ELDORADO, Texas, May 21, 2008
FLDS Stymies Child Protective Workers
Polygamist Sect Stops Officials At Compound Gate, Thwarting Attempt To Find More Children
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Willie Jessop, right, and Rod Parker head to the front gate at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas, Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Church members turned away Child Protective Services caseworkers and sheriff deputies that wanted to enter the ranch to search for more children. The authorities did not have a search warrant to enter the property and left without entering. (AP Photo/LM Otero) (AP PHOTO)
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Play CBS Video Video FLDS Kids Sent To Foster Homes The first of over 400 children removed from a Texas polygamist sect have been sent to foster care facilities, as legal proceedings against the sect continues. Randall Pinkston reports.
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Video Polygamist Men To Change Ways? Men from the Eldorado, Texas FLDS sect say that they may have lessons to learn from the raid on their ranch. Maggie Rodriguez speaks with them.
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Video Polygamists Say Courts Unfair FLDS Church members are complaining as officials try to find foster homes for over 400 children removed from this Mormon sect's compound. Randall Pinkston reports from San Angelo, Texas.
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Interactive Eye on Religion Find out more about the beliefs, practices and history of some of the world's major religions.
Guy Jessop, standing guard at the main gate of the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said two CPS workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy asked whether they could enter the ranch to look for more children. Jessop said he denied them access since they did not have a search warrant.
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said workers went to make initial inquiries and were conferring with law enforcement about how to proceed.
FLDS spokesman and attorney Rod Parker said CPS wil not be allowed on the ranch without a search warrant.
"As far as I know, there are no children, but I haven't searched, either," Parker said.
Meisner said she did not know how her agency came to suspect that children other than the 463 seized last month had arrived at the remote, 1,700-acre ranch in Eldorado.
The attempt to enter the ranch Wednesday underscores the confusion that has marked this case since CPS and Texas law enforcement entered the Yearning For Zion ranch on April 3, taking the children into custody on the belief that the sect forces underage girls into marriage and sex.
In a courthouse in San Angelo, about 40 miles north, child custody hearings entered their third day. It is expected to take about three weeks for judges to tell each of the 168 mothers and 69 fathers what they must do to win back their children, now scattered at foster-care facilities around the state.
Earlier this week, child welfare officials have said that at least eight mothers once held in state custody as minors are actually adults. One is 27.
The disclosures, which have dribbled out in hearings held across five courtrooms, bring the number of underage mothers in state custody to 23, eroding statistics state officials have cited to bolster their claims of widespread abuse. Other reclassifications are likely to follow as judges sort out family relationships during the hearings.
The children were removed en masse from the ranch during a raid that began after someone called a domestic abuse hot line claiming to be a pregnant abused teenage wife. Authorities are investigating whether the calls were a hoax.
The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
- All these children should have never been removed from there family''s. Child protective services used very poor judgement and broke the law by following a witch hunt instead of following the rules of law established. You prosecute criminals with evidence, not children and family''s with outside perjury hear say testimony from spiteful individuals with axes to grind against there religion. Putting women on TV as if there every word is testimony is down right irresponsible and wrong. No proof or evidence against this group in Texas. Just hear say from other complex''s. Stick to the facts of this case.
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- You can''t spell Texas without S E X.
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- I bet Texas CPS is wishing the Amish community lived here. More white babies they can get money for adopting out - CHA-CHING!
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- I cant help but wonder ,they dont want the authorites in thier compound. what about food stamps medical ins. and certified educators.where is all thier money coming from ? F B I and the dhs need to look into this for the tax payers not the innocent slayers.
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- Still, this Mormon splinter group has a fairly simple explanation: It%u2019s just a group of perverted males satisfying their lust at the expense of children -------- and using religion to justify it.
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Posted by psy_war
About time to raid all churches. Lots of moral breaking going on in about all churches in the name of god. Take a look around and be sure to thank King George II for the ability to search and seise under the guise of our protection. - Reply to this comment
- Memo to creeper00: That would leave well over 400 who were not abused and should not have been removed from their homes. Think of the innocent children who have been needlessly traumatized by the abuse of power by The Child Abduction Service.
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- "The disclosures, which have dribbled out in hearings held across five courtrooms, bring the number of underage mothers in state custody to 23, eroding statistics state officials have cited to bolster their claims of widespread abuse."
How many children birthing babies is too many?
Answer: One. - Reply to this comment
- I just can''t understand any religion that forbids it''s women from plucking their eyebrows.
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- wongerwabbit, you neo libs have idiots like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Toilet Kennedy, John big head Kerry, Barbara Boxer and so many other loser lib bunch, that has the lowest rating in the history of this country. They have doen nothing but embrace same *** marriage, oh that is grand huh, you moron! How sick is that. Your tree hugging freedom hating cooks that won''''''''t let us drill for oil in this country and that is one reason gas is so expensive you can''''''''t see straight. No instead you point your pointy little finger and blame Bush, Rove and others, when the problem comes from maggots like you. I hope Limbaugh and Hannity get under your skin until you change your mind and get out of the neolib way of life, you moron!
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Posted by zgomer at 10:17 PM : May 21, 2008
+ report abuse
HA!!!....The Dem Congress has low ratings because the American people who put them there with their votes expected Impeachments and War Crimes Trials for Shrub, Darth, and the rest of the Neocon Scum.......
What a dumbazz you are....LMMFAO....
Posted by veteran72
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Didn''t you just kinda prove his point?? They have low ratings because they didn''t do what the people that voted them in wanted them to do? - Reply to this comment
- Um...They bothered to ''visit'' without a warrant of any kind? I got the impression they shut the place down, so why is anyone there?
The call was not a hoax. The information was apparently true. That the authorities cannot seem to find the caller is dust under the rug. - Reply to this comment
- WAM ba lamba oooh yeah wambalamba
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- I cahn see me now..."Don''t tell yer mother"
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- I thought about *** katie couric...but she''s too skinny and too young.l..
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- is mayycke
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- so one of the "14-year-old girls" is 27. i guess to an old lesbian social worker, they all look pretty young.
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- Texans are crazy.
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- Posted by yongamerica at 11:08 PM
I always thought it was funny when Jim Bakker was discovered as an adulterer, that Jimmy Swaggert was just going to town about how bad he was, blah, blah, blah. ANd then we found out about him! I see this as a similar situation. These people are so bad! But wait till we find out about all the other Christians. - Reply to this comment
- All those who are claiming that 13 and 14 year old girls are being raped by 50 yo men need to talk to the state of Texas CPS. Because they''''re case is falling apart and they haven''''t found enough evidence of such a crime to charge anyone. You must know more than they do.
Posted by vigilantmom at 12:33 AM
It doesnt'' matter. CPS often defies the law, even when a judge makes a ruling. I knew a case where a man was declared not guilty regarding accusations. And CPS still kept the child away from the father. I have seen CPS take a Jewish child out of kosher environment and give it to someone who could have cared less about the dietary restrictions. CPS is a law unto itself. - Reply to this comment
- Ah yes, the almighty CPS shows up without a search warrant and expects the doors to just be flung open wide for them. CPS, you got to love ''em. I have seen them defy court orders from a judge to have children returned to their parents. I have seen them literally go out of their way and pick children up after the court determined the parents innocent of accusations. AND no one stands in their way. Not a judge, not a jury, not even a police officer.
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- "Bush was elected"
really? when? what I''ve seen says that never really happened. - Reply to this comment
