The documents, seeking again the removal of eight children in four families, are the broadest release yet of evidence uncovered by investigators at the YFZ Ranch, the Schleicher County compound raided in April after allegations of physical and sexual abuse.
"All four motions have different facts to support them," said Austin-based CPS attorney Charles Childress, who filed the motions about 1:30 p.m. "Mostly, it's about failure to comply."
Retired District Judge Marilyn Aboussie, sitting in for 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, set hearings on the motions for Sept. 25, although that could change once Walther returns next week.
The six girls and four boys range in age from 5 to 17 years old.
Also today, CPS asked Aboussie to end the cases of 32 children "where there is no evidence of underage marriages in the family."
The motions cite a number of factors - alleging that one mother acknowledged that she did not know where or with whom her two children at the sect's YFZ Ranch were living while she lived in San Antonio.
Among the alleged underage marriages, CPS accuses Dr. Lloyd H. Barlow - the sect's on-site physician, who was indicted by a Schleicher County grand jury July 22 on three counts of failure to report abuse - of marrying a 16-year-old girl and telling investigators that in a case of domestic abuse situation, "church elders would handle the situation first."
According to an affidavit written by CPS special investigator Paul Dyer, Barlow told investigators he had delivered children to girls under the age of 18 "many times both on this ranch and in other places."
One of the subjects of the motions is the 14-year-old girl whose alleged "marriage" to sect leader Warren Jeffs at age 12 produced the now-infamous open-mouth kiss, a picture of which was among the first pieces of evidence released in the case.
Three of the eight children - two boys and the 14-year-old girl - are children of ranch leader and sect bishop Merril Jessop, who is accused of fostering and participating in an atmosphere that condones underage marriage.
According to one affidavit, the girl told her CPS questioner that marriages of girls younger than 18 "can't be a crime because Heavenly Father is the one that tells Warren when a girl is ready to get married, and that he is only following the word of the Heavenly Father."
The requests are the first since state appellate courts ordered the return of more than 400 FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch, which the agency had removed during a raid that began April 3.
Are you not amazed at the defenders on this post tonight?
Thanks for posting this version of the story. The San Antonio Express News ran the same one.
I believe that the statute of limitations for these crimes is 10 years.