Officials Complete Probe into Polygamist Compound 419 children now out of compound

By Jim Forsyth 1200 WOAI Radio - San Antonio, Texas

The Texas State Police said today it has completed its investigation at the 1700 acre Yearning for Zion Fundamentalist ranch in Schleicher County, where an affidavit claims young girls were forced to have sexual relations with older men, sometimes on a 'ceremonial bed' located inside the whitewashed 'sacred temple' on the ranch. A total of 419 children have been removed from the ranch and are being housed at Fort Concho in San Angelo, under the care of the Department of Family and Protective Services. Some 140 women have left the compound voluntarily, and many of those are living with the children. It is still unknown whether the 16 year old girl who made the initial complaint against a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is among the children, but officials are confident she does exist. Texas Ranger Captain Barry Carver revealed at a state police news conference today that he negotiated with Merrill Jessop, the 'presiding elder' of the FLDS group, to assure that the police action would be peaceful and would not degenerate into violence the way a similar raid against the Branch Davidian compound near Waco ended 15 years ago. "Mr. Jessop told us that his people would be there, that they were passive and loving people and they would not try to resist," Carver said. "Several of them basically would just sit and kneel down and pray, some of them were sobbing, but we only had one person who offered resistance." Carver revealed that individual was one of two people who have been arrested since the raid began last Friday. "As the SWAT team and the breach team reached the door, one of their followers decided to attempt to resist our entry. We immediately arrested him without any kind of incident." Schleicher County Sheriff David Duran said it was an unusual law enforcement operation. "We had to think outside the box when we executed this warrant," Duran said. "That was an issue, that they (DFPS) were moving children, and that was one of the things that did delay this operation." Duran rejected claims that officials waited too long to crack down on child sex abuse at the compound. "Until we get evidence, that there is a problem, that is when we are able to go in and do what we need to do, and that's where we're at today," he said. Many of the children are being cared for at Ft. Concho by Baptist Child and Family Services, and the group/'s Craig Bird says it's a big job. "We have to honor what they eat, they eat organic food, they eat non processed food, so that means our feeding unit is steamed vegetables, roast chicken, stuff that meets their requirement that way," he said. He also said BCFS is respectful of the religion of the women and children by not giving the kids science fiction or fantasy toys to play with. He said the children are doing well under the circumstances. He says hearing begin next week in San Angelo on what the eventually disposition of the children will be. "We're there until the state of Texas says they don't need the shelters any more," he said.

radio.woai.com Originally published April 10, 2008

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