Polygamist Sect's Cell Phones Confiscated

(AP)  State officials on Sunday enforced a judge's order and confiscated the cell phones of the women and children removed from a polygamous sect's private ranch in West Texas.

Attorneys ad litem for 18 girls from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who are in the legal custody of the state had sought the order, said Marissa Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services.

The attorneys reasoned that cutting off communications would "prevent the possible tampering of witnesses," Gonzalez said, reading from the court document.

It was unclear how many phones were taken Sunday. Gonzalez did not know if the document could be released.

Some 416 youngsters were rounded up and placed in temporary custody 11 days ago, after a domestic violence hot line recorded a complaint from a 16-year-old girl who said she was physically and sexually abused by her 50-year-old husband.

Affidavits filed by child protection workers said that, upon investigating, they found a pattern of abuse existed at the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, about 45 miles south of San Angelo.

The 1,700-acre fenced ranch, a former game preserve, was bought by the FLDS in 2003.

A number of large dormitory-style homes have been built, along with a small medical facility, a cheese factory, a rock quarry, water treatment plant and a towering, white limestone temple.

The children are currently being housed in San Angelo's historic Fort Concho and at the nearby Wells Fargo pavilion. About 140 women from the ranch are also with the children, although they are not in state custody.

On Saturday, five FLDS women staying at the fort told the Salt Lake City-based Deseret News the temporary shelter is cramped - cots, cribs and playpens are lined up side-by-side - and that many of the children are frightened.

Authorities said they have not yet located the teenage mother whose call for help triggered the raid at the ranch.

(AP/Michael Brandy, Deseret News)

Texas authorities have issued an arrest warrant for the alleged husband, a man identified as Dale Barlow (left) of Colorado City, Arizona, one of two communities on the Utah-Arizona border that have been the traditional home-base of the church.

Texas Rangers met with Barlow and his probation officer in St. George, Utah, on Saturday, but did not arrest him.

Barlow is serving three years probation after pleading no contest to sexual misconduct with a minor - a teenager to whom he was spiritually married.

"As for Mr. Barlow, we are continuing to look into whether we have a warrant on the correct person," said Tela Mange, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Mange said it would be difficult to know the suspect's correct identity until they talk with the 16-year-old girl.

The secretive sect practices polygamy in arranged marriage that often pair underage girls with older men. The faith believes the practice will brings glorification in heaven.

A judge will decide this week if the children will remain in state custody or return to their families. Hearings are scheduled for Monday and Thursday.

[cantshutup]

this is a farce...the mysterious phone call from some girl is an excuse for the government to raid and destroy lives...why would the government do that? because they''re going to do it to the rest of us...who cares if some fanatical weirdos are subjected to this violation of their rights? if someone is suspected of R APE and ABUSE, why not follow normal legal recourse?...why raid their home in armoured military weaponry to "rescue" supposed victims? i mean aren''t the children in just as much danger out here, in "regular" society??? just last week in my town a multiply convicted felon r aped, so domized and choked a 7 yr old girl, then he set the house on fire...the little child played dead and survived...so to speak...why this and not that? why them and not her? where are the victims in texas? where is the abuser? no body was storming Nichols St. at the house where the 7 yr old in my town was r ap ed so do mized and nearly killed by her abuser...

[foolprophet]

I''''m not saying that I agree with their practices...I don''''t. My opinion (or anyone elses) is irrelevant on that point...These people have a RIGHT as Americans to worship as they see fit. It''''s the cornerstone on which of these United States'''' were founded.

And that right is upheld as long as that worship does not include breaking any Federal, State or Local Laws.

How can you be so dense? The case here is not their "religon" but their practices of multiple marriages, pedophilia, child abuse, abusing the welfare system and the list grows. Would God tell these people to do all this? Only if he decided to break his own 10 commandments. If one were religious one could say the devil has had more than his hand on these sick, sick people.

[moonshadow22]

Does anyone remember the initial concept on which this country was founded? Why did folks initially flock to the "New World"? What is the first ammendment to the US constitution guarantee? FREEDOM OF RELIGION!!!

I''m not saying that I agree with their practices...I don''t. My opinion (or anyone elses) is irrelevant on that point...These people have a RIGHT as Americans to worship as they see fit. It''s the cornerstone on which of these United States'' were founded.

"I don''t agree with a single word that you have said, but I would give my life to defend your right to say it." (usually attributed to Alexander Hamilton at the Constitutional Congress, 1782)

[nkl66]

milesbrown49 think about what you wrote... "don''''t agree with their religion, but I am American and do belive they have the right to practice is as long as they are within the laws".

They are breaking the law. 1. They have multiple wives and 2. They are having *** with under age girls.

Think about it... law''s broken. Not to metion a lot of brainwashing.

[jsilver2th]

This cult expels men and reassigns their children and wives to other men like monopoly pieces- so who are they to talk about ripping children out of the arms of their parents?

When the cult does this there is no appeal to the legal system for abusing the father''s rights. The people that think this is a pro or anti feminist debate completely miss the mark.

Think about it. The boys are slaves until they get old enough to want to be adults and then they expel most of them- they have to- otherwise how can they have multiple wives...

It''s not every man had multiple wives- it''s certain men have all the wives...

They throw the boys out in the streets so that they can have it their way- this isn''t family values- it''s slavery.

[taoman2]

BRAIN WASH, RAPE, SEXUAL SLAVARY, and INCEST then BRAIN WASH, RAPE,*** SLAVARY, AND INCEST..... The cycles go round for years. Why the government turn their blind eyes to these cults. We need a new law that stop all this stupid nonsense and horrific crimes

[bdrlnt4rl]

milesbrown49

someone assumed me a female.

nothing wrong with being proud of my accomplishments. i never called her a trophy wife, i called her a good wife, nice wife, wonderful wife, all of it. she treats me great, i love her wonderfully!

her cousins, or family, had a hard time accepting me, but i proved my love for her and it is getting better. 2 different cultures combining is difficult, a challenge, but i would not trade for anything.


this article is not about me. i was just making my statement to a different statement, just like you made a statement toward me and now i am making a statement toward you. it is the circle you enter when coming into a message board.

[rillifane]

its really quite scary how easy it is to ignore the constitution, the rule of law and basic civil rights as long as the group being abused can be characterized as different. This judge is a little fascist pig.

[cattlekate]

http://www.9news.com/news/top-article.aspx?storyid=89876

OMG! They are here too!

Will the sheriff of Mancos, Delta County Sheriff Fred McKee, be as brave as the one in ElDorado?

[cattlekate]

I say good for Texas- its about time- 4 years of informant information and the local sheriff sits on his rump- run that one out of office and anyone that caters to these creeps.
Posted by jsilver2th at 09:17 PM : Apr 13, 2008

I agree!

It would be nice is the sheriffs of Hilsdale and Colorado City followed suit, but the FLDS have so infiltrated their ranks only the states of Arizona and Utah can step in.

And they are too timid. We need that Phoenix sheriff to bring rescue to the brainwashed child brides.

My suspicion about the four-year time lag is that it took that amount of time to determine that a little child bride girl turned fourteen.

Really.

I think the informant was a male, a Soon-To-Be Lost Boy, who argued his sister was eight, or ten, but the authorites, without proper birth certificates, had to wait until the girl was of puberty age, before they could prove rape of a fourteen-year-old.

And I still have not gotten a satisfactory answer to my questions about welfare.

Are these FLDS super-birthin'' single mums & children receiving my tax dollars?