Sheriff Had Polygamy Informant For 4 Years

Texas Authorities Defend Handling Of Polygamist Sect, Say Their Hands Were Tied Until Now

(CBS/AP)  It was no secret that a polygamist sect that built a compound in the West Texas desert believed in marrying off underage girls to older men. And the sheriff had an informant for four years who was feeding him information about life inside the sect.

But authorities say their hands were tied until last week, when they finally obtained the legal grounds to move against the group.

The trigger for the raid was a hushed phone call from a terrified 16-year-old girl to a family-violence shelter to report that her 50-year-old husband had beaten and raped her. State troopers put into action the plan they had on the shelf to enter the 1,700-acre compound, and 416 children, most of them girls, were swept into state custody because of suspicions that they were being sexually and physically abused.

The state is now scrambling to find shelter for the women and children, reports CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan.

On Thursday, state and local law enforcement authorities defended their decision to leave the sect alone for four years after it moved in.

"We are aware that this group is capable of" sexually abusing girls, Sheriff David Doran said. "But there again, this is the United States. We are going to respect them. We're not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry."

Doran said it was not until after the raid began that he learned that the sect was, in fact, marrying off underage girls at the compound and had a bed in its soaring limestone temple where the girls were required to immediately consummate their marriages. Also, investigators say a number of teenage girls there are pregnant.

Authorities in Texas suspected there would be trouble ever since members of the renegade Mormon splinter group - the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - bought an exotic game ranch in Eldorado in 2004 and began building the ranch.

Warren Jeffs, the sect's prophet and spiritual leader at its longtime headquarters in the dusty, side-by-side towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., was charged in 2005 and 2006 with forcing underage girls into marriages there. He was convicted in September in Utah of being an accomplice to rape and is serving up to life in prison.

According to tax documents, the ranch paid more than $400,000 in taxes in 2006, reports Sreenivasan. In addition to a cement plant and cheese factory, the hundreds of women and children could be another source of income.

Doran had been making occasional visits to the Eldorado compound - he even called to tell members of Jeffs' capture in 2006 - but he said he saw nothing to warrant a criminal investigation. Most of those milling around the compound would scatter when he and a Texas Ranger visited, he said.

"You can only press someone so far without having a criminal investigation going on," the sheriff said. "This group doesn't openly talk and they do not openly answer questions."

Doran said he had an informant who was "instrumental in teaching me the group's ways." But he declined to say whether the informant, a former sect member, was in Texas, or Utah or Arizona.

Barry Caver, a Texas Ranger who sometimes went with Doran to the compound, said a general welfare check wouldn't have produced much. "They would allow us on the property to the extent that we could talk to the main three or four people" only, Caver said.

Texas Attorney General Gregg Abbott said that despite other states' investigations into Jeffs and FLDS, Texas authorities had to wait until they had evidence of wrongdoing in this state to act. He said authorities handled the case properly.

"You cannot go in and bust in someone's house if there's not probable cause to do so," Abbott said.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor who has written about polygamy, said even Jeffs' conviction was not enough to barge in on the sect in Eldorado.

"You cannot use stale evidence," Turley said. "They would need a contemporary statement or evidence at trial that an individual at the compound is practicing polygamy."

The man alleged to be the 16-year-old girl's husband, Dale Barlow, is a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to having sex with a minor in Arizona.

"I do not know this girl that they keep asking about," he told Utah's Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."

Officials still have not identified the 16-year-old girl among the children and the 139 women being held at two sites in Texas.

"When you're dealing with a culture like this, they're taught from very early on that they don't answer questions to the point," Doran said. "All of that is certainly being sorted out right now."

[veteran72]

Is there any doubt that ALL religion is a sick, twisted, perversion that relies on mindless indoctrination of children for survival???
Shut it ALL down, shut it down NOW!!!

[hypnotoad72]

veteran72 -- which religion did those 8 little bratty girls belong to? The mighty religion of iPod, Brittney Hilton, and the rest?

[p-syrus]

that this incident is Texas is a cult and not religion.
Posted by shammock112
---------------------

Most religions ARE cults.

Christianity is certainly one such given it''s preoccupation with worshipping a man, Jesus, as a god.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=cult

[Syndicate]

I think this was an Illegal raid and the sherif knows it. Were is this 16 year old girl? Was she a police plant? Did an officer find some random girl and pay her to make this call? With out the girl this is an illegal raid. I think the sexual abuse is second to the mental abuse. But we all know religion is mental abuse. You don''t see us busting down the door of the local baptist church in order to protect children from pyschological abuse. Maybe we should protect children from christens if they can do it here. After all we have seen what pyschological abused arabs do.

[smendicino]

To veteran72,
You really have issues. To say someone is Christian is to say they believe Jesus%u2019 teaching. Jesus was put to death because he was fighting the corruption of the church leaders of that time. In his time children and women were second class citizens, but not in his eyes. Mankind is corrupt, and you can%u2019t follow any religion blindly.
Some men have used his name in corruption, while many others used their knowledge of his teaching for good. William Wilberforce inspired by Jesus fought peacefully for the abolishment of slavery in Britain. If all a person did was read ancient history, and the four gospels they would have a pretty good idea of what Christ was about. He consciously gave up his life to fight corruption in his own religion. Oh by the way a historian at that time did record the time of his death and the death of a few of his disciples. This historian did not know Jesus personally, and did not have any idea the influence he would have. A person doesn%u2019t even have to be a Christian to use Jesus%u2019 teaching. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi used the sermon of the mound to change the world%u2019s thinking.
I''m sorry for what may have been done to you, but it wasn''t the teachings of Christ that would have done it.

[hazelknows]

you think the white cowboy hat would of tipped off to the cult group that they were an informant. dumbasses on both sides of the wall, oh thats right, tExAs

[califasreal]

FLDS sounds eerily similar to ISLAM: pre-adolescent females forced to have *** with old geezers; paternally forced rape/incest; impotent mothers who enable the fathers'' perversions under the guise of "religious submission"; "arranged" marriages with cousins/uncles/old farts; multiple "wives" for loser old farts (who in normal society would be rejected by young women); enforced servitude to male authority; complete disenfranchisement of the female population; etc., etc.
By the way, where were the young men and boys of this "community"? Oh yes, young men (immediate competition for the old farts) and boys (future competition for the old farts) are callously forced to leave FLDS, and fend for themselves on the streets alone! So as not to distract the little girls from their potential grandfather-husbands, the young males are exiled! Ridicule these perverted, loser, old farts! Parade them out in the public square naked-- with their shriveled, sagging pee-pees swingin'' in the wind...The next perverted community to out is Islamic society. Start publicizing the proliferation of Islamic bloodthirsty "honor killings" of their subjugated female population! Fight against Islamic socially-embedded pedophilia, supported by Sharia Law. Stop the madness! Reform Islam now! Disband FLDS now!

[fersur]

Simply Move the Men out, demanding Bond or Jail without return. Move the Girls back to Compound with Property DEED so we can offer Gifts but mainly keeping them together to establish Life with guidence.

[dude1988]

I am starting to lose confidence in the state of texas. You kill inocent people at Waco then you kidnap kids from their moms and dads. Remember these words.....You reap what you sow!!

I agree, all religion is wrong, schools should teach this.

[heraldtkel]

This guy is GOD, it''s because of him I will do the same. This man needs to be honored www.theoandavirus.com

[gotagrip]

Mr. veteran72, you must be sick and have a twisted mind because anyone with one eye and half sense knows that this incident is Texas is a cult and not religion.

Posted by shammock112 at 07:48 PM : Apr 10, 2008

Please explain the difference. To me the only difference is numbers. Every religion was a cult when it started.

[gotagrip]

I am starting to lose confidence in the state of texas. You kill inocent people at Waco then you kidnap kids from their moms and dads. Remember these words.....You reap what you sow!!

Posted by dude1988 at 09:50 PM : Apr 10, 2008

Don''t you mean "moms and dad"?

These dirty pedophiles are about to reap what THEY sowed!! I''m sure there are some lifers at the local prison who will be glad to see them! Even cons don''t like pedophiles.

[displeased]

You kill inocent people at Waco then you kidnap kids from their moms and dads.
Posted by dude1988

The people at Waco killed themselves. They were obviously breaking the law too and they chose to put up a fight, unlike the cult in San Angelo. The kids the officials kidnapped are the moms.

[jsilver2th]

They ought to go after the Sheriff for being negligent in his duties...

"Informant was sharing info on polygamyst group for four years but sheriff says, "We''re not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry."

Please- it''s ok to rape children until there is an "outcry?"

[soldat44]

I agree, all religion is wrong, schools should teach this.

Posted by jinjimbob at 09:54 PM : Apr 10, 2008

If you''re so *** sure of this why don''t you write a book about it. Self-righteous bigot that you are.

[soldat44]

Simply Move the Men out, demanding Bond or Jail without return. Move the Girls back to Compound with Property DEED so we can offer Gifts but mainly keeping them together to establish Life with guidence.

Posted by fersur at 09:36 PM : Apr 10, 2008

''Move the girls back''?! Are you drinking the Kool-aid again?

[trenticus-2009]

Why did it take 4 years to bust this case wide open with an informant on the inside???? Just another policing authority taking credit for work they DIDN''T DO!

[gusesel]

jsilver2th and trenticus, i agree w/both of you. 4 years? Wonder how that sheriff would like being raped for 4 years until someone (who knew) finally came to rescue.

[singingrick]

Religious nuts.

[luigi999-2009]

That MORONIC sheriff should be fired and thrown in jail! The spineless girly-man with a cowboy hat, straight out of Brokeback Mountain. This idiot knew this stuff was going on right under his nose and did NOTHING to stop it. Meanwhile, dozens of kids suffered while this pig continued to draw a wage. Disgusting.

[creeper00]

Overlooking rape was official policy in Schleicher County. Without that phone call to the abuse hotline that sheriff would still be turning a blind eye.

And men wonder why women don''t trust them.

[DannyHaszard]

The Jehovah''s Witnesses have settled lawsuits alleging church policies protected pedophile men who sexually abused children for many years.
Frederick McLean is one of the most-wanted fugitives in the United States
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21917798/

[linfinster]

There was in inside man all right, but it was the compound''s man inside the sheriffs office, and probably more than one!! Wake up people! Why do you think it was allowed to continue?!
The Sheriffs comment,
"We are aware that this group is capable of" sexually abusing girls, Sheriff David Doran said. "But there again, this is the United States. We are going to respect them. We''re not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry."
?? who is " their?" the men? to rape and kidnap and brainwash and abuse?
THE LAW WAS BROKEN!! THEY KNEW IT AND DID NOTHING! THEY ARE THE ENEMY!

[demslie]

So, I can build a secks camp for underage girls and old men to hook up and I get 4 years grace period if I call it a church and put a cross on the roof? Cool! I LOVE this country!

Posted by DaVicar2

Terrorist commit genocide and Democrats like DaVicar2 blame America. Isn''t it perfectly normal for Democrats to read this story and blame the actions of nuts on this Country or Christianity in general. Of course we know, that Democrats are Anti-American Atheists who have seexx with children, animals and major appliances so this is not about ***, its about hate for anything American. I bet you will never see a Democrat talk about todays CBS stroy: John McCain is polling ahead of O''bama and Hitlery in national polls. And the polls show the number one reason. The American People are tired of the Democrat Hate for American, Hate for Christianity, Hate for Capitalism, Hate for the Miltary, Hate for White People, Hate for Family Values, Hate for the Ameircan Flag and on and on and on. This is the new "Change for America" that Democrats promised us.

[toofly4u84]

comment for demslie:

you obviously have some hate issues of your own. this has nothing to do with being democratic or republican. you are mixing apples and oranges. instead of showing a little concern for the women and children who were taken advantage of so heinously in this situation, you prefer to spew your hatred and completely off base opinion and force them on the people that actually care about what happens to innocent human beings. your comment had nothing to do with the subject at hand. and your outlook was mediocre at best. i pity you for your opinion because not all democrats are black or a minority, as i recall hillary clinton is caucasian so what gives you the right to say that democrats have a hatred for white people? u have issues that need to be resolved immediately.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[wbelle01]

The reason no one could do anything about this mess was because these people have civil rights just like you and I do. They have to have a reason to invade someones home just like they need a reason to raid mine and yours.
The people are a bunch of nuts but they are ruled by a bunch of nut cases who make up their own rules about church and God and what ever they want to.
They have been brained washed just like the Iraq government brained washed their people.
Is their anything anyone can do about the mess (No they can''t until someone complains.
This is not a church it is a bunch of uneducated mess of people out their listening to a bunch of uneducated nuts.
Like in any place do not give the people a chance to get an education and you can control them anyway you want. The south did the same thing to the blacks in slavery Don''t educate them and you call tell them anything they want to know and they will do it .

[injustice1]

did everyone forget we are in the united states you are innocent until proven guilty. If they had someone in there for four years then obviously it couldn''t have been as bad as the media is making it out. but no one wants to hear that after four years the sheriff had nothing. We have seen this a million times and yet the american people fall for it over and over. If i remember right they said the same thing about DAVID KORESH and were also wrong. Teenage girls get pregnant in this country everyday and i don''t see the media jumping on that day after day. And worst of all now the media starts calling this compound a pedophile heaven and again americans jump on the band wagon and these people are convicted before they are given a fair trial. Any time people want to separate from society for any reason the govt. buts in and makes sure that doesn''t happen. Waco, Randy Weaver, the list goes on. Every one wants to make a big deal about this and things like the olympic torch but no one cares about the oil companies raping every citizen in this country for profit i think everybodies priorities are screwed up, and yet they still haven''t found this imaginary sixteen year old with an imaginary baby and an imaginary 50 year old husband who supposedly started this whole thing, i guess when all else fails make something up because americans will believe it.

[nolalou]

People on this site are too quick to condemn the sheriff for not moving in sooner. If you read the article, it clearly states they did not know about the forced marriages to underage girls. They have to have probably cause to get a search warrant to go in there. The fault lies with the cult members, not with the police.

[bdrlnt4rl]

vasectimy, texas style, tie up the nuts until they fall off, the best way, then tro them men of god(ya right) in a cell.

years of therapy for the kids to unscrew their heads.

[bdrlnt4rl]

this is what happens when ''man'' says he is called of god, he is ruled by his god, ya know the god behind his zipper or the god in his back pocket with the ole wallet growing bigger with the doe

[klingon69]

The people at Waco killed themselves. They were obviously breaking the law too and they chose to put up a fight, unlike the cult in San Angelo. The kids the officials kidnapped are the moms.

Posted by Displeased at 10:28 PM : Apr 10, 2008
You are wrong. Janet Reno, the ATF, National Guard and yes even the Clintoons killed those people.
How about breaking the Posse-Comitatus act, US National Guard Troops and equipment were used against the people at Waco? Why did the Feds wait until the people were bunkered in, when they had met with Koresh in town? Why did the feds refuse when Koresh invited them back out to the ranch/compound to inspect the weapons? Why in any crime scene, meticulous care is taken to preserve evidence, but here the dozers and tanks kept pushing in the rubble onto the fire to destroy it? Why on video can you see jets of flame shooting out the front of the "gas canister insertion tank"?

[davidlar2]

Underage girls is another story, but I don''t see how it can be constitutional to outlaw polygamy if it is part of a religion. Last time I checked, we were supposed to have freedom of religion in this country, not just freedom to be a mainstream Protestant.

It''d be great if the government and the Supreme Court actually read the Constitution. Perhaps that is asking too much.

[j-whitman]

200 Miles from Bush''s ranch & he''s on vacation again.

[j-whitman]

They didn''t tell anyone for 4 years ??? --- Bush Country''s "Don''t ask, Don''t tell"

[vadersdad-2009]

We are allowed Freedom to practice our religion as long as practicing said religion does not break Federal or State Law. Polygamy is against the law. When pedophiles such as the FLDS, practice their so called religion/cultism they are breaking the law and should be punished. It is no different than a Rastafarian being convicted for smoking pot. To start your own relgion, you simply have to be convicted of being a Charlatan/Imposter like Joseph Smith was in 1826 and then collect millions on of dollars a year from the weak minded people searching for the answers to life eternal.

[hoosiermoon]

In all the uproar of this story, I haven''t heard anyone explain why a man would want more than one wife in the first place. If a man has two wives, that would mean that he would have TWO JCPenney charge cards maxed out that he somehow is obligated to pay off. It would mean that whatever amount of money he tried to save would be blown twice as quickly as in having just one wife. Having two wives would mean having to deal with twice as many demands, twice as many expectations, twice as much complaining. Twice as many excuses for not wanting to be intimate with her husband. Any man dumb enough to want two wives deserves to put up with two wives.

[eggy1620]

There should not even be any claim to religious freedom or privacy. It is not a religion. It is a pedophile cult that was in the business of breeding bed slaves.

[tejasdemo]

A muslim sneezes and we freak out but teenage girls are getting raped in the middle of Texas and we need more evidence ?

[bdrlnt4rl]

fibonacci

dont show your intellegence with a stupid comment like this, these people are not the mormons.

[walker1209]

I am no fan of President Bush''s, but no one can lay this at his feet, nor can we blame religion for what these people do. We live in a country of laws and no one can just make them up as they please.

These people appear to be pedophiles and if charged and found guilty, should be put in jail for a very long time.

I will pray for the women who were held against their will and for all the children involved in this horror.

[mikegerety]

to tejasdemo:
These people just want to be left alone. Muslims want to kill people. That''s the difference.

[pensacola88]

There has been a constitutional question asked by many about layers of Federal Laws that exist over the State Laws.

Their are four constitional guarantees in the Federal Constitution that are extended to every state:
1. The power to tax.
2. The power to police.
3. The power to pursue enterprise.
4. The power of eminent domain.

The power to police at the state level is where the statutes exist, which outlaw polygamy in Texas and many other states.

All First Amendment rights yeild to the power of police specified in Article Four.

Article Six specifies that Federal Laws prevail over State laws and the two shall not legislate to contradict with each other. Under this Article, Religious freedoms are subject to both Federal and State powers of police.

Several areas exist that conflict between the power of police against religious beliefs: Divorce, polygamy, marriage, employment discrimination, employment termination, emancipation, corporal punishment, and education accreditation.

[denn034]

Would you believe that NBC on it''s newsvine site has asked if it''s time to consider legalizing polygamy now? Apparently, NBC wants to legalizing raping underaged girls in temples! Now, that''s downright disgusting. Shame on you for even raising the possibility NBC! Polygamy has been problematic wherever and whenever it''s been practiced in human history as the FLDS most recently show and the unhappiness of women under Mormon polygamy, a Mormon Apostle name Heber C. Kimball acknowledged the widespread unhappiness of women under Mormon polygamy, more than graphically shows.

[denn034]

It should also be noted that the FLDS say that those who oppose the polygamist lifestyle are intolerant bigots just like homosexuals say of those who oppose their lifestyle. If that argument isn''t valid where polygamy is concerned, it isn''t, then, it isn''t valid where homosexuality is concerned. Period!

[hoosiermoon]

huronian1:
you need to change your diaper and then learn some manners.

[nolalou]

I''m glad they raided that compound, and got those girls out of harms way, but I do wonder about the 16 year old who called in to complain. Since they needed a reason go go in, could it be this was set up, so they''d have an excuse? In addition, how do they know the call came from inside the compound, since it was apparently made from a cell phone.

[kodiak8881]

Let''s get something straight. Polygamy is NOT illegal by federal or state laws anywhere in the US EXCEPT for only ONE state in the union that has outlawed polygamy. Guess what state that is? Yup. Utah. These cults have gotten away with bigamy by not actually marrying any more than one wife. Believe me, they do know how to play the game.

[pensacola88]

You can find the law about Polygamy in the Texas Penal code. It is actually called bigamy, which implies marriage to more than one spouse at any time.

Under the TEXAS PENAL CODE, Title 6, Chapter 25.01 Bigamy is clearly defined and not legal. You can''t even be married and live with another person and "appear to be married to that person" or know that a person you live with is married to someone else and "appear that you are married" to that person.

Someone might argue that polygamy is not the same as bigamy, but in Texas, just "appearing to be married" to more than one person at any time, is enough to break the law.

[Renegade.Rivers]

You kill inocent people at Waco then you kidnap kids from their moms and dads.
Posted by dude1988

The people at Waco killed themselves. They were obviously breaking the law too and they chose to put up a fight, unlike the cult in San Angelo. The kids the officials kidnapped are the moms.

Posted by Displeased

--------------------------------------------
You been drinking the koolaide,too. Those people at Waco never killed themselves, the US Government was responsible for that debacle, and the tanks that tore the house to pieces were responsible for starting the fires. Even the few people who were fortunate to escape have always maintained that to be true. I suggest you take the time to watch the video, "Rules of Engagement," and then I challenge you to rethink you position.