Posted on 07/29/2008 6:44:21 AM PDT by ricks_place
Five indicted members of a West Texas polygamist sect turned themselves in to authorities Monday to face charges related to allegations of child sexual abuse.
The five men were indicted last week with Warren Jeffs, the already-jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The charges stem from a state investigation into allegations that the sect forced underage girls into marriage and motherhood with much older men.
State authorities raided the FLDS's Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado on April 3, eventually sweeping more than 400 children into foster care until the state Supreme Court said officials had overreached and sent the children home.
Raymond Merrill Jessop, 36, Allan Eugene Keate, 56, Michael George Emack, 57, and Merrill Leroy Jessop, 33, were charged with one count each of sexual assault of a child, a felony punishable by a sentence ranging from five to 99 years or life in prison. Their bond was set at $100,000 each.
Merrill Leroy Jessop also was charged with bigamy, a felony with the same potential penalties as the sexual assault charge.
Lloyd Hammon Barlow, 38, the ranch's onsite physician, was charged with three counts of failure to report child abuse, a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in prison. His bond was set at $5,000.
Attorney General Greg Abbott on Monday declined to provide details of what the men were accused of doing.
Efforts to find the men's attorneys were not immediately successful. A message left for FLDS attorney Rod Parker was not immediately returned.
Abbott said the state would try to have Jeffs extradited to Texas to face a charge of sexual assault of a child.
Last week's charges were the first since the April raid.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
You are spouting Garbage. The women were taken against their will. If a police officer illegally takes someone against their will it is kidnapping under the color of law. Look it up.
Who are you rounding up? Are you imbibing illegal substances as you are typing?
No, that is the word you use to try and justify your hypocrisy.
Sometimes there’s no perfect justice in a fallen world. All we can do is go from where we are.
You are the one that wanted the CPS to snatch and keep all the women and children. Don't you want them to do it now? Why not?
The abuse is interrupted and (supposedly, hopefully) halted.
You believe the FLDS? I must be living in some alternate reality, do I need to light a candle to see the sun?
And finally, girls who reach puberty are in much less danger of being traded off to men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers, although the danger isn’t over.
Huh? That is precisely when they are married off. They aren't any good to the elders until they can bear more children.
The lies and disinformation that you are spouting is incredible.
They need to operate within the boundries set by the Constitution and our laws, and they aren't.
The 'cure' in many of these cases is far more dangerous than the disease.
The women were taken against their will.
Curious....... were the women taken or was it only the children and the women came voluntarily?
The laws may have been flauted by LDS. However, the actions of the CPS were the actions of a out of control bunch of thugs who thought they could flaut the laws too.
The CPS thugs were pretending to operate under the color of the law, they are the ones who pose the biggest danger to society, not FLDS. The perps in CPS should be facing prison terms.
I understand your frustration. I too want to see evil people stopped and punished. Sometimes it tears me up when I see guilty people go unpunished.
The reality though is that our Governments hands are tied. Our constitutional rights supersede the Governments rights to go after and prosecute criminals (or at least they should). The Founding Fathers purposely did this because they realized that the governments capacity for abuse far outstripped any mere criminals ability to kill, rape or torture.
Can you think of a criminal or even criminal organization that has managed to kill a thousandth of the people that the US Government has? And I am talking about innocent people not warfare victims either.
Our system is imperfect but I and the Founding Fathers prefer it to error on the side of caution. The other option is much too terrifying.
All of the children were taken under threat of law, some women were allowed to go with their children and some women were taken just like the children under threat of law (force). The women that were taken under the color of law were kidnapped, and the officials and individuals responsible should be charged with kidnapping.
Will they be charged? No. The Governor will probably try and honor them, just like lon Horiuchi was honored for shooting a mother holding her baby.
The FLDS women folk have the courts both state and federal to persue any damage claims should they so desire. Some may take that approach as this legal process proceeds on all sides [state, federal and FLDS].
“You are spouting Garbage. “
No. You are just misinformed, and your responses have been very emotional and immature. I thought you were smarter than that.
At best, the women who were incorrectly classified (or who purposely switched name bands) could file charges that they were falsely taken into protective custody.
CPS took these women, based on the Judge’s orders, so you can’t blame them. At the time, they had the legal authority to do what they did.
Why have none of these women filed suit against the authorities for kidnapping, if what you say is true?
What about the kids or young wives who testified against these prevs. Who's going to protect them now? What about the prevs out there that are emboldened by the court's rulings? What I'm trying to tell you is, this isn't nearly as cut and dried as you wish it would be. Nor is it going to go down like you want. (WOT??)
Convicting kidnappers is a good thing, but we shouldn't celibrate their actions, and your next question shows why.
What about the kids or young wives who testified against these prevs. Who's going to protect them now? What about the prevs out there that are emboldened by the court's rulings?
They are the victims of an out of control thugish CPS.
So, you believe the FLDS men are innocent and there's nothing illegal going on? BTW: The courts in question didn't convict anyone.
“The men are interchangeable pawns, at least as much, if not more than the women.”
True. But not all of them. Some of the men are bishops, and they have sworn to protect Warren. Just don’t get in between Warren and the money, or the little girls.
“That’s that way of the oldest recorded lie: “You won’t die, and you’ll be like gods.””
What has been ignored is the possibility that this sect was going to turn suicidal.
Warren had predicted (said GOD told him) the END OF THE WORLD, at least once, if not twice. He conned these people into following him to Texas to build the temple for that event, and had set an exact date. It didn’t happen.
And Warren got busted. But what would he have done if he hadn’t gotten caught?
Would he just martyr himself? Would he have taken the money, and some chicks, and left the state? (oh, wait, he did do that), or would he have fulfilled his prophecy by having everyone inside the isolated community die at the same time?
I think they did it because Willie already stated he gave orders to them to do so, and because it’s smart, and because their lawyers told them it was smart.
Utah = conflicted
“If a police officer illegally ...”
It was done legally.
And it was CPS, not a police officer.
Since both of your premises are wrong, the rest of your statement has no meaning.
Where’s the HELP button?
I didn't say that at all, what I did was answer your question about who is going to protect the women and children next time. Well, the thugs at CPS didn't really care about the women and children, they cared about flexing their power, and their actions proved that. They've used up their 'we'll protect them' card.
BTW: The courts in question didn't convict anyone.
If there was justice in this world CPS personnel would be on trial as we speak.
To their credit, CPS didn't incinerate them.
“They’ve used up their ‘we’ll protect them’ card.”
No they didn’t. It’s still pretty full. They obtained legal permission to monitor the children, for a year.
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