Rochelle News–State removes 52 girls from polygamist ranch (Houston Chronicle/ AP)
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
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AUSTIN — Fifty-two girls, including 18 suspected abuse victims, were removed by state officials Friday from the West Texas compound where a religious sect kept them isolated from the outside world.
The dramatic departure by school bus involved many of the girls living at the community near Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo.
The complex of dormitory-style buildings and a large temple was founded four years ago by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl.
Boys were allowed to remain at the Yearn for Zion Ranch but will be questioned by investigators from Child Protective Services, said agency spokesman Darrell Azar.
Child abuse investigators and officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety arrived at the complex Thursday in response to a report CPS received Monday alleging a 16-year-old girl had been sexually and physically abused.
On Friday, they executed a search warrant at the compound.
The warrant is for records dealing with the birth of any children to a 16-year-old and any records listing a marriage between a 50-year-old man and the girl, according to the San Angelo Standard-Times, which cited court records released late Friday in Tom Green County.
An arrest warrant was issued, but the individual whom public safety officials are looking for had not been located by Friday evening, said spokeswoman Tela Mange. She said she could not reveal whose name was on the warrant.
The social workers spent Thursday night and Friday questioning people living at the complex.
They determined that 18 girls, ranging in age from 6 months to 17 years, had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse.
Officials did not provide any specifics.
Azar said temporary placements were found for all of them, at undisclosed locations.
The 34 girls who were transported out of the complex for questioning were taken to an area civic center.
Azar said children in suspected abuse cases are routinely taken to a neutral location for questioning, usually a child advocacy center or state office. In this case, the size of the group required a larger facility.
“We will continue to talk to them and make sure their needs are met until we can determine whether they had been abused or are at immediate risk of future abuse,” Azar said.
The sudden police invasion of the religious sect, which is not associated with the mainstream Mormon Church, reminded some of the deadly federal raid 15 years ago of the Branch Davidian complex near Waco.
But public safety spokesman Tom Vinger said sect members were “very cooperative.”
Azar said the only motivation for the agency’s investigation was the children’s welfare.
“The actions we’ve taken today have nothing to do with religion or lifestyle,” Azar said. “The pure interest is in protecting children from abuse and neglect. That’s what we have done.”
As the investigation unfolded, police blocked roads leading to the complex and restricted flights over the facility.
Robert Black, Gov. Rick Perry’s spokesman, said CPS informed the governor’s office Tuesday that there would be a raid at the compound by the end of the week.
“There was reason to believe a girl had called in and said she was being raped,” Black said. “There also was reason to believe they were heavily armed out there.”
Members of the sect from Utah, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, arrived in Texas in late 2003.
They purchased the 1,700-acre ranch four miles outside of Eldorado, a town of 2,000, and began construction.
Officials believed about 150 people were living at the community in 2006.
Most of the 10,000-member sect has lived throughout its 70-year history in the twin cities of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hilldale, Utah, north of the Grand Canyon; and in a small outpost just across the Canadian border in Bountiful, British Columbia.
Jeffs, a former high school principal, began taking over the sect in the late 1990s and became the leader after his father’s death in 2002.
Randy Mankin, owner of the Eldorado Success newspaper, said Jeffs’ downfall appeared to have had little impact on the sect, which continues to add buildings, Mankin said.
“It has not stopped one bit. In fact, it’s accelerated,” Mankin said. “In four years, they’ve built another town outside my town.”
A few men from the sect show up in Eldorado to shop, but women and children are rarely seen, Mankin said.
Jeffs was convicted in September. A 14-year-old girl testified she was forced to wed her cousin. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life.
Testimony indicated he performed the ceremony and forced the girl to marry the 19-year-old man and have sex with him.
Jeffs is in the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, Ariz., awaiting trial on charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor
Peggy Fikac and The Associated Press contributed.
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