Posted on 04/09/2008 9:33:38 AM PDT by Domandred
Texas authorities named the wrong man in search and arrest warrants used to enter the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado and begin questioning FLDS children, two opponents of the sect said Tuesday.
The warrant issued Thursday evening named 50-year-old Dale Barlow, alleging he had married and impregnated a 16-year-old girl. Officials, who later sought a second search warrant, have removed 419 children.
But Joni Holm, who has helped children leave the FLDS, said the teenager who called officials on March 29 and 30 and claimed she was abused is married to a different, younger man. The girl's husband is in his late 30s, is related to Dale Barlow, shares his surname and has a similar sounding first name, Holm said.
"I know they're looking into the wrong one," Holm said.
Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, on Tuesday said police were continuing to serve warrants and attempt to locate "the person that we are looking for."
When asked if that person was still Dale Barlow, she said, "As far as I know."
But Flora Jessop, who left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints at age 16 and now helps others do the same, also said the wrong man was named in the initial warrants.
Texas authorities have made no effort to apprehend Dale Barlow at his address in Colorado City, Ariz. He reported to his Arizona probation officer on Friday - less than 24 hours after the raid began to tell the officer he was under investigation.
His probation officer has said Dale Barlow claimed to not know the teenager making the abuse accusations. Later Friday, Arizona authorities questioned him and searched his home.
The Salt Lake Tribune, which generally does not name alleged victims of sexual abuse, and other media outlets have not published the girl's name.
But Holm said the girl's identity, and the correct identity of her husband, is "common knowledge" in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, where the sect has traditionally been based.
The Tribune is not naming the man identified by Holm as the girl's husband because he has not been named as a suspect or in court filings.
Holm, who is married to a former FLDS member, said she has spoken with people who know the teenager. She thinks Texas officials confused the two Barlows.
She believes it is possible the teenager did not know her husband's correct age and told authorities he is about 50. Also, she noted, Dale Barlow has a 2007 conviction in Arizona for criminal charges related to marrying and impregnating a different 16-year-old girl, which may have contributed to confusion.
The first warrant identified Dale Barlow by name and his birth date. The copy on file in court does not list the name of the investigator who petitioned for it.
A second and more expanded warrant, signed Sunday night, was based on observations and evidence found by law enforcement and child services workers inside the compound, according to court documents.
Exactly.
Okay. The warrant still was based on probable cause that a crime was committed. "Probable cause" can still be wrong.
The question then becomes whether the police, in the process of executing a lawful warrant, saw evidence of criminal activity. The answer is unambiguously, "Yes."
BTTT
A surprising number of sixteen year old girls are middle-aged cops
Probably be easier to hide as a boy.
Or a woman past breeding age.
bump
In a temple? If it’s enough to disturb a Texas Ranger — I’ll take her word for it.
Hair and a messy bed disturb a Texas Ranger? Times, they are a changing.
lol
Thank you for explaining
Government does have a duty to perform for it’s own children. That is just fact. Get over it.
Government doesn't have any children.
Why were boys taken into custody?
Cordially,
As far as I can tell, the men are still being prevented from leaving the property. Are they under arrest? Do they have the same rights as any criminal defendent? Under what law are they being deprived of their liberty?
Cordially
?????? :’)
That's just it. Are they under arrest? I think two of them have been "arrested" and actually booked on criminal charges. The rest are being detained, apparently by force, which in my book is not much different than being arrested. Yet the CPS, having obtained a court order, in conjuction with the police have all these people in custody and don't have to say ANYTHING to ANYBODY for 14 days.
Boys were taken into custody. Why? The men on the property, as far as I can tell, are still not being allowed to leave their property. I can't seem to get any answer as to what law allows them to be deprived of their liberty, or what allows LE to deprive them of the rights of any common criminal defendant.
Are the mothers in custody allowed to communicate with their children? Are they allowed any communication with attorneys?
The Texas foster care program was already overwhelmed before the authorities conducted this raid. Some of these children, including the boys, are going to be further traumatized and abused via the court and that foster system.
Cordially,
Of course authorities didn’t know the wrong name was on the warrant. Nor is it 100% clear that the name WAS wrong, at least beyond the level of misspelling. There are so many people with the same last names in this group, and fairly common/ordinary first names especially for the men, so there are certainly lots of duplicate first/last names. The name on the warrant was Dale Barlow. According to two women in Utah who have been involved with helping women and girls flee the group, the man who this girl was actually “married” to is a relative of Dale Barlow’s, who is in his late 30s, and has the surname Barlow, and a first name that sounds “similar” (maybe David? Daniel? apparently at least one of the women gave the actual name, but the media is not reporting it, since he hasn’t been named a suspect or subject of a warrant). http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_8859783
There will be no problems with this warrant beyond some nuisance motions filed by the child-rapists’ attorneys and promptly denied. And in fact it was reported today that an FLDS lawyer who had filed a challenge to the search has already dropped it — not likely, if he thought he had a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding with it. http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=8144372&nav=0w0v
The notion that the warrant would be invalidated by an understandable error in identifying the man accused or rapes and beatings by a terrified girl whispering into a cell phone she couldn’t afford to be caught with is simply laughable. First of all, they didn’t go into the compound just to look for the man, they also went into to try to find and rescue the girl (which in all likelihood they have succeeded in doing). These people have no legal residence, they are all moved between compounds whenever the leaders order it, and in the past this has often been done to hide people who authorities were searching for. Most of them also have no public records of their identities, birth dates, etc., so authorities can use the usual means to try to confirm such details. When authorities tried to pin down an identity of a man named Barlow who fit the description the girl caller gave, the best match they could find in public records was a similar-first-name Barlow who just happened to be a member of the FLDS group AND just happened to have a conviction for sexual abuse of a 16 year old girl under his belt. Little wonder they figured Dale must be the guy. By now they probably realize that there must be least a hundred men named Barlow who are members of this “church” and have raped and beaten adolescent girls.
This is a tightly organized group with a long and well-documented history of systematic sexual abuse of minor girls. At the very least, somebody at a domestic violence hotline center told police that a girl had called from inside the compound owned and controlled by this group, and given the information described in the warrant. Given the combination of the source of the report and the group’s well-documented history, that was plenty to support the initial level of the search which involved entering the compound grounds and a large multi-family residential building, and during which a number of visibly pregnant girls below legal marriage age were observed. The more in-depth search, including the search of the temple, was based on subsequent warrants which were supported by the observation of the pregnant girls. No warrant issues here at all, and it’s more than a little bit disturbing to see how many FReepers are trying to make a case that there are.
This group of old line Mormons should just move to Britain There it is permissable to have multiple wives of any age as long as it is the custom wherefrom they come to Britain.
In fact, you apparently can drive at excessive speeds in commuting from one wife to another without fear of punishment. While the British born people are not allowed to have multiple wives, the British government, being multi-cultured, allow others to come to Britian and relax British laws for those who follow different sexual or marriage practices.
Under what law are men being prevented from leaving their property? Are they under arrest? If so, why do they not have the rights of any common criminal defendant?
Why were boys taken into custody?
Cordially,
Under what law are men being prevented from leaving their property? Are they under arrest? If so, why do they not have the rights of any common criminal defendant?
Why were boys taken into custody?
Cordially,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.