“Has any man from the sect been charged and/or arrested for forcing marriage on adolescent girls?”
The former leader, and self-described prophet, Warren Jeffs, is in a federal penitentiary for ‘accomplice to sex with a minor’.
In July 2005 eight men of the church were indicted for sexual contact with minors. At least some of them surrendered to police in Kingman, Arizona.
On July 29, 2005, Brent Jeffs filed suit accusing three of his uncles, including Warren Jeffs, of sexually assaulting him when he was a child.
In 2003, the church received increased attention from the state of Utah when police officer Rodney Holm, a member of the church, was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and one count of bigamy for his marriage to and impregnation of plural wife Ruth Stubbs.
Any children the mother had can be transferred to anyone of the PROPHET’s choosing.
“Our government has broken-up an entire community and is parceling-out children to foster care without any charges against the adults.”
So far. For their safety, and to finish the investigation, lab tests, etc.
Charges may be pending. We don’t know.
Should the next to impossible happen, and your scenario occur, then I am sure I would be outraged, and demand my child back.
But at least I would have something the women of the FLDS don’t.
It would be my child, and not a child produced by unknown parents, whose name I wasn’t even sure of.
I'm not referring to past years in other states. Let's stick to the current raid in Eldorado, if you don't mind.
"The mothers had no choice in this."
Of course they did. There are "ex" cult members all over the media.
"I would say that that will never happen. A regular neighborhood, and the confines of a walled citadel where ‘outsiders’ are not allowed, is not the same thing."
How can you feel so confident that it will never happen, when it is happening to your fellow citizens right now? There are gated communities all over this country where people who do not live there are not allowed access without permission. You seem to believe that because these folks aren't 'normal' within your definitions, that they are not entitled to the same constitutional rights as you. That is the chilling aspect of this situation.
"Should the next to impossible happen, and your scenario occur, then I am sure I would be outraged, and demand my child back."
Let's assume that your outrage is ignored by everyone else because they don't think that you live appropriately. There are no charges filed against you, but your children are being placed in foster care. We are all fully behind the taking of your children because you are strange and don't believe what we believe. Not a very good feeling, is it?
Cult members don’t regard Warren Jeffs as a “former leader”. They still regard him as their prophet. Men from the YFZ ranch have been visiting him in prison regularly — the last time I’ve seen confirmed was the day before the raid on the ranch, but they’ve likely been back since, or at least men from the Utah/Arizona FLDS community have visited him and transmitted orders to the Texas leaders. The accomplice to rape of a minor convict is still running the whole group, though his imprisonment certainly means that YFZ ranch leader Merril Jessop has a lot more power than he did before. But there’s no shortage of information on Merril Jessop’s illegal activities either, since he’s the ex-husband of escapee Carolyn Jessop who wrote a book about her experiences and IIRC also had to testify extensively in court proceedings to keep custody of her children after she fled the cult with them.