Warren Jeffs' Freaky Pseudo-Mormon Cult Busted in Texas

how can they not discovered this earlier? i mean, you can't just hide that many kids.

 

Yahoo! is saying 401 children 133 women taken from the compound.

Here is the CNN link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/07/texas.ranch/index.html

(CNN) -- Authorities said Monday they have taken legal custody of 401 children who lived on an isolated West Texas polygamist retreat built by imprisoned "prophet" Warren Jeffs.
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Authorities are continuing to search the living quarters of FLDS members, seen in an aerial view from last year.
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The children are being kept at a temporary shelter at historic Fort Concho in nearby San Angelo while authorities investigate whether a child bride gave birth on the ranch at age 15.

The children in state custody are joined at the shelter by 133 women, most of them mothers, who were taken during the past few days from the sprawling Yearning for Zion ranch, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for the state's Child Protective Services agency.

The women are free to return to the 1,900-acre compound, officials said, but many have chosen to remain. At this point, officials said, the children's fathers are not permitted to see them. Video See buses take girls from compound »

Court proceedings began Monday to determine whether there is enough evidence to remove the children from their homes on the ranch, which is near Eldorado, Meisner said. A hearing is scheduled April 17.

The children will be appointed lawyers and legal guardians in about two weeks, she added.

Meisner said the temporary shelter is filling up quickly, and officials are facing a "critical shortage" of foster homes. Officials will try to keep siblings together, she added.

Law enforcement officials would not provide many details of their investigation, but Meisner said the 401 court affidavits being filed Monday should shed some light on the alleged abuse.

The investigation, which began Thursday night, is continuing and authorities remain on the property to search for evidence and other children, said Tela Mange of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

One man has been arrested, allegedly for interfering with investigators. He faces a misdemeanor charge, authorities said.

Investigators said they believe more children will be found at the ranch, but Mange stopped short of saying they were being hidden. Video See why police want every child removed »

Authorities would not say whether they have located or identified the teen tipster whose call prompted the raid.
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* 219 women, children taken from sect's ranch
* iReport.com: Aerial photos of ranch

On March 31, a 16-year-old called and reported physical and sexual abuse on the ranch, authorities said. She said she was married to a 50-year-old man. Authorities are looking for evidence the girl had a child at the age of 15.

It remains unclear whether the girl who reported being abused is among the children being interviewed -- or was whisked away from the compound under a different name before authorities arrived.

"I am confident that this girl does indeed exist," Meisner said earlier. "I am confident that the allegations that she brought forth are accurate."

One issue compounding an already difficult and sensitive investigation is the difficulty pinning down exact names and ages of the people being interviewed -- as well as of the people being sought.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints bought the ranch four years ago and began erecting dormitories and a large, white temple. Hundreds of Jeffs' followers moved from Arizona and Utah as authorities there stepped up their investigations.

The name is taken from one of Jeffs' spiritual songs, "Yearning for Zion."

Authorities began blocking roads to the YFZ ranch Thursday, then raided the compound and began busing women and children off the property. Most were girls, and most wore hand-sewn prairie dresses.Video Watch Eldorado residents react to the removals »

Officers entered the compound with a search warrant for 50-year-old Dale Evans Barlow, who they believed was married to the 16-year-old tipster. The search warrant authorized law enforcement to seize any evidence of a marriage between the two including CDs, DVDs and a computer hard drive, The Associated Press reported.

Barlow was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, the AP said.

Barlow was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while on probation, the wire service reported. Barlow's probation officer, Bill Loader, told The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah that he was in Arizona and did not know his accuser.

It remained unclear, the spokeswomen said, whether that was the same Dale Barlow named in their warrant. They acknowledged the man they are seeking might not be in Texas, but said they had no other details about his whereabouts.

CNN's previous visits to the ranch revealed the compound was guarded by armed men equipped with night-vision gear and other high-tech surveillance tools.

Authorities would not say Monday whether they had found any weapons.
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Jeffs remains jailed in Kingman, Arizona, where he awaits trial on four counts of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.

Jeffs was sentenced in November to two terms of 5 years to life for being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who said she was forced to marry her cousin.

 

I'm surprised this isn't receiving more attention with 400+ children removed - by far the largest in the state's history.



more images here

 

It is...in D&D.

 

I wonder where they will put all of those kids -- they certainly won't want to separate them and cause more distress.



more images here

 

I wonder if that old homestead from Little House on the Prairie is available?

 

Going to take a massive effort to take care of those children. Lots of foster homes. Very sad....but at least they're removed from it now.

 

because some 16 year old girl called authorities and claimed she was being held in the compound and had been impregnated by a 50 year old "husband."

 

I think they will try and keep them together in one facility -- there is a critical shortage of foster homes in Texas right now - and that is of course before adding 400+ to the system.

 

I wanted to emphasize this point. This is very true and an under reported part of the story. This lifestyle is all about control and debasing other humans, not religion. The religion is just an excuse for their obscene behavior.

 

Where do you sign up for one of these compounds?

 

How old are you? Because they don't want competition from young males. So if you are under 50 or so, you are out of luck.

 

This is what trusting in men for spiritual guidance enables.

 

Out of 400+ kids they are going to get some to talk about the bad stuff that went on inside the compound - once they have that the FLDS is finished in Texas.

 

I guess HBO's Big Love is a lot more accurate than we thought when it comes to these cults. The main character was Bill was kicked out of his community at age 14. I never really understood that angle to the show until now.

 

I can't imagine how they're going to do that.

 

I believe all of the children removed and the mothers are being housed at Fort Concho in San Angelo.

 

I posted this in the other thread, but I believe they are being housed at Fort Concho in San Angelo.

 

Now they're saying some of the girls removed from here are pregnant.

 

now that would truly be sad. What a bunch of sick twisted people.