BREAKING NEWS: Jeffs' daughter dropped from FLDS civil investigation
 
By Paul A. Anthony
San Angelo Standard-Times
 
The 17-year-old daughter of Warren Jeffs has been dropped from the state's civil investigation into alleged abuse in the polygamous sect led by her father.

The girl, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is described in sect documents as being married to a then-34-year-old man the day after her 15th birthday.

The order was filed Monday and signed by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, making the girl the 436th of 439 children in the case to be nonsuited by the state's Child Protective Services agency.

It removes from the investigation one of the case's main focal points - a girl who has been held up both as a symbol of the alleged sexual abuse that took place at the Schleicher County compound and as an example of what opponents of the April raid on the YFZ Ranch describe as state excess.

"I can't figure out what they're doing or where they're coming from," said the girl's attorney, Natalie Malonis, referring to CPS and noting documents the agency filed in December describing what it alleged was an abusive home environment. "I'm not really sure what happened between December and Feb. 1 or 2."

CPS has reported that it found 12 victims of sexual abuse at the ranch and dozens more victims of neglectful supervision. With just three children remaining, said CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins, the numbers dictate that previous alleged victims have been nonsuited, as well.

"We're very, very vigilant in making sure that any of these children who were victimized before our intervention at the ranch are not again," Crimmins said.

The girl seemed a likely choice for being dropped from the case: She turns 18 in July and had been scheduled for a final trial on her custody in March.

The nonsuit does not end litigation involving her case, however.

Malonis months ago filed a counterpetition asking the court to determine custody between her parents - Jeffs and his wife, Annette, and to grant appropriate relief, likely meaning child support payments and the like, given that Jeffs is in prison, convicted in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin.

He is also awaiting trial on felony charges in Arizona and has been indicted on felony sexual abuse charges in Schleicher County.

The move also does not affect a hearing scheduled for Friday that will determine whether to seal transcripts of a deposition of ranch leader Merril Jessop, the father of the girl's alleged husband, taken by Malonis in the case and a hearing held afterward to compel Jessop's testimony.

Malonis said she plans to continue to seek support for her client as the girl approaches adulthood, adding she believes the girl is an intended beneficiary of the sect's United Effort Plan trust.

"I think she is" a beneficiary, Malonis said, adding that she plans to petition the trust for distribution of funds for the girl once she turns 18. "The way it's designed, which is kind of loosely and nebulously, I think she is."
 
gosanangelo.com
Originally published February 3, 2009
 
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