April 11, 2008: Officials say temple bed used for child sex
 416 children and 139 women removed from sprawling ranch
 
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The Province - Vancouver BC
 
ELDORADO — State investigators say they have discovered a bed inside a polygamist compound temple that was reserved for husbands — often middle-aged men — to have sex for the first time with their underage "wives."

Girls as young as 13 were "spiritually married" at the YFZ (Yearn For Zion) Ranch temple in this small Texas town, according to officials who raided the site April 3.

The "spiritual marriages" have no legal standing.

The state officials said in an affidavit that the building used as a "temple" on the sprawling 690-hectare complex "contains an area where there is a bed where males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of 17."

The YFZ ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a sect that split from the mainstream Mormons when polygamy was banned.

According to the affidavit, investigators also found documents showing that one man living at the site had 20 wives.

The ranchland was purchased in 2003 and the ranch buildings we built by Warren Jeffs, who considers himself the sect's prophet and was jailed for life for being an accomplice to rape.

Mainstream Mormons now excommunicate members who engage in the practice and reject any connection with the FLDS.

Investigators also found "multiple locked safes, locked desk drawers, locked vaults, as well as multiple computers and beds," the affidavit said.

By Tuesday, officials emptied the sprawling compound of 416 children and 139 mothers.

The children were deprived of food and locked in closets as punishment and severe beatings were also reported.

A number of young girls who were pregnant or had recently given birth were discovered on the ranch after a desperate call for help was made by a pregnant 16-year-old girl, who has still not been identified.

Meanwhile, the west Texas city of San Angelo, alone, is paying $60,000 a day toward the care of the children and women.

That cost is likely to be just pennies in the final tally of state taxpayer dollars that will be needed to foot the bill for the sect members' food, shelter, clothing and legal assistance over an unknown period of time.

"It was declared a disaster situation," San Angelo Mayor J. W. Lown said yesterday.

Gov. Rick Perry has no plans at this time to request federal aid, Perry spokeswoman Krista Piferrer said.

Perry anticipates a big legal bill for the children, who will be accorded hearings concerning their future welfare and custody. Counties typically pay for such hearings, but Perry said he is working with other state officials to marshal dollars for the "emergency situation."

A hearing is set for April 17 to determine if the children should be permanently separated from their parents.
 
TheProvince.com
Originally published April 11, 2008
 
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