Posted on 04/05/2008 10:26:10 PM PDT by Chris_Shugart
Sect leaders at a polygamist compound in West Texas refused Saturday to let authorities search a temple for a teenage girl whose report of abuse led to the raid, and authorities said they were preparing "for the worst." If no agreement is reached with sect leaders, authorities will forcibly remove the sect's followers "as peaceably as possible," Allison Palmer, a prosecutor in Tom Green County, told the San Angelo Standard-Times.
Medical workers are being sent "in case this were to a go in a way that no one wants," Palmer said. Law enforcers are "preparing for the worst," she said.
"Within the religion that we have encountered, their place of worship is very special to them," Palmer said. "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."
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.
Court documents the girl had a baby eight months ago, when she was 15.
State welfare officials on Friday removed 52 girls from the compound. Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, said another 131 residents were removed overnight. By Saturday afternoon, 137 children and 46 women were being housed and interviewed at local community centers.
"They seem to be doing fine," Meisner told The Associated Press. Investigators remained inside the compound looking for additional children, she said.
The whereabouts of the 16-year-old 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.
Officials in Texas declined to comment Saturday on whether they had found Barlow, citing a gag order, but the man'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.
Barlow was sentenced to jail time last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was also 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.
The search warrant instructed officers to look for marriage records or other evidence linking her to the man and the baby. The warrant authorized the seizure of computer drives, CDs, DVDs or photos.
Those inside the retreat did not respond to requests for comment.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints broke away from the Mormon church after the latter disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.
The compound sits down a narrow paved road and behind a hill that shields it almost entirely from view in town. Only the 80-foot-high, gleaming white temple can be seen on the horizon. Authorities blocked access to the gate, keeping onlookers miles away.
The 1,700-acre property had been an exotic game ranch. It is surrounded by dusty, wind-swept land where sheep are raised and mohair produced.
Eldorado (pronounced el-dor-AY'-do) is a two-stoplight town of fewer than 2,000 people and located nearly 200 miles northwest of San Antonio. It consists of a cluster of government buildings, a couple churches and a few blocks of houses.
State officials said they did not know how many people lived at the retreat, although local officials estimated about 150 two years ago.
The FLDS has been led by Warren Jeffs since his father died in 2002. 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.
Calling Janet Reno................
Good for Texas to pressure these people, in just four years.
Utah and Arizona did little for decades.
Bite your tongue.
It's a little stronger than that. Texas doesn't recognize such marriages, even if they were made legally in another state or another country. There have been a few cases of Mexicans getting arrested for underage "wives".
“This is truly a massive assault on religeous freedom. I expect many of these over zealous state do gooders will be sued for big bucks in Federal court for civil rights violations. What is going on here?? There is no reason to bus hundreds of children from their home and parents. They had some girl alledgedly call in and say she had a baby a year ago. I want to see if that is true. I think we can’t stand freedom of religion in this country. GAG ORDER??? You have got to be kidding. This thing is beginning to smell real bad.”
Apparently the state is concerned that this “religion” is a front for an ongoing conspiracy to provide underage girls for sex, to older men.
I am not sympathetic towards “religions” which are BASED ON violation of laws; in this case sex with underage females, and polygamy.
Why do the older men run away, when they are sought for questions? Do you propose to let Jeffs and Bowen go on and on, in the name of religious freedom?
If the ‘authorties’ will do this, then I hope they will also enter mosques who house terrorists and islamic homes who mutilate their females. Not gonna happen, though, is it?
“If the ‘authorties’ will do this, then I hope they will also enter mosques who house terrorists and islamic homes who mutilate their females. Not gonna happen, though, is it?”
In the case at hand, they have a specific case, which they are pursuing. It is apparently an underage female, handed off to a 50 year old man.
Do you know of specific cases of terrorists in mosques, or mutilated females in homes? If so, you should report it.
I believe the authorities will not go after fundamentalist latter day saints or muslims, until/unless they have specific evidence of a crime.
Surely you don't support this:
The lost boys, thrown out of US sect so that older men can marry more wives
Then why isn't the Almighty State concerned about the muslims who do the exact same thing? When will the State start raiding mosques and freeing 13-16 year old muslim girls from forced marriages, some of those marriages even being to first cousins? Hmmmm?
Here's a picture of a muslim man and his bride. Where's the FBI? 
“Then why isn’t the Almighty State concerned about the muslims who do the exact same thing? When will the State start raiding mosques and freeing 13-16 year old muslim girls from forced marriages, some of those marriages even being to first cousins? Hmmmm?
Here’s a picture of a muslim man and his bride. Where’s the FBI?”
If you know the picture is in the US, you should know where.
So again I say if you know about a specific case, or cases, report them.
In the case in Texas, they are going forward regarding a specific case, not generalities. A named 50 year old man, concerning a girl 13 at the time of the incident.
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