "They don't want to intrude on anyone's sacred ground," she said. "They just want to ensure the safety of children." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Authorities enter Eldorado-area temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Local and state officials entered the temple of a secretive polygamist sect late Saturday, said lawmen blockading the road to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. The action comes hours after local prosecutors said officials were preparing for the worst because a group of FLDS members were resisting efforts to search the structure. The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and Schleicher County sheriff’s deputy confirmed that officials have entered the temple but said they had no word on whether anything occurred in the effort. The incursion into the temple caps the three-day saga of the state’s Child Protective Services agency removing at least 183 women and children from the YFZ Ranch since Friday afternoon. Eighteen girls have been placed in state custody since a 16-year-old told authorities she was married to a 50-year-old man and had given birth to his child. Saturday evening, ambulances were brought in, said Allison Palmer, who as first assistant 51st District attorney, would prosecute any felony crimes uncovered as part of the investigation inside the compound. "In preparing for entry to the temple, law enforcement is preparing for the worst," Palmer said Saturday evening. They want to have "medical personnel on hand in case this were to go in a way that no one wants." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some Kids from Eldorado Compound Could go to Waco Facility | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Camaron Abundes NewsWest 9 - KWES-TV - Midland, Texas Originally broadcast April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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WACO - A child care ministry in Waco is gearing up to possibly house children removed from a polygamist compound. In the last 48 hours nearly 200 women and children have been removed from that secret religious retreat in West Texas that was built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. NewsWest 9's sister station in Waco, KXXV-TV, reports that a Central Texas organization has heard from the state and they're making preparations. The Methodist Church was contacted Thursday by Child Protective Services. During that phone call a CPS official wanted to know if they had enough beds and enough space to house at least some of the more than 130 children removed from the polygamist compound. The Methodist Church operates a large children's home in North Waco. The facility hasn't received any of those children at this time.
For the latest on this developing story stay with NewsWest9.com and NewsWest9. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cops Enter Texas Polygamist Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By MICHELLE ROBERTS TIME Magazine Originally published Sunday, April 5, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| (ELDORADO, Texas) — Law enforcement agents got access to an enormous temple on the grounds of a polygamist compound, but by Sunday morning they still had not found a 16-year-old girl whose initial report of abuse led to the raid. "There were some tense moments last night, but everything has remained calm and peaceful and they are continuing their search," said Allison Palmer, a prosecutor from a nearby county handling the case, early Sunday. Palmer said it was unclear whether the girl who made the report was among the nearly 200 women and children taken Friday and Saturday from the compound built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs. A busload of women were seen talking to law enforcement and a lawyer at a civic center early Sunday. Palmer said Child Protective Services was still trying to identify the 16-year-old, and it wasn't clear if she was among those being interviewed or was even in the area. State troopers armed with a search warrant raided the compound on Friday to look for evidence of a marriage between the girl, who allegedly had a baby at 15, and 50-year-old Dale Barlow. Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry, even with parental approval. Barlow's probation officer told The Salt Lake Tribune that he was in Arizona. "He said the authorities had called him (in Colorado City, Ariz.) and some girl had accused him of assaulting her and he didn't even know who she was," said Bill Loader, a probation officer in Arizona. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas ranch probe grows | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Wendy Leonard Deseret Morning News Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| After FLDS Church leaders balked, local law-enforcement officials entered and searched the sect's temple late Saturday, looking for a 16-year-old girl who reported being abused. Local newspapers in Eldorado, Texas, reported that law-enforcement personnel serving a search warrant on the YFZ polygamist ranch had entered the temple, which FLDS members consider sacred, and then moved on to the temple annex. There was no report of any violence, although FLDS Church leaders had initially refused to let police enter the temple. Ambulances were moved into the area near the West Texas ranch earlier in what authorities said was a precautionary move in case things took a turn for the worse. Texas officials said Saturday that 183 individuals — including 137 infants and children — were removed from the ranch while they searched for a 16-year-old member who reported being abused. Law enforcement is "preparing for the worst," said prosecutor Allison Palmer, noting that the ambulances were being sent "in case this were to go in a way that no one wants." Of the 137 children, 18 are in custody of the Texas Child Protective Services and have already been placed in foster homes in the area. "They seem to be doing well, given the circumstances," said CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins. Those removed from the compound were taken based on evidence of abuse or neglect, Crimmins said, "or the imminent threat there might be abuse or neglect and the grounds that we are unaware of other family or caregivers that we're sure could protect them from that abuse or neglect." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nearly 200 taken from sect's West Texas ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By BILL HANNA Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO -- After several anxious hours late Saturday, tensions appeared to be easing at the YFZ Ranch in West Texas as state troopers streamed past checkpoints and escorted another busload of girls from the secretive polygamist sect's compound. Around 11 p.m., police scanner traffic indicated that authorities had "cleared" the church's temple and were moving to the compound's annex. There was no indication that authorities' search for children on the ranch was coming to a close. Earlier in the evening, some of the sect's members refused to allow authorities to entering the church's massive white temple. Allison Palmer, assistant district attorney for the 51st District, which includes Schleicher and Coke counties and part of Tom Green County, said that authorities "were preparing for all possibilities" and that ambulances and other equipment were on standby. "This is a very sensitive area, and members of this church feel very strongly about nonmembers entering that area," Palmer said. "This is a very important to them. It is proving to be difficult to obtain their permission to enter that building." Palmer credited Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran with obtaining the cooperation of the sect to allow the search to continue. She wouldn't say whether investigators had searched all the other buildings. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Teen's calls led to raid, search | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - Last week's joint raid on the Mormon splinter sect compound - which sent shock waves through Eldorado, as well as through Utah and Arizona, where the FLDS is based - developed out of phone calls from a teen claiming an underage marriage to a 50-year-old man, a local prosecutor said. Authorities continue to search for Dale Barlow, 50, who is accused of fathering a girl with a Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member who was 15 when she gave birth. Allison Palmer, first assistant 51st District attorney, said officials believe Barlow is in Utah or Arizona and may have been detained and released by authorities there since the warrant was issued. Palmer prosecutes felony cases in Schleicher County, of which Eldorado is the seat. That city of about 1,700 is about 45 miles south of San Angelo. Authorities also do not yet know the whereabouts of the girl, now 16, nor of her baby, now about 8 months old. They may be among the dozens of children removed from the compound, or they may be elsewhere. Barlow's probation officer told The Salt Lake Tribune that he is in Arizona. "He said the authorities had called him (in Colorado City, Ariz.) and some girl had accused him of assaulting her and he didn't even know who she was," said Bill Loader, a probation officer in Arizona. Barlow was sentenced to jail time last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He also was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation. His lawyer in that case, Bruce Griffen, said he had not spoken to Barlow in a year. Palmer, in an interview Saturday with the Standard-Times, revealed for the first time the raid's genesis. The girl called authorities at least twice, Palmer said - once March 29 and again the next day. Palmer declined to say which agency the girl telephoned, but said it was not by dialing 9-1-1, and that the girl said she was calling from inside the ranch. "She didn't use the term 'forced into marriage,'" Palmer said. "She indicated that she was underage and had a (50)-year-old husband." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Law is changed with sect in mind | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By JOHN MORITZ Star-Telegram Austin Bureau Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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AUSTIN -- The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that settled in remote Schleicher County four years ago has been on state radar since it arrived in West Texas
Legislative initiative State Rep. Harvey Hildebran, a Kerrville Republican whose district includes the 1,691-acre YFZ Ranch, filed a bill during the 2005 legislative session to restrict marriages involving young girls. He modeled it after laws in Arizona and Utah, where the polygamist sect also has settlements. "What I'm hoping to accomplish is to keep Eldorado and Schleicher County from becoming like Colorado City [Ariz.] where this cult came from -- and not only protect them but keep it from happening anywhere else in Texas," Hilderbran said at the time. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former polygamists tell of isolation and brainwashing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By JACK DOUGLAS JR. Fort Worth Star-Telegram Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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The young girls who have been taken from a polygamist compound in West Texas, their stares wide-eyed but blank as they pass the fields of TV cameras, come from an intolerant faith that turns women and their young daughters into "baby factories" ordered to obey the men who abuse them or suffer the wrath of God, former polygamists said Saturday. The heavy law enforcement presence at the compound of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 45 miles south of San Angelo, is eerily reminiscent of what happened on July 26, 1953, when police staged a massive raid on the Arizona polygamist community of Short Creek, taking away more than 300 women and children. "Here is a community ... dedicated to the wicked theory that every maturing girl child should be forced into the bondage of multiple wifehood with men of all ages for the sole purpose of producing more children," Arizona Gov. Howard Pyle said at the time.
Religious-rights defense But authorities retreated then, and they may be at risk of retreating again, because polygamist groups have largely been successful in arguing that such intervention tramples their religious rights and breaks up their families, said John Llewellyn, a retired Salt Lake County sheriff's lieutenant in Utah, where polygamists are most prominent. "This is a good opportunity where maybe Texas will show the rest of the country what Utah should have done years ago," said Llewellyn, 74, a former polygamist who has renounced the practice and is finishing his fifth book, tentatively titled Mormon Polygamy, A Virus of the Mind. (The mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy more than a century ago.) Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Police storm temple at polygamist ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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CNN Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- Authorities stormed the temple of a Texas ranch that's home to a rogue Mormon sect Saturday, as part of a search for victims of physical and sexual abuse, police said. Police called in ambulances and other emergency vehicles as they prepared to search the polygamist group's temple, officials said. Authorities wanted medical backup "in case they're involved in sensitive areas that could escalate into a negative reaction," a law enforcement source said. A police helicopter circled the ranch Saturday night. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a rogue branch of the Mormon church and forbids nonbelievers from entering its temples. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests at the compound. Earlier Saturday, 131 children and young women were removed from the ranch, bringing the total of people removed from the ranch to 183 since law enforcement officers raided the compound Thursday. The majority of the 137 children removed from the ranch were girls. About 40 boys were removed, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the Texas Child Protective Services. "We're trying to find out if they're safe," she explained. "We need to know if they have been abused or neglected." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Eldorado residents help by giving food, comfort | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - The children taken from the Mormon splinter sect compound were housed Saturday at Eldorado's community center and the First Baptist Church fellowship hall, sleeping on donated cots and eating food dropped off by Eldorado residents. The food was cooked by Sutton County Steak House of Sonora, about 20 miles south of Eldorado. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints stays in seclusion, eating food grown at the compound and minimizing contact with the outside world - the extent of which became apparent as the children sampled what the steakhouse had to offer, said owner Linda Love. "They didn't even know what a steak finger was," she said. "They're singing songs. So happy and sweet and precious. It's heartbreaking." Church volunteers and Eldorado residents bought diapers and food supplies from the local Super S Food Store, dropped off bottles of water and wheeled cases of soda in shopping carts. Some came in hopes of volunteering, but signs on the door to the fellowship hall said officials only accepted donations. Many church members and officials were helping Friday and Saturday, said Shea Politte, whose husband, Sylas, is the First Baptist Church youth minister and helped coordinate the church's efforts in providing buses and supplies. Politte declined to give specifics about the church's new tenants. "I don't want to jeopardize their rights," she said. "They have more now." | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lawmen enter temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Authorities prepped for worst | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - Local and state officials entered the temple of a secretive polygamist sect late Saturday, said lawmen blockading the road to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado. The action comes hours after local prosecutors said officials were preparing for the worst because a group of FLDS members was blocking efforts to search the structure. The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper and Schleicher County sheriff's deputy confirmed officials entered the temple but said they had no word on whether any resistance occurred in the effort. The temple entry caps the three-day saga of the state's Child Protective Services agency removing at least 183 women and children from the YFZ Ranch. Eighteen girls have been placed in state custody since a 16-year-old told authorities she was married to a 50-year-old man and had given birth to his child at age 15. Saturday evening, ambulances were brought in, said Allison Palmer, who as first assistant 51st District attorney, would prosecute any felony crimes uncovered in the investigation. "In preparing for entry to the temple, law enforcement is preparing for the worst," Palmer said Saturday evening. They want to have "medical personnel on hand in case this were to go in a way that no one wants." Apparently as a result of action late Saturday at the ranch, about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, a Schleicher County school bus unloaded a group of at least a dozen more women and children from the compound. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 219 children, women taken from sect's ranch | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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CNN Originally published Sunday, April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- More than 200 women and children have been removed from a Texas ranch that's home to members of a polygamist sect, but authorities have not identified the girl who called them with allegations of abuse. The 16-year-old girl, who called authorities last week with allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the compound, may be in the group and using a different name, Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services, said at a news conference Sunday. "I am confident that this girl does indeed exist," Meisner said. "I am confident that the allegations that she brought forth are accurate." Since Thursday, authorities have removed 159 children and 60 adults from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Eldorado, Texas. Eighteen of the girls have been taken into state custody. Authorities believe all "had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," a state spokesman said. The others are now housed at a shelter in San Angelo -- about 45 miles north of Eldorado -- where they are being questioned about abuse, Meisner said. "It's certainly emotional for the children, but they are with caretakers -- people that they're accustomed to being with -- at the time," Meisner said. Many of the adults at the shelter are parents or relatives of the children, she said. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Besieged Polygamists Let Cops in Temple | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By MIKE VON FREMD and BRUCE REZNICK ABC News Originally broadcast April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Law enforcement authorities were able to enter a west Texas polygamist compound to search a temple for a 16-year-old girl after an initial tense standoff Saturday. Though 219 women and children were taken by bus from the compound this weekend, the teenage girl, whose report of abuse led to the raid, still is unaccounted for in Eldorado, Texas. She is allegedly married to a 50-year-old man with whom she has had a child. Initially, leaders refused to let police enter the compound and authorities feared the worst case scenario and brought in ambulances. Authorities now are trying to find foster homes for dozens of young girls they removed from the 1,700-acre gated compound, which is part of Warren Jeffs' polygamist sect. At least 18 girls are being held in state custody as police interview the women as part of the investigation. "Those are the ones that we believe have been abused, or they are in imminent risk of harm, imminent risk of being abused," said Marlene Meisner of Texas Child Protective Services. Former sect member Carolyn Jessop said even though the women have been removed, the mind control the sect has exerted on them will be difficult to remove. "I'm thinking they're probably incredibly confused right now, especially the young ones," Jessop said on "Good Morning America Weekend Edition" today. "There's a lot of mind control here and just layers and layers that authorities have to get through to get to the truth." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Busloads taken from Texas polygamist compound | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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USA Today Originally published April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO, Texas (AP) — Authorities who removed 219 women and children from a polygamist compound were struggling Sunday to determine whether they had the 16-year-old girl whose report of an underage marriage led them to raid the sprawling rural property. Many people at the compound, built by followers of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, are related to one another and share similar names; investigators said in some case they were giving different names at different times. Investigators on Sunday bused them out of Eldorado, nearly 200 miles northwest of San Antonio, as other law enforcement agents continued to search for more children and evidence at the 1,700-acre compound, the former site of an exotic game ranch. State troopers armed with a search warrant raided the compound on Friday to look for evidence of a marriage between the girl, who allegedly had a baby at 15, and a 50-year-old man. Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry, even with parental approval. The women and children were taken out of the compound Friday and Saturday and had been staying in a local church and civic center. By midday Sunday, dozens of women and children, mostly girls, were seen boarding buses on their way to San Angelo, a larger town 45 miles away. The women wore long pastel dresses and many carried bedding; several had infants. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 220 women, children taken from Eldorado-area compound, brought to San Angelo | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally published April 6, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| ELDORADO - Nearly 220 women and children removed from the secretive polygamist sect's compound in Schleicher County have been relocated this afternoon to San Angelo so state child case workers can better interview them in a neutral setting, officials said today. The state's Child Protective Services agency has removed 159 children from the compound, which local and state authorities are in their fourth day of searching. CPS moved the women and children because San Angelo has more resources to provide both the girls and case workers. "We are still in the midst of interview them," said Marleigh Meisner, CPS spokeswoman, adding that CPS still has yet to identify the 16-year-old girls whose phone calls last weekend led to the Thursday night raid of the compound. The women and children who were removed from the compound were bused to Fort Concho National Historic Landmark in San Angelo, where Meisner said they could be housed in one place and medical and other services would be more accessible. Most of those who boarded buses in Eldorado were women and girls, dressed in long pastel dresses. Many were carrying bedding. The state Department of Family and Protective Services has offices in the Ralph Chase building next to the fort. The raid appeared to culminate Saturday night when a group of followers of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints followers refused admittance to the group's temple. Dozens of Texas Rangers forced their way in without incident. Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Insider's View Of Polygamist Sect | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Women In Them Are "Breeding Machines," Woman Who Escaped One Tells The Early Show | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Julie Chen The Early Show - CBS Originally broadcast April 7, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| PHOENIX, Ariz., April 7, 2008 - (CBS) The still-unfolding drama at the polygamist compound in Eldorado, Texas is focusing renewed attention on the world of polygamy. Some 200 women and children were removed Friday and Saturday from a compound built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs after a 16-year-old girl complained of abuse. State troopers were looking for evidence of a marriage of the girl, who is said to have had a baby at 15, and 50-year-old Dale Barlow. Girls younger than 16 cannot marry under Texas law, even with parental approval. On The Early Show Monday, co-anchor Julie Chen spoke with Laurie Allen, who was born into polygamy and escaped at age 30. Her documentary, "Banking on Heaven," exposes the struggles women and children face in a polygamist sect. "(Polygamy is) a life where, as a female, you really don't think for yourself, you're basically told what to do. You really are just a breeding machine to further the agenda of the male patriarchy," Allen told Chen. "This is what I experienced." "And it's just a very oppressive environment -- or repressive. You know, you don't get education. I never finished the fourth grade growing up. So, when you do finally get the wherewithal to get out, it takes about 20 years to really transition into the outside world and to discover your own identity, because you've been taught all your life to just do what you're told." Read more | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 60 more women leave Texas ranch as search for girl continues | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nearly 220 Jeffs followers removed from Eldorado | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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By Brian West Deseret Morning News Originally published Monday, April 7, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| SAN ANGELO, Texas — Sixty FLDS women willingly left a cloistered polygamist compound here Sunday to join the now 159 children taken by police and state social workers. Texas officials can't say why exactly the women agreed to leave the YFZ ranch but said they weren't forced to go and may have left to be with their children. "I can't really speak for their motivation," said Texas Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins. "During the course of our investigation, we've been talking and conducting interviews and we told the women if they wanted to leave the compound, they were free to do so. "Sixty chose to do so, but I can't say what they were individually thinking." No adult | |||||||||||||||||||||||
