ELDORADO, Texas (AP) -- Until the raid on their compound last week, the women and girls of the Yearning for Zion Ranch spent their days caring for its many children, tilling gardens and quilting, dressed in pioneer-style dresses sewn by their own hands.
Authorities load members of the FLDS onto buses as they search their Texas ranch for clues of abuse.
1 of 3 But it was no idyllic recreation of 19th-century prairie life, authorities say. Since last week, they have interviewed members of the polygamist sect looking for evidence that that girls younger than 16 were forced into marriages with older men.
Five miles off the highway, beyond a double gate, the group's members live lives that are isolated even for the scruffy West Texas prairie. Their 1,700-acre ranch is like its own city, with a gleaming temple, doctor's office, school and even factories.
"Once you go into the compound, you don't ever leave it," said Carolyn Jessop, who was one of the wives of the alleged leader of the Eldorado complex, but who left the sect before it began moving to Texas in 2004.
By Monday, state authorities had taken legal custody of 401 children, saying they had been harmed or were in imminent danger of harm. Watch officials explain why they had to act »
Merrill Jessop, who oversees the ranch and is a presiding elder in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, told the Salt Lake Tribune that officers conducting the search were collecting cell phones "as fast as they can find them." He said the men were becoming worried about their wives and children because they have no Internet or television access.
"There needs to be a public outcry that goes far and wide," he said. "What's coming we don't know. The hauling off of women and children matches anything in Russia or Germany."
The raid on the compound founded by jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs started with a call from a 16-year-old who alleged abuse.
Authorities were looking for evidence that the girl, who allegedly gave birth at 15, was married to a 50-year-old, and for records related to other mothers aged 17 and younger. Even with their parents' permission, Texas law forbids girls younger than 16 to marry.
Some 133 women left the ranch voluntarily with the children and were being housed at a historic fort here while authorities conduct interviews. Dressed in ankle-length dresses with their hair pinned up in braids, the women milled about Monday as the children played on the fort's old parade grounds.
State troopers were holding an unknown number of men in the compound until investigators finished executing a house-to-house search of the ranch, which includes a cheese-making plant, a cement plant and several large housing units. They initially had difficulty getting access to the 80-foot white limestone temple that rises out of the brown scrub, but were searching it Monday.
Jessop, author of the polygamy memoir "Escape," said the women dedicated so much time to raising children and their chores because the community emphasized self-sufficiency: Members believe the apocalypse is near, and they will have to start over when the world is destroyed. Watch Jessop describe the polygamous life »
They were not allowed to wear red -- the color Jeffs said belonged to Jesus -- and were not allowed to cut their hair.
They "were born into this," said Jessop, 40. "They have no concept of mainstream society, and their mothers were born into and have no concept of mainstream culture. Their grandmothers were born into it."
Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said each child will get an advocate and an attorney. But she said they would have a tough time adjusting to modern life if they are permanently separated from their families.
Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the criminal investigation was still under way, and that charges would be filed if investigators determined children were abused.
Still uncertain is the location of the girl whose call initiated the raid. Authorities were looking for documents, family photos or even a family Bible with lists of marriages and children to determine whether the girl was married to convicted sex offender Dale Barlow.
Barlow was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation.
Authorities hoped to determine whether the teenager was among the church members being interviewed at Fort Concho, a 150-year-old fort built to protect frontier settlements.
Attorneys for the church and church leaders filed motions asking a judge to quash the search on constitutional grounds, saying state authorities didn't have enough evidence and that the warrants were too broad. A hearing on their motion was scheduled for Wednesday in San Angelo.
"The chief concern for everyone at this point is the welfare of the women and children," said FLDS attorneys Patrick Peranteau. He declined further comment before Wednesday's hearing.
State troopers arrested one man on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with the duties of a public servant during the search warrant, Mange said.
"For the most part, residents at the ranch have been cooperative. However, because of some of the diplomatic efforts in regards to the residents, the process of serving the search warrants is taking longer than usual," said DPS spokesman Tom Vinger.
Attorneys for the church and church leaders said Barlow was in Colorado City, Arizona, and had been in contact with law enforcement officials there. Telephone messages left for Colorado City authorities were not immediately returned.
The FLDS church, headed by Jeffs after his father's death in 2002, broke away from the Mormon church after the latter disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.
The group is concentrated along the Arizona-Utah line but several enclaves have been built elsewhere, including in Texas. In 2003, the church paid $700,000 for the Eldorado property, a former exotic animal ranch, and began building the compound as authorities in Arizona and Utah began increasingly scrutinizing the group.
Only the 80-foot-high white temple can be seen from Eldorado, a town of fewer than 2,000 surrounded by sheep ranches nearly 200 miles northwest of San Antonio.
Jeffs is jailed in Kingman, Arizona, where he awaits trial for four counts each of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.
In November, he was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison in Utah for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who wed her cousin in an arranged marriage in 2001.
The investigation prompted by the girl's call last week was the first in Texas involving the sect. E-mail to a friend
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Attorneys for the church and church leaders filed motions asking a judge to quash the search on constitutional grounds, saying state authorities didn't have enough evidence and that the warrants were too broad. A hearing on their motion was scheduled for Wednesday in San Angelo.
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Authorities were looking for evidence that the girl, who allegedly gave birth at 15, was married to a 50-year-old, and for records related to other mothers aged 17 and younger. Even with their parents' permission, Texas law forbids girls younger than 16 to marry.
Quote:
Still uncertain is the location of the girl whose call initiated the raid. Authorities were looking for documents, family photos or even a family Bible with lists of marriages and children to determine whether the girl was married to convicted sex offender Dale Barlow.
Other articles stated it more clearly, while this one tries to avoid saying it: they can't find the girl who allegedly made the call, and they have no evidence that the girl even exists. No girl, no call, no claim, no case. Dismissing the case would allow for a countersuit...ouch.
Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:52 am
postcardsfrompalestine VIP
Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 1737 Location: It means good luck - a chinese symbol
not that I am a fan off mormons
not that I am a fan off mormons
but it seems to me that you can't have people growing their own food, and forming their own community cause some people might get the wrong idea.
Wed Apr 16, 2008 7:21 am
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illuminated
Joined: 21 Feb 2006 Posts: 108 Location: Behind the scenes
Ok so I have to chime in on this one. there goes the media again - blowing shvt way out of proportion. Here are the facts:
A anonymous caller stated that she was beaten and forced into sex/marriage.
The anonymous caller is yet to be found.
THATS IT!
Dont get me wrong it might be possible that 14-15-16 year old girls where forced to have sex/marriage with way older men but it has NOT been proven yet!!
Sorry but this whole situation infuriates me! The media has already put the nails into the coffin for all these people in this retreat. For all we know this caller could have just been a former member and pissed off about something or this could have been a isolated incident within the compound. The fact is - we dont know yet!
Lets get real here the big issue for "everyone" is that they are polygamists. So FN what! Polygamists have been around since the dawn of time. Are we supposed to think it's wrong because "American" values say so? Shove it! In my opinion no one is being forced to do shvt. The media claims they are "brainwashed" - again, Shove it! No one is being forced into anything against their own will. We are ALL capable of making our own decisions, take responsibility for your own actions!
Sorry this whole situation just pisses me off and the media is to blame for this one.
Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:52 am
postcardsfrompalestine VIP
Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 1737 Location: It means good luck - a chinese symbol
illuminated wrote:
Ok so I have to chime in on this one. there goes the media again - blowing shvt way out of proportion. Here are the facts:
A anonymous caller stated that she was beaten and forced into sex/marriage.
The anonymous caller is yet to be found.
THATS IT!
Dont get me wrong it might be possible that 14-15-16 year old girls where forced to have sex/marriage with way older men but it has NOT been proven yet!!
Sorry but this whole situation infuriates me! The media has already put the nails into the coffin for all these people in this retreat. For all we know this caller could have just been a former member and pissed off about something or this could have been a isolated incident within the compound. The fact is - we dont know yet!
Lets get real here the big issue for "everyone" is that they are polygamists. So FN what! Polygamists have been around since the dawn of time. Are we supposed to think it's wrong because "American" values say so? Shove it! In my opinion no one is being forced to do shvt. The media claims they are "brainwashed" - again, Shove it! No one is being forced into anything against their own will. We are ALL capable of making our own decisions, take responsibility for your own actions!
Sorry this whole situation just pisses me off and the media is to blame for this one.
They might be brainwashed, but it's not the right kind of brainwashing.
The issue to me is that those that try to disconnect from the Rulers' illusion to their own illusion are not tolerated. As I read the story, and they talked about how it would take some time to get the children to accept "The System" because many grew up never knowing civilization existed, I couldn't help but think that the great many quests of bringing civilization to the savages. "One concept is paying for land"
personally as an Anarchist, I believe let those live the way they want to live as long as they do no harm or hinder anyone else.
They Said the same crap about Waco, The leader was having sex with children. This a common way of getting the public to say, well it's ok that the Guberment can raid a ranch, because those people are peter files.
The issue to me is that those that try to disconnect from the Rulers' illusion to their own illusion are not tolerated. As I read the story, and they talked about how it would take some time to get the children to accept "The System" because many grew up never knowing civilization existed, I couldn't help but think that the great many quests of bringing civilization to the savages. "One concept is paying for land"
Wow, they reveal their true intentions when they say that. Yeah, I guess we should go to all the indigenous peoples around the world that we contemptuously call "primitive", capture them, and force them to learn how to destroy their environment.
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personally as an Anarchist, I believe let those live the way they want to live as long as they do no harm or hinder anyone else.
Yup. I agree for the most part, but seeing as they believe in an imaginary being, the beleif of which is responsible the worst atrocities to ever occur on this planet, I'm not sure how long peace would last. I imagine that eventually their imaginary being would require them to "lead us to salvation" or some other nonsense. I wish history would prove otherwise, but it doesn't.
Thu Apr 17, 2008 6:26 am
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postcardsfrompalestine VIP
Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 1737 Location: It means good luck - a chinese symbol
Raw Video: Sect mom makes 'SOS' plea
Quote:
An adult member of the West Texas polygamist sect held a sign out of a chartered bus that reads 'SOS more...Mothers Separated Help.' It comes after more than 400 children taken from the compound were sent to group homes and foster care facilities. (April 24)
Sect elder says church will not sanction the marriage of underage girls
SAN ANGELO, Texas - More than 400 children taken from a polygamist sect's ranch two months ago began returning to the arms of their tearful parents Monday, hours after a judge bowed to a state Supreme Court ruling that the seizure was not justified.
"It's just great day," said Nancy Dockstader, whose chin quivered and eyes filled with tears as she embraced her 9-year-old daughter, Amy, outside a foster-care center in Gonzales, about 65 miles east of San Antonio. "We're so grateful."
Amid the reunions, an elder in the polygamist group said church policy going forward will be to forbid any girl to marry who is not old enough to legally consent in the state where she lives.
When Texas officials took the sect's children into custody, they said the teachings of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints pushed underage girls into marriage and sex.
Willie Jessop, a church leader, said the church had been widely misunderstood. But he said the church will not sanction marriages of underage girls and will counsel members against such unions.
Jessop insisted marriages within the church had always been consensual.
A district judge earlier Monday brought an end to one of the nation's largest ever custody cases by signing an order allowing the children to leave foster care. Children began returning to their parents hours later.
Judge Barbara Walther responded to a state Supreme Court ruling last week by signing an order that cleared the children to be released from foster care. Walther allowed parents to begin picking up their children Monday, ending one of the nation's largest child-custody cases.
Dockstader's daughter and four other children were among the roughly 430 children ordered released after two months in state custody, much of it spent in foster care centers. Because siblings were separated at facilities hundreds of miles apart, it will probably take several days for all the families to be reunited.
Dockstader and her husband, James, were headed to Corpus Christi and to Amarillo to pick up their other children. "We'll get the rest of them," said Dockstader, who was clad in a teal prairie dress and clinging to Amy, who wore a matching dress.
Judge sets conditions
Walther's order requires the parents to stay in Texas, to attend parenting classes and to allow the children to be examined as part of any abuse investigation.
But it does not put restrictions on the children's fathers, require that the parents renounce polygamy or force them to leave the Yearning For Zion Ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Child Protective Services removed all the children from the ranch after an April 3 raid prompted by calls to a domestic abuse hot line that purportedly came from a 16-year-old mother who was being abused by her middle-age husband. The calls are now being investigated as a hoax, but authorities contended all the children were at risk because church teachings pushed underage girls into marriage and sex.
The church has denied any children were abused, and members have said they are being persecuted for their religion, which believes polygamy brings glorification in heaven.
Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the child-protection agency, said authorities still have concerns about the children's safety, and the investigation into possible abuse would continue.
The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling that reversed Walther's decision in April putting all children from the ranch into foster case.
The high court and the appeals court rejected the state's argument that all the children were in immediate danger from what it said was sexual abuse of teenage girls at the ranch.
Court sides with polygamists
The Third Court of Appeals ruled that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.
Half the children sent to foster care were no older than 5.
All the children, including any underage mothers, will be allowed to go back to their parents, though it's possible some children's attorneys or child-protection officials could pursue further action in individual cases.
It's not clear how many might return to the ranch right away. Many of the parents have purchased or rented homes in Amarillo, San Antonio and other places around the state.
Rod Parker, a spokesman for the FLDS church, said some of the attorneys have advised parents to stay away from the ranch for now, but most families want to return to the ranch so the children can continue the education they were getting at the sect's schoolhouse before the raid.
Walther's order does not end a separate criminal investigation. Texas authorities last week collected DNA from jailed FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs as part of investigation into underage sex with girls, ages 12 to 15. He has been convicted in Utah as an accomplice to rape and is jail in Arizona awaiting trial on separate charges.
The FLDS is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
FLDS court order
Ending one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history, a Texas district judge on June 2 ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at the FLDS ranch. The judge also ordered that the parents:
— Are not allowed to leave Texas without court permission.
— Must participate in parenting classes.
— Must not interfere with any child abuse investigation.
— Must allow children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams.
— Must allow child welfare workers to make unannounced visits.
— Must notify Child Protective Services if planning to travel more than 100 miles from homes.
FLDS court order
Ending one of the largest custody cases in U.S. history, a Texas district judge on June 2 ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at the FLDS ranch. The judge also ordered that the parents:
— Are not allowed to leave Texas without court permission.
— Must participate in parenting classes.
— Must not interfere with any child abuse investigation.
— Must allow children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams.
— Must allow child welfare workers to make unannounced visits.
— Must notify Child Protective Services if planning to travel more than 100 miles from homes."
Oh goody, the courts are giving orders. Every order deserves a bill, doesn't it? They can always hope that the people remain ignorant and just do it for free, of course. Let's have fun with this. Keep in mind that they haven't been convicted of anything, so why should they have to do any of this nonsense, or have any of their rights taken away?
Not allowed to leave Texas? Isn't that taking away their right to travel? Let's set this one at $1 billion dollars per year, for the duration of the order. Just because they are being a**holes.
Must participate in parenting classes. Lets say $100 per person per class.
Must not interfere with any child abuse investigation. Lets set a flat rate of $100,000 per year on this one.
Must allow children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams. Well I'd certainly set a condition on this one--no vaccines, drugs, or needles. No samples taken for testing without consent of the parents. Lets say $100 per person per exam, and a time limit of 30 minutes per exam. Every minute over, either required or accidental, will incur a penalty of $100 per minute.
Must allow child welfare workers to make unnanounced visits. Hmm, invasion of privacy sucks. Let's say $10,000 per occurrance.
Must notify Child Protective Services if planning to travel more than 100 miles from homes. Well, gee, they sure have their authoritarianist master/slave role down pat. "Please master, may I excerise my right to travel? Is that OK with you?" Lets say $100 for each submission, and $10,000 for each denial.
Maybe they'll stop giving orders when we bill the sh*t out of them.
They can always hope that the people remain ignorant and just do it for free, of course. Let's have fun with this. Keep in mind that they haven't been convicted of anything, so why should they have to do any of this nonsense, or have any of their rights taken away?