Polygamist Children Undergo DNA Testing

Texas Officials Hope Samples Will Clarify Family Relationships Of Kids In State Custody

(CBS/AP)  Lab workers began taking DNA samples Monday from the more than 400 children in state custody since a raid on a polygamist compound more than two weeks ago.

Officials hope the samples, to be taken by cheek swabs from the children and their parents, will help sort out the confusing family relationships in a convoluted custody case that has strained the resources of the child welfare system and the courts.

The testing is being conducted in the San Angelo Coliseum, where most of the children have been held since last week.

Judge Barbara Walther ordered the tests at the request of state officials, who have complained that members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have continually changed their names, possibly lied about their ages and sometimes had difficulty naming their relatives.

The process will likely take about half an hour per sample because of the paperwork and care needed to avoid contamination, said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. The tests could take three or four days to be completed.

A certain number of DNA markers - segments of the DNA with specific genetic characteristics - are tested to determine whether two people are related. If any uncertainties arise, analysts test additional markers.

Three male members of the sect said in an interview aired on CBS's "Early Show" Monday that they would cooperate in DNA testing if it would help them get the children back.

"Whatever we need to do to get them back in their peaceful homes," a man identified only as Rulan said.

Meanwhile, many of the men in the polygamist sect told Early Show co-anchor Maggie Rodriguez that they didn't know it is illegal to marry someone under 18.

State prosecutors have argued that the FLDS church encourages underage marriages and births, subjecting children to sexual abuse or the imminent risk of abuse. "Rulan" said sect members are reconsidering whether girls under 18 should have sex with adult men.

"Many of us perhaps were not even aware of such a law," he said. "And we do reconsider, yes. We teach our children to abide the law."

When the DNA sampling is completed, state officials will begin to relocate some of the 416 children staying at the coliseum and will separate the children younger than 4 years from adult mothers.

Officials say family relationships in the sect can be confusing to outsiders because the children of more than one wife live in the same household.

The children identify all the women in the house as their mothers, and if a father leaves the community, children and mothers are reassigned to another man, a child welfare investigator testified during a hearing last week.

Mothers of the youngest children had been allowed to stay with the children before the judge's order on Friday. But that arrangement will end after they are moved from the coliseum, Azar said.

He said it's not clear how soon the children will be moved, but state workers will try to keep them grouped together with siblings or others from the community.

They'll also try to shield the children, raised in an insular community with no television and little contact with outsiders, from overexposure to mainstream society.

"We're going to try to keep the children in groups so I don't think we're talking about your traditional foster setting," Azar said.

After two days of testimony, Walther ordered that all the children swept up in the raid of the Eldorado compound remain in state custody.

The custody case is one of the nation's largest and most complicated. The ruling Friday capped two days of testimony that sometimes became disorderly as hundreds of lawyers for children and parents competed to defend their clients in two rooms linked by a video feed.

The children, including 130 children younger than 4 years and two dozen adolescent boys, will receive individual hearings before June 5.

Law enforcement officers raided the Yearning For Zion Ranch on April 3. The raid was prompted by calls made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. That girl has never been identified.

[mcvet]

It''s almost unbelievable this is taking place in THIS nation in 2008! It''s like these people are living in a time warp and haven''t progressed any what so every!

[acolton1]

DNA TEST THE WHOLE BUNCH so none of these Sick-Os can lie any more. Put the men behind bars for getting these girls pregnent. Cut off all Welfare and Sick the IRS on the entire Bunch. I am so glad that TEXAS did some house keeping now its time for the Federal Government to do some house keeping with this immigration issue.

[fibonacci_]

Yearning for Zion? More like yearnin'' for a little something else.

[harrydoghiny]

The State of Texas is partying like it''s 1699. Can you say: "illegal search and seizure"?

[gwagener]

They got these big big libraries full of people''s DNA. Like that cartoon movie spaceship that had all the animals dna of the planet earth, and could remake a planet.
------------------------------
Posted by beamish99 at 03:09 PM : Apr 21, 2008

You are thinking of Titan AE.

[gwagener]

With all the in inbreading they must have in such a small population I would expect a very tangled web of lineage that will take months of sorting and many of additional markers.

[rowdytexan2]

The State of Texas is partying like it''''s 1699. Can you say: "illegal search and seizure"?


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

Posted by HarryDoghiny at 03:56 PM : Apr 21, 2008

Not illegal at all. CPS had reports of abuse of children. That gives them the right to go in and get them out. Period.

Then they got the search warrants to in and get proof. Which is what they did.

Without proof, they could not arrest the men and get them out of there. So they had to get the children to safety first.

[rowdytexan2]

Now they have evidence of at least two sixteen year old girls with four kids. That means they''ve been breeding since age 12 or 13. That right there should be enough proof.

They teach their childrne to be obedient to THEM, not to the law of the land.

Those people need to know about the Constitution and their civil rights, as well as the law of the land they live in.

[rowdytexan2]

Especially young girls should be taught that they have a choice whether to commit themselves to marriage and *** with these old perverts wanting a new virgin everytime one becomes available.

Men and their wet dreams! If I didn''t love my own son, I''d say drown them at birth!

[gwagener]

I am kind of puzzled by the math. If some members have dozens of wives doesn''t that mean dozens of members have no wife? Extending that further, doesn''t that mean hundreds or thousands with no wife if most men who are favored by the leader have more than one wife? What happens to these men? do they leave? Do they get kicked out? Do they have gay members? Do they get will aquainted with their hands?

[rushlimpdrug]

". . The raid was prompted by calls made to a family violence shelter, purportedly by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. That girl has never been identified."


Shouldn''t that read "prompted by "alleged" calls"?

What does it mean that "the girl has never been identified"?

"the girl has never been identified"?

What gives?

[gwagener]

I had another thought. Maybe male babies have a high infant mortality rate on purpose to balance things out. In other words, maybe they kill excess male babies so there will be more 13 year old girls available for the favored few?

[fibonacci_]

Religion is sick!

[bkylws]

Religion is not sick. The sickness is people who want to run the lives of others and the people who allow it to happen. And do not bring the Amish into this. They abide by the laws of our country.

[rushlimpdrug]

Religion is not sick. The sickness is people who want to run the lives of others and the people who allow it to happen. And do not bring the Amish into this. They abide by the laws of our country.
Posted by bkylws at 04:54 PM

Ah, I think you just described religion.

[excoachken]

So, when the DNA comes back to show that all 400 children were father by "the Profit" will they send them home with their mom''s. Then the State of Texas can send one huge Welfare check directly to the Cult compound, and save on postage. The DNA in this mess of inbreeding could be more difficult to figure out than solving a crime in Kentucky. Give them another generation of "brotherly love" and they could develop DNA markers that read like Rap Sheet Music.Good thing that they have Baba Wawa as the judge.

[harrydoghiny]

Not illegal at all. CPS had reports of abuse of children. That gives them the right to go in and get them out. Period.

Posted by RowdyTexan2

Actually, they had ONE anonymous phone call from someone who, as it turns out, doesn''t exist. the lawyers will have a field day with this one, get our yer checkbook, Texans!

[rushlimpdrug]

Not illegal at all. CPS had reports of abuse of children. That gives them the right to go in and get them out. Period.
Posted by RowdyTexan2


Wow.
I havae to agree with you saying that because of an
"alleged" phone call all this has transpired.

But it should give us all reason to pause.

Think about it RowdyTexan2

If someone makes an "annonymous" call that you
are abusing children including the "annonymous" caller
the government can come in and start a whole lot
of rukus.

And there''s your right to justice.

[minnick8-2009]

I know enough about how the polygamists work to know that the allegations are not falsehoods dreamed up by the government. The abuse does happen.

[bobnjersey]

[Those people need to know about the Constitution and their civil rights, as well as the law of the land they live in.]
[Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 04:18 PM : Apr 21, 2008]

it looks like they''re plenty confused as it is ... trying to reconcile the constitution w/ the laws of the land will just make their heads explode.

[rudy654-2009]

I know enough about how the polygamists work to know that the allegations are not falsehoods dreamed up by the government. The abuse does happen.


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

Posted by minnick8 at 05:28 PM

While I personally have no love for this sect, I find it appalling that government agencies can have such control over the lives of others with little or no evidence. And that is what is repeatedly coming out, NO EVIDENCE of the allegations at all. Sorry, But too many of you just want to run wild with your prejudices, and that is just not good enough reason to hurt people.

[rudy654-2009]

I recently read of how a military family had been put through some tough times in San Diego by CPS. The parents in that case had discovered that something was wrong with their daughter in her private area. They took her to the doctor and immediately the father was arrested, and suspected of raping his own daughter. However, DNA showed that the father had not done this, and evidence pointed to someone breaking in the house and raping the daughter. Regardless of the evidence, CPS remained in control of the child for years. The father even testified before Congress about this abuse.

[wlmrtpatriot]

Just wait until Nancy G gets her bony fingers on this scandal. I named one of my cats Nancy Grace because it was yellow and had a permanent sneer.

[woody2676]

The "Mormons" have NEVER perdicted the "End of the World"

[cpaide]

"This is complicated testing. It''''s not simply paternity testing."

and why you are making complicated testing for this clean humble mormans when for everyone else, you are making the simple paternity testing?

this is bad and dishonest actions by the KLK (krazy lesbians kult) that have been stalking and harrassing these nice mormans for many years now.

look here http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-9289 and you will see that i have good honest proof.

[britta02]

Rulon acts like he is scared to say anything for fear of repercussions. He sounds like the tapes of Warren Jeffs on Youtube.com. They all speak with the whisper-like soft voice.

[peevdprophet]

ROFLOL the KLK is pwing the FDLS!

The men of the FDLS are being pummeled by GIRLS! Bwahhhhahahahahahaha

[rowdytexan2]

While I personally have no love for this sect, I find it appalling that government agencies can have such control over the lives of others with little or no evidence. And that is what is repeatedly coming out, NO EVIDENCE of the allegations at all. Sorry, But too many of you just want to run wild with your prejudices, and that is just not good enough reason to hurt people.


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

Posted by rudy654 at 05:31 PM : Apr 21, 2008

So you think they should''ve just ignored allegations of sexual abuse by these people and gone ''Oh well!''

This case has been totally conducted by the book!

And now these children have a chance to be safe from this bunch of pervert men wanting access to a virgin every time one gets old enough! Bunch of old sickos teaching these kids they have to be obedient to them and that they have no civil rights or choices!

[peevdprophet]

Nice Mormons, teaching their women to be obedient a mans every word. Nice Mormons who "arrange" for an much much older man to bed (they say wed) a budding pubescent girl. Nice Mormons who kick boys to the outside worlds towns edge without as much as a goodbye. Nice Mormons who illegally ride the Welfare train, taking valuable resources from people that are in real need. Nice Mormons who believe that all not in their cult are absolute evil. Nice Mormons who don''t even give their boys a high school education. Nice Mormons who don''t even give their females a 8th grade education. Nice Mormons who throw boys out of the sect for LOOKING AT A GIRL (this would seem to promote homosexuality). Nice Mormons who take a woman''s children and bar them from their family and their only life they know for disobeying a man.

Yeah, Real nice cpaide. And so are you, I''m sure. I''m sure you''ll be Satin''s boy toy for eternity.

[peevdprophet]

NO EVIDENCE
Just four years of inside investigation. Just because charges haven''t been made yet doesn''t mean anyone is scott free.

[cpaide]

"This case has been totally conducted by the book!"
Posted by RowdyTexan2

again you have NOTHING good proof, my stupid texas bubba friend. what is this book you are always saying about? it is secret book like this book of mormans? at least this book of mormans is real and this book you are talking is NOTHING but what you make this false accusations. maybe you are member of this KLK (krazy lesbians kult) and angry and jealous of this nice humble mormans.

[cpaide]

"Nice Mormons who take a woman''s children and bar them from their family and their only life they know for disobeying a man."
Posted by PeevdProphet

oh, now i know you are mistaken, my stupid lesbian friends. it is not the mormans who do this things. it is this KLK (krazy lesbians kult) and this the penalty for disobeying a lesbians--not a man. please assemble some clean good proof of accusations prior to your posting.

[cpaide]

and now i practice to be good american by drinking too much cheap beer, watching le bron james and friends playing this basketball on new big-screen television that i purchase at superstore with credit card i cannot afford. i love this country!

[stevex47]

"I find it appalling that government agencies can have such control over the lives of others with little or no evidence"

I''m sorry, but where have you been for the 8 years of this regime. They invaded iraq on lies.

[rudy654-2009]

So you think they should''''ve just ignored allegations of sexual abuse by these people and gone ''''Oh well!''''

This case has been totally conducted by the book!

And now these children have a chance to be safe from this bunch of pervert men wanting access to a virgin every time one gets old enough! Bunch of old sickos teaching these kids they have to be obedient to them and that they have no civil rights or choices!

Posted by RowdyTexan2 at 08:23 PM

No I don''t think they should just ignore allegations. But they should respect rights to due process FIRST. Now, you think this cult is bad? Down the road is a few Amish, and I hear tell that they still use a strap to discipline their kids. Call the police!!!! Eventually, you are going to find yourself the victim of the police state you want to give so much power to.

[peevdprophet]

cpaide I''m refering to women who are too hard to handle and get their children and family taken from them before they are tossed on the street. You''ve read and responded to this article you nice Moron.

[peevdprophet]

Sorry nothing clean about how this so called Mormon cult operates. It reeks of enslavement, mind control, sexual perversion. But all these bad things this cult does is so pure, pure EVIL.

[peevdprophet]

The humans in this cult are left as subhuman. The human violations this cult is guilty of make the current Chinese Govt seem like angels.

Women can''t make decisions for themselves. Boys are broken as babies with what amounts to water boarding to make them deeply afraid of their father without being able to remember why. Girls are programed to be nothing, nothing but a *** depository and baby factory.

[flagship-usa]

Once again we have: Religion and S.e.x, S.e.x and Religion?

[k457]

%u8FD9%u6837%u7684%u7FA4%u5A5A%u5236%u5F88%u8C61%u53E4%u4EE3%u4E2D%u56FD%u7684%u5A5A%u59FB%u5236%u5EA6%uFF0C%u5728%u8FD9%u79CD%u5236%u5EA6%u4E0B%u5987%u5973%u6CA1%u6709%u4EFB%u4F55%u6743%u76CA%uFF0C%u4E0D%u80FD%u53D7%u6559%u80B2%uFF0C%u6240%u4EE5%u5979%u4EEC%u8131%u79BB%u90A3%u4E2A%u5236%u5EA6%u6839%u672C%u65E0%u6CD5%u751F%u5B58%uFF0C%u4E5F%u4E0D%u80FD%u9002%u5E94%u8FD9%u4E2A%u73B0%u4EE3%u5316%u7684%u793E%u4F1A%u3002%u5728%u73B0%u4EE3%u6587%u660E%u4E0B%u8FD8%u6709%u7740%u8FD9%u6837%u7684%u5A5A%u59FB%u73B0%u8C61%uFF0C%u662F%u5BF9%u4EBA%u7684%u6467%u6B8B%uFF0C%u800C%u4E0D%u662F%u5C0A%u91CD%u4E2A%u4EBA%u9009%u62E9%uFF0C%u56E0%u4E3A%u90A3%u4E9B%u5987%u5973%u548C%u513F%u7AE5%u6839%u672C%u5C31%u65E0%u6CD5%u4E5F%u65E0%u6743%u9009%u62E9%u3002

[peevdprophet]

k457 - the truth is so hateful that the only thing you can do is SPAM? Wonder what''s going on in that pea brain of yours

[cpaide]

"Sorry nothing clean about how this so called KLK (krazy lesbians kult) operates. It reeks of enslavement, mind control, sexual perversion. But all these bad things this cult does is so pure, pure EVIL."
Posted by PeevdProphet

yes, my friend, now you understand about his kult and why they should not be pointing the fingers at this nice humble texas mormans.

[bigmoroni]

Texas Morons Chapter 4:21
And it came to pass that the Bubblehood created by the false prophets of the Fundamentalist Later Day Saints shall pop and cast all their filth, evil and unpure practices for the world to judge.

Verily, even the unsaved shall scorn these human pustules of corruption lest they too become corrupt.
Tho tried by man today, their real trial shall be swift and just banishment from the Heavens, their waiting crowns and kingdoms shall be erased from being.

Children who can unlearn their evil lessons will return on their path to salvation. However their Harlot mothers and Fathers employed by Satin shall refuse to see their wrong doings and shall be cast to Hell.

And it shall be so.

[peevdprophet]

This quote listed by cpaide below is a complete ****** version of what I said about FLDS. This type of deception is just a taste of the evil and hate that lives in these peoples hearts. The FLDS is the occult of Satan''s witches.

"Sorry nothing clean about how this so called KLK (krazy lesbians kult) operates. It reeks of enslavement, mind control, sexual perversion. But all these bad things this cult does is so pure, pure EVIL."
Posted by PeevdProphet

*** you cpaide and all your breathen

yes, my friend, now you understand about his kult and why they should not be pointing the fingers at this nice humble texas mormans.

Posted by cpaide at 10:47 PM

Again, I never said any of what was poseted as quoted by cpaide

[peevdprophet]

cpaide you have discredited your cause even deeper into the anuz of hell. You and your kind as the courts will show, are slave master and liars and *** of everything unpure.

[trb08]

There is a film about mind control and cults playing in Nashville this week called "Join Us." It seems almost exactly like this situation. Has anyone seen it?

[cpaide]

you making stupid accusations about this nice clean humble mormans with no good and honest proof, and then you become angry like little baby throwing fit when someone making accusations to you. ha, you do not like it, but you insist on pointing your finger at this simple humble mormans who have done NOTHING that you can proof, but only making accusations that are false. really, are you not better than this?

[fredorb]

I saw that cult documentary, "Join Us," in Los Angeles last summer. That group wasn''t as wacked out as the FLDS (they dress normal & drive SUV''s). But maybe a little more freaky since they appear so normal on the outside. They all lived in the same community & some were convinced by their "leader" to abuse their kids--purportedly to save them from HELL! When you see that leader come on screen, all smooth and suave and confident, you can totally see how real people get sucked into crazy stuff like this. I see a lot of people talking trash about the FLDS. But if you get a glimpse into brainwashing and remember that these are real people brainwashed by really messed up leaders, maybe you will have a little compassion on these mothers. Did you all realize that most victims of brainwashing are college educated--often doctors & lawyers & the such?

[trb08]

FredOrb--

That is a good point you make about how we tend to profile cult members, when really they are normal, intelligent people who just became caught up in something beyond their control. I did check out www.joinusthemovie.com and there is a cult test so that anyone can check his/her susceptibility!

http://www.joinusthemovie.com/mindcontrol/test/

[cpaide]

"I saw that cult documentary, "Join Us," in Los Angeles last summer. That group wasn''''t as wacked out as the FLDS (they dress normal & drive SUV''''s). But maybe a little more freaky since they appear so normal on the outside. They all lived in the same community & some were convinced by their "leader" to abuse their kids--purportedly to save them from HELL! Did you all realize that most victims of brainwashing are college educated--often doctors & lawyers & the such?"
Posted by FredOrb

yes, my friend, this is the very very strange things about this KLK (krazy lesbians kult) that they may appear to be normal and college-educated on the outside, yet they have most unusual thinking on the inside. and they are pointing the finger at this kind humble texas mormans, yet they do not realize that they themselves are the real kult with the very very strange beliefs such as trying to reproduce the species with the infertile lesbians couple when darwin have proved this is not the case with nature. yet they favor nature over god but go against the natural order of the world in their daily lives. and then they wish to kidnap the mormans children and hire the nasty attorneys to sell this children to the infertile lesbians couples for adoption. how un-natural and strange!