Posted on 05/01/2008 4:44:54 PM PDT by Politicalmom
SAN ANTONIO — A judge ordered that the baby boy born to a girl taken from a polygamist sect's ranch in West Texas be placed in state custody, according to documents released Thursday.
Texas District Judge Barbara Walther signed the order Wednesday giving the state custody of the 1-day-old infant born to a teen believed to be 15 or 16 years old.
The girl has claimed to be 18, according to an affidavit signed by Ruby Gutierrez, a Child Protective Services caseworker, but officials believe she is younger and placed her in foster care with other children taken from the ranch.
The newborn is the teen's second child; the first is a 20-month-old boy. The father of both children was identified as Jackson Jessop, 22, but state officials say they don't know his whereabouts.
Child welfare officials now have 464 children in their custody, swept from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado because authorities believe underage girls were forced into marriages and sex with older men. Authorities are also now investigating possible sexual abuse of boys.
Church members have vehemently denied there was any abuse, and civil liberties groups have raised concerns at the sweeping nature of the removals.
Individual custody hearings are set to be completed by June 5.
CPS and law enforcement raided the ranch on April 3 after a girl who was purportedly 16 called a domestic abuse hotline to complain of abuse at the hands her much older husband. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.
Regardless, child welfare authorities say 31 of the 53 girls aged 14-17 have children or are pregnant.
Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16, but the girls who belong to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are not believed to have legal marriages.
FLDS is a breakaway sect of the mainline Mormon church, which disavowed polygamy a century ago.
That translates to: He'll ignore the existence of any evidence that gets in his way, and don't bother trying to get him to read any evidence contrary to his mantra. Same tact Nifong took during the Duke Frame.
You are so full of it. Have you read nothing of the millions of words posted on this cult and its criminality? Somehow I doubt this. Either you are fronting for the cult or you are a radical anti-government extremist.
Have you failed to note the facts of the Warren Jeffs trial? You are ignorant of these facts yet you want to cover for these monsters?
Its because of people like you that we need law and a government to enforce it. Because of your irrational or complicit behavior we WILL end up living in a police state.
And how many of those breaks occurred when you were "very young"--which is what the Texas agency is reporting?
I’m going have to go back and find it...but on one of the other threads it was noted...’ever try to get a date in (blank)...ya almost need to start your own religion.’ It was a hysterical...
Have they taken the baby away from her physically? Or is is just the baby is under the jurisdiction of the state legally? Because reports have stated that the mothers believed to be under 18 have been placed in foster care *along with their children*. So they and the children are in state custody, but they’re with their children.
Just how are they justified in taking this woman’s children? Her age?
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Maybe becauser she was an “undocumented adult” untill they realized she was younger than first appearances ???
Maybe because she has offered no proof she could be over 18 ???
No problem. I thought it was a mistake. I’ve done the same myself on occasion.
Puddleglum: “The outrage at the accusations butts against the necessary exercise of restraint in order to preserve the civil liberties we all rely on to ensure out fundamental freedoms. I am interested in the tension between the two threads of discourse insofar as they represent components of “the conservative coalition.””
Ah, well written. This is indeed an exceptional situation. I understand the concern of those who support the government. I also (obviously) support those who want the government to tread very carefully here. As I wrote before, any freedom loving American should be at least marginally concerned when a government agency seizes hundreds of children from their parents. Some FReepers have even went so far as to accuse fLDS members of water boarding their children and are willing (apparently) to condemn them even without a trial.
Seriously, how many times in the past have we later found out a situation wasn’t nearly what the media reported or that government officials colored the truth to present their case in the best possible light? It happens all the time.
“Trust but verify.” RR
We do not know if it was rape or consentual or romantic or what. That's my point. But, if true, it does not fit the "vast age difference" mold. Let the facts bear it out, and proescute it as statutory rape if it fits the crime, because she may or may not have been of the age of consent.
We do not know what this case is "an old argument" of yet. There are legal tests for consent - I want to see them applied.
That was the way I took it ;)
Good for you. LOL!
Warren Jeffs is in prison. He is there because he forced a 14 year old girl to marry her 19 year old first cousin. He has a couple of other trials coming up soon. Merrill Jessop and/or Wille Jessop seem to be charge of YFZ.
You really don’t ‘get it.’ A fifteen year old CANNOT consent.
And the relevant (snip)...
The couple also have a 16-month-old son, who is being held at The Children's Shelter in Austin. Crimmins said Jeffs and her infant will be placed in a shelter together, assuring their safety. CPS has allowed mothers to remain with infants 12 months old or younger who are in state custody.
Hope that helps.
On the contrary, I would send any criminal to jail in a heartbeat if I had evidence and a clear legal standard. I am waiting for the smoke to clear and the facts to come into focus. I even used the term "Nifonged" on some post or another here or elsewhere. I just have a natural instinct to resist a rush to judgment. It's folks like me who held fast when things looked bleak for the Duke students, when the headlines were flying fast and furious. If these folks are proven to have committed crimes, I would be just as glad to see them in jail as the next person.
They didn't do it on who they liked or disliked. They did it on the basis of observed evidence of criminal activity; pregnant minors.
When an agency that is ran by an un-elected official, who has power that has little or no check and balances, can arbitrarily decide to remove 462 children from a group of people - I question the authority.
It wasn't arbitrary. They had two warrants. they went back a second time, tried to interview people for hours and got lied to. They were unable to determine which child belonged to which mother, names were changed. How is that arbitrary?
If I can prove you wrong with Texas law, will you concede?
I’ll give another one.
Apples ... oranges. The choice of the prophet ... the choice of the woman.
Hey, in Plato's Symposium, they discuss the particular joys of sex with young boys. There's a fun fact.
Look! Over there!!! A birdie!!!
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