Polygamist group tries to raise bail for 4 charged with sexual assault
 
By EMILY RAMSHAW
The Dallas Morning News
 
AUSTIN – The spokesman for a West Texas polygamist sect said the group is trying to pull together half a million dollars in bail money for four men charged with sexual assaulting young girls. For now, Willie Jessop said, the members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints remain in jail.

"We’re working on it," he said.

A fifth suspect charged with misdemeanors for allegedly failing to report child abuse was released on Tuesday for $15,000 bond.

Sect prophet Warren Jeffs, who is incarcerated in Arizona, was also charged with sexual assault; he could be extradited to stand trial in Texas.

David Doran, the sheriff in Schleicher County, where the men were arraigned on Monday, said the men charged with felonies have "not come up with their bond yet," but that they remain "calm and in good spirits."

They surrendered on Monday to charges related to the sexual assault and "spiritual" marriage of underage girls.

The arrests follow child welfare investigators’ seizure of 440 children and about two dozen women from the polygamist community in April, over allegations the sect sanctioned marriages between underage girls and much older men.

State courts overturned the action months later, returning most children to their parents. But a criminal investigation continued.

Last week, Mr. Jeffs and four other men – Merril Leroy Jessop, 33; Raymond Jessop, 36; Michael Emack, 57; and Allan Keate, 56, – were charged with first-degree felony sexual assault of a child, a crime punishable by five years to life in prison. The younger Mr. Jessop is also charged with first-degree felony bigamy, which means one of his alleged wives is younger than 16. Dr. Lloyd Barlow, a 38-year-old physician whose indictment indicates he delivered the babies of underage mothers on the Yearning for Zion ranch, was charged with three misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse.

Raymond Jessop, Mr. Emack and Mr. Keate all had their bond set at $100,000. Merril Leroy Jessop’s bond is $200,000 because he faces two felony charges.

Any of the men who post bail will be required to refrain from contacting their alleged victims, turn over their passports and remain within the state.

eramshaw@dallasnews.com
 
DallasNews.com
Originally published Thursday, July 31, 2008
 
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