How do authorities “gather the facts” when all the girls are brainwashed and prevented from having contact with or knowledge of the outside world? It’s amazing that this one girl managed to phone for help. So now if authorities go into the community and see a very young girl who looks very pregnant and they ask her “How old are you?” and she says “18” and all the adults confirm this lie, then what? Do they not take the girl out of the compound where she can be questioned away from the influence of the cult, and reassured that she doesn’t have to go back if she doesn’t want to? And what about all the obviously 13-14 year old girls who are “married” to older men? They’re living in homes with a bunch of wives of all ages and a huge number of children of all ages. They’ll alltell visiting authorities “he’s my father” if the church leaders told them to, and they’ll all say “no, he’s never had sex with me” if the church leaders told them to. So then what? Just leave them there, pretending the complaints of forced adolescent marriage and sex have been investigated and determined to be unfounded?
I guess they’ll just have to do their job and that is investigate. This is a slippery slope when a phone call can bring a community to it’s knees by the government. Be careful what you wish for. Wait until your neighbor makes a phone call accusing you of terrorist activity because your dog pi$$ed on his rose bush.
We both know what is most likely going on there, but more proof is needed before the tanks roll in.