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Warren Jeffs' Freaky Pseudo-Mormon Cult Busted in Texas

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by Ottomaton, Apr 5, 2008.

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  1. Ottomaton

    Ottomaton Member
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    Visions of Branch Davidians dance in my head. I guess Texas is where you go if you are a freaky faux messianic polygamous pedophile.

    About Warren Jeffs in case you don't remember who he is.

    source

    [rquoter]
    52 Girls Removed From Texas Compound
    Authorities Remove Dozens of Girls From West Texas Compound Built by Polygamist Leader

    By MICHELLE ROBERTS Associated Press Writer
    ELDORADO, Texas Apr 5, 2008 (AP) The Associated Press

    Child welfare officials are scrambling to find foster homes for dozens of girls removed from a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs after a 16-year-old living there complained of physical abuse.

    Officials from Texas Child Protective Services, escorted by state troopers, took 52 girls, ages 6 months to 17 years, from the remote retreat on Friday afternoon.

    By the end of the day, 18 were put legally into state custody, and CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said interviews would continue Saturday. A warrant has been issued for at least one individual.

    The girls put in state custody were believed to be in danger, Meisner said. "Those are the ones we believe have been abused or they are in imminent risk of harm, and it would not be safe for those children to remain in the compound," she said.

    Child welfare officials were looking for foster homes for the girls, most of whom have rarely been outside the insular world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They were being housed for now at a civic center, she said.

    "We're dealing with children that aren't accustomed to the outside world, so we're trying to be very sensitive to their needs," Meisner said.

    The investigation began with a call Monday alleging physical abuse of a 16-year-old girl living there, Meisner said. Authorities first arrived at the compound Thursday evening. They interviewed and searched through the night.

    On Friday, a search warrant and arrest warrant were issued.

    The search warrant sought records dealing with the birth of 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.

    The individual listed in the arrest warrant had not been located by Friday evening, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange. She said she could not reveal whose name was on the warrant.

    A small white bus that left the compound accompanied by state troopers was filled with children, Meisner said. She could not immediately say how many.

    The bus was filled with what appeared to be mostly girls, dressed in conservative long-sleeve dresses.

    The ranch covers roughly 1,700 acres. It is north of this two-stoplight town, down a narrow paved road. Authorities blocked access to the compound's gate, keeping onlookers miles away.

    State officials said they did not know how many people lived at the retreat, but local officials in 2006 put the number at about 150, as members of the reclusive church moved from a community on the Arizona-Utah line.

    The congregation, known as FLDS, has been led by Jeffs since his father's death in 2002. It is one of several groups that split from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, based in Salt Lake City, decades after it renounced polygamy in 1890.

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

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

    The Eldorado retreat, about 160 miles northwest of San Antonio, is on a former exotic game ranch. The church bought the property in 2004 for $700,000 and began an ambitious construction program anchored by an 80-foot-tall, gleaming white temple.

    [/rquoter]
     
    #1 Ottomaton, Apr 5, 2008
  2. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    This group is in NO way affialiated with the Mormon church.

    Just curious as to why Mormon-bashing is so incredibly popular around here? That type of behavior disgusts me.
     
    #2 El_Conquistador, Apr 5, 2008
  3. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

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    The title reads: Psuedo-Mormon Cult.

    That's an accurate description.
     
    #3 rimrocker, Apr 5, 2008
  4. El_Conquistador

    El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

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    No it's not. It's a smear of Mormons to call it that. The Mormon Church rejects every aspect of this sect's philosophy.
     
    #4 El_Conquistador, Apr 5, 2008
  5. Ottomaton

    Ottomaton Member
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    I described them as psudo-mormon. Perhaps you need to get some new reading glasses.

    But they describe themselves as mormon and they base all of their theology on the techings of the old school LDS Church. They are a cult offshoot of the Church of LDS. Ideologically, they trace their roots to John Smith et al.

    I don't see how you can not describe them with mormons. The LDS church doesn't have some type of trademark over the word 'mormon'. That word describes people who believe in the Book of Mormon. These people are followers of that fundimental aspect of Mormonism. According to the Wikipedia entry, the FLDS church is, "the largest Mormon fundamentalist denomination and one of America's largest practitioners of plural marriage." Google 'FLDS' and the word mormon appears in just about every entry.

    If these people can't describe themselves as mormon, then all of the protestant and reformation churches, as well as the LDS Church, can't describe themselves as Christian, because they aren't directly affiliated with the Church in Rome.
     
    #5 Ottomaton, Apr 5, 2008
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2008
  6. MR. MEOWGI

    MR. MEOWGI Contributing Member

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    This is freakier.

    <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HmkNblT1A7M&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HmkNblT1A7M&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
     
    #6 MR. MEOWGI, Apr 5, 2008
  7. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

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    And there's nothing in the title or the post or the story that suggests otherwise.

    The word pseudo means fake. The word cult as used in the title means:

    A religion or religious sect generally considered to be extremist or false, with its followers often living in an unconventional manner under the guidance of an authoritarian, charismatic leader.

    So, the title is saying it's a fake Mormon false religious sect.

    What more do you want?

    The word Mormon is included because while it is a fact that the beliefs of this cult are a corruption of traditional LDS beliefs, they are also related to Jeffs' twisted interpretation of the LDS Church history.
     
    #7 rimrocker, Apr 5, 2008
  8. wizkid83

    wizkid83 Member

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    Just like Islam and most religion, sadly all religions will be defined by their fringe at times.
     
    #8 wizkid83, Apr 5, 2008
  9. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Atomic Playboy
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    FLDS compound standoff in Eldorado, Texas

    Welcome to Texas FLDS...
    ________

    Standoff emerges at polygamist retreat

    ELDORADO, Texas - Ambulances are being sent to a polygamist compound in West Texas as authorities prepare "for the worst" in a conflict with members of the compound.

    Prosecutor Allison Palmer says sect leaders Saturday refused to let authorities search a temple for a 16-year-old member who reported being physically abused.

    Palmer tells the San Angelo Standard-Times that medical workers are being sent "in case this were to a go in a way that no one wants."

    She says that law enforcers are "preparing for the worst."

    A search warrant authorized troopers to enter the retreat run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are looking for evidence of a marriage between the girl and a 50-year-old man.

    Child welfare officials have now removed nearly 200 women and children from a secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, authorities said Saturday.

    The investigation began after a 16-year-old living there complained of physical abuse. A search warrant authorized state troopers to enter the retreat run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and look for evidence of a marriage between the girl and a 50-year-old man.

    The warrant said the girl had a baby eight months ago, when she was 15.

    State Child Protective Services on Friday removed 52 girls from the compound. Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the agency, said that another 131 residents were removed overnight and that by Saturday afternoon 137 children and 46 women were being housed and interviewed.

    "They seem to be doing fine," Meisner said. Four investigators remained inside the polygamist compound looking for additional children.

    The whereabouts of the young mother who sparked the investigation are unknown, Meisner said.

    State troopers who raided the religious retreat were looking for the girl, her baby girl and 50-year-old Dale Barlow. Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry, even with parental approval.

    full article
     
    #9 KingCheetah, Apr 6, 2008
  10. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
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    I remember being a legislative intern in Austin back in 2004 and being in a committee hearing where representatives from Utah were warning us about the fact that their cults had moved to West Texas and we should expect to hear about reports of sexual and physical abuse of young women... welp... here it is today
     
    #10 DonnyMost, Apr 6, 2008
  11. Air Langhi

    Air Langhi Contributing Member

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    These guys should move to saudi. I am sure they would welcome them.
     
    #11 Air Langhi, Apr 6, 2008
  12. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Atomic Playboy
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    I can't believe a large well funded cult like this would set up shop in Texas after the ultra hard line stance taken on the Branch Davidians. With their history how could they not know this was coming? Particularly when they already have safe harbors of sorts in Colorado and Utah ~ strange.
     
    #12 KingCheetah, Apr 6, 2008
  13. BenignDMD

    BenignDMD Member

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    Save me Jebus!
     
    #13 BenignDMD, Apr 6, 2008
  14. percicles

    percicles Member

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    First New Orleans trash, now Utah trash. When will it stop!?!?
     
    #14 percicles, Apr 6, 2008
  15. weslinder

    weslinder Member

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    Lots of cheap land. Besides, it was the FBI and BATF led the siege on the Branch Davidians. They have jurisdiction all all over the country.
     
    #15 weslinder, Apr 6, 2008
  16. KingCheetah

    KingCheetah Atomic Playboy
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    CPS in Texas took the lead in many early aspects of the case using their ability to get into the compound with the less stringent Family Code civil law -- this is what we are seeing in Eldorado as well. Once you pull people out of the environment they will feel more comfortable talking about other issues of concern.
     
    #16 KingCheetah, Apr 6, 2008
  17. kokopuffs

    kokopuffs Member

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    next up, scientology.
     
    #17 kokopuffs, Apr 7, 2008
  18. tinman

    tinman 999999999
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    All the Mormon people i've met were really nice people.
     
    #18 tinman, Apr 7, 2008
  19. Prometheus

    Prometheus Member

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    Same with me. I don't agree with their beliefs but they've always been friendly.
     
    #19 Prometheus, Apr 7, 2008
  20. yuantian

    yuantian Member

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    so when do government decide to bring down a "religion"? are there are groups like this? what triggers this event? just curious.
     
    #20 yuantian, Apr 7, 2008
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