YFZ Ranch Raid Timeline

Posted at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfthx7q4_1215gknrn3c6

@@Contents

Eldorado Texas is Central Time Zone (GMT -6)
East coast is  (GMT -5:00) Eastern Time Zone so east coast is 1 hr ahead
Pacific is GMT-7, 1 hr behind.

PST: Pacific Standard Time (USA & Canada). What's the time now?Pacific
Time Zone runs down the Pacific Coast of Canada and the United States
of ... During DST PT or PDT is 7 hours behind Greenwich Mean Time
(GMT-7).

3/29/08 Sat Sarah Calls San Angelo
3/30/08 Sun Laura Calls Flora Jessop in Arizona

3/31/08 Mon CPS Notifies Law Enforcement, Regional Director
4/1/08 Tue CPS, Rangers Investigate, Perry Notified of Plan
4/2/08 Wed Ranger Long Interviews Shelter 
4/3/08 Thu CPS, Rangers Enter property
4/4/08 Fri All children to be taken, Raid/Search begins
4/5/08 Sat 70 children taken, Temple searched
4/6/08 Sun Most children found, Ft Concho opened State custody granted

4/7/08 Mon Last children moved to Ft Concho
4/8/08 Tue Mothers cooperate, Chickenpox spreads
4/9/08 Wed "Rampant sex abuse". abuse exams, crying girl hospitalized
4/10/08 Thu Lawyers arrive, They're going to get me.
4/11/08 Fri Walther: Girls Married at Puberty, CPS Keeps kids
4/12/08 Sat Arizona is hoax, but Flora says it's real here
4/13/08 Sun pics show conditions, cellphones banned.

4/14/08 Mon Move to Coliseum, Mothers lied to about separation
4/15/08 Tue SEPARATION NEEDED TO FIND THE TRUTH
4/16/08 Wed Mothers take their pleas to Larry King
4/17/08 Thu 1 day COURT CIRCUS. SARAH CALL *MAYBE* HOAX
4/18/08 Fri Foster care ordered against psychologist recommendation
4/19/08 Sat Girls forced into marriage as early as age 8
4/20/08 Sun DNA collection, FLDS challenge
4/21/08 Mon Experts disagree on effect of hoax call
4/22/08 Tue First Children Sent to Foster Care
4/23/08 Wed Coliseum conditions "untenable"
4/24/08 Thu Separation: Even the Rangers Cried
4/25/08 Fri Last of children scattered across state
4/29/08 Tue SO-CALLED TEEN GIVES BIRTH Pamela Jessop

5/3/08 What if they come after your kids?  Tom Avant

5/6/08 FLDS mothers allowed to visit their children in foster homes.

5/8/08 The Road to Eldorado: They Saw it Coming

5/11/08 Sun Ben Stein "GESTAPO TACTICS, PURE AND SIMPLE"
5/12/08 Mon Louisa Jessop and CPS has a new baby
5/13/08 New mom is "not a child"
5/13/08 (Mental Health Workers) blast Texas' treatment of polygamous sect's women, children"

5/22/08 Court of Appeals rules children must be returned

5/24/08 Louisa Bradshaw Jessop Gives Birth, State Admits she's adult

5/28/08 Nancy Grace Don't Send Kids Back To Abusers!
5/29/08 Supreme Court: "removal of the children was not warranted"
5/30/08 High Court: "Removal of the children was not warranted,"


@@Timeline

Another excellent timeline:
http://www.hope4kidz.org/news/FLDS.html

Deseret News timeline
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_/ai_n25464764
\priv\flds\deseret news timeline.htm

%%date

August 16, 2008 http://coramnonjudice.blogspot.com/ TxBluesMan Dallas,
Texas, United States Coram Non Judice: The Texas raid of the FLDS is
not the first time that the polygamists have had gone to jail for
violating the law...
coramnonjudice.blogspot.com/2008/08/previous-flds-prosecutions-flds.html

1935, six polygamists were arrested and two went to prison in a
raid by Arizona. 

1943, Federal authorities raided Short Creek, along with other
locations, arresting 16 men and 8 women. 6 

1953
Short Creek raid - Wikipedia
The Short Creek raid is the name given to Arizona state police and
U.S. National Guard action against Mormon fundamentalists that took
place on the morning of July 26, 1953 at Short Creek, Arizona. The
Short Creek raid was the largest mass arrest of polygamists in
American history.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_Creek_Raid

2004

Flora Jessop warns Eldorado "The Polygamists Are Coming!"

2005

date: 7/29/2005

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=281915 Meet
the New Neighbors A fugitive sect of Mormon polygamists is building a
home – and an end-time temple – in the West Texas town of Eldorado BY
JORDAN SMITH The FLDS temple at Eldorado Photo By Randy MankinThe town
of Eldorado, Texas, seat of Schleicher County, flanks State Highway
277, approximately 45 miles south of San Angelo, and is surrounded by
a vast landscape of mesquite and cedar trees, native grasses, cacti,
and lizards. In all, it is a fairly typical West Texas town of about
2,000, mostly oil industry workers, goat ranchers, and their herds. At
least it was typical until November 2003, when a man from Utah named
David Steed Allred came to town to purchase 1,691 acres of ranchland
four miles north of Eldorado's sleepy downtown

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy395.html
Wanted: Armed and Dangerous As the FBI chases polygamist Prophet
Warren Jeffs, work continues 24/7 on his religion's foreboding new
Texas capital Phoenix New Times/November 10, 2005 By John Dougherty A
massive stone temple jutting from the crest of an oak-and-juniper
knoll pierces the serenity of the broad horizon of the seductively
beautiful Texas hill country. 

Laws passed against child marriage, polygamy in Texas

2006

CHILDREN HAVE BEEN EXPLOITED, MOLESTED FOR YEARS
http://blog.mrm.org/2006/05/mostly-silent-victims-must-fend-for-themselves/
Mostly Silent: Victims Must Fend for Themselves 
May 12, 2006 
By Sharon Lindbloom
Today’s LA Times ran an in-depth article detailing the horrific abuses
associated with modern-day polygamy. “Blind Eye to Culture of Abuse -
Children of a polygamist sect have been exploited, molested for years”
takes a hard look at what women and children have been forced to
endure while living The Principle.  A focus of the lengthy article is
the decades of non-action by those invested with the authority to step
in and help the victims. As indicated by the title of the article,
legal authorities have continually turned a blind eye to the plight of
the abused. For instance, the article reports, “Charged with
protecting and serving their community, Colorado City police have long
had a reputation for protecting and serving church interests instead.”

2007

http://www.alternet.org/rights/63071/ Polygamy and Forced Sex in the
Name of God By Ellen Goodman, Washington Post Writers Group. Posted
September 24, 2007.  Jeffs is being tried as an accessory to rape.
He's charged with intentionally aiding the sexual assault of a
14-year-old girl by her husband.  To hear the alleged victim, known
only as Jane Doe, describe her marriage is to be as deeply saddened as
the jury was. After resisting Jeffs' order to marry her 19-year-old
first cousin, she found herself at the altar, head hanging, forcing
out the words, "OK, I do." After refusing sex, she went back to Jeffs
for counsel and was told to "repent," to "do your duty," and be
"obedient." And so the girl who didn't know what sex was or where
children came from says she was forced to submit to her husband.  Did
this teenager make her own choice?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
%%date: 3/29/08 Saturday Sarah Calls San Angelo

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
Overview of Investigation - Eldorado, Texas
As of April 14, 2008
Chronology and Staff Report
Weekend, March 29-30
http://s1.zetaboards.com/Selective_Justice/topic/548015/1/

On Saturday, March 29 a 16 YO girl called a Newbridge Family Shelter
in San Angelo and asked for assistance in leaving her leaving her
current living enviroment. The girl reported living at the Yearn for
Zion (YFZ) Ranch, an outpost of the [FLDS], in Eldorado, Texas. She
reported past SEXUAL and physical abuse by her 49 YO SPIRITUAL husband
and reported the last incident of abuse took place on Easter Sunday.
She reported that she had an eight-month old baby and was several
weeks pregnant.

The domestic violence shelter reported the call to Statewide Intake,
the CPS Abuse Hotline, on Saturday, March 29 at 11:32 pm. Statewide
Intake classified the report as a "Priority 2" case. According to CPS
guidelines an investigation must be initiated within 72 hours if a
case is classified as a "Priority 2".

Statewide Intake staff assigned the report to Intake staff at 12:55 am
on March 30. Statewide Intake support staff sent it to CPS field staff
in San Angelo at 5:25 am on March 30.


http://iperceive.net/warren-jeffs-attorneys-to-put-sheriff-doran-on-hot-seat/
TxBlogger 10.29.08 at 1:37 pm 

As I recall, there were a few officers allowed in to accompany the CPS investigators initially, while all others and their tank was outside the gate.

That was my understanding as well. The male CPS investigators were not allowed in. In the video interview they talk about being worried about the female investigators all night. I assumed the FLDS didn’t want males interviewing the young ladies.

They expected about 150 people inside, probably about 25 young women. They sent 12 investigators and probably didn’t initially intend to spend 28 hours inside doing interviews.

CPS could’ve gone in alone. They aren’t required to have LE assistance. It’s preferable in certain situations, but not required. They must respond to a P1 call even if LE won’t/can’t assist.

When CPS made the call to LE to “tell them they were going in”, LE stalled them “while a plan could be developed” for 3 days. They had been waiting for this opportunity for 4 years, they weren’t going to let it slip by.

What IF, the call had been legitimate and the young woman was killed? Whose hands would her blood be on?

They had 3 days to run down the call and confirm Barlow’s whereabouts. If they had followed correct procedure and acted legally, their plan would’ve been foiled.

Did Rozita make the call? Was someone coaching her? Unfortunately, we won’t know that for a long time, if ever.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
%%date: 3/30/08 Sunday Laura Calls Flora Jessop in Arizona

Just hours after Sarah's call Saturday night to Texas, Flora Jessop
got calls in Phoenix at about 8:30 Sunday morning another 16 year old
girl named Laura, twin sister of, who would turn out to be the same as
Sara. Jessop didn't say whether she was in the office at this early
hour, personally taking hotline calls, or took the call at home on a
personal phone. Flora passed this on to Texas authorities, but claims
she was not aware of calls to Texas, and did not inform them of her
doubts as to identify of the caller(s). CNN later shows video of Flora
allegedly taking the call on her cellphone.(can't find source now)

The 16 YO girl contacted the domestic violence shelter again; the
domestic violence shelter placed a second call to Statewide Intake on
Sunday, March 30 at 2:40 pm.


http://iperceive.net/warren-jeffs-attorneys-to-put-sheriff-doran-on-hot-seat/
TxBlogger 10.29.08 at 12:11 am I read a quote from Doran that Flora
called his home at night the first time they made contact.  Something
didn’t seem right about that. 


http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=8694101
FLDS Raid: What went wrong?
Posted: July 17, 2008 04:41 PM CDT 
Polygamist sect suspect search 
On March 29th, CPS received a phone call from a girl claiming to live
on the Yearning for Zion Ranch. She told them her husband was abusing
her. Instead of going in to the ranch at that time, CPS called law
enforcement the next day.
CPS Spokesman Patrick Crimmons says, "Law enforcement then asked us,
asked Child Protective Services, to delay the initiation of the
investigation until there could be a plan."
Five days after the call, which would later prove to be a hoax, CPS
and DPS investigators go onto the ranch.
"We didn't know it was a hoax and we don't typically have time nor are
we focused on the authenticity of a call when it comes into our
hotline." 


%%date: 3/31/08 Monday CPS Notifies Law Enforcement, Regional Director

Monday, March 31 The CPS supervisor reviewed the intake and notified
the regional CPS Program Director for Eldorado / San Angelo late that
afternoon. The case was UPGRADED to a "Priority 1" due to the possible
SERIOUSNESS AND SCALE of the investigation. According to CPS
guidelines, a "Priority 1" case must be investigated within 24 hours.

A notification to Law Enforcement was generated at 7:59 am by San
Angelo CPS. 

%%date: 4/1/08 Tuesday, April 1
CPS Assigns Investigator, Texas Rangers on Case
The CPS Program Director contacted the CPS Program Administrator in
San Angelo. The Program Administrator scheduled a staff briefing to
include the CPS supervisor, CPS Regional Director, CPS Program
Director, CPS Program Administrator, and Regional Public Information
Officer.

The CPS supervisor assigned the intake to a CPS investigator at 12:06
pm as well as to two SPECIAL INVESTIGATORS. The case was marked
sensitive and worker safety issues were noted as a concern.

The CPS supervisor notified the Schleicher County Sheriff and
discovered that a Texas Ranger had received the same information
regarding these allegations. The Sheriff indicated a criminal
investigation was underway and that law enforcement was working on a
search warrant with the Assistant DA [Allison "It's early in the GAME"
Palmer].

There are no news accounts of what happened on Monday, but authorities
probably worked feverishly on the new events because by Tuesday April
1, only the 2nd day after calls had first been received, an emergency
plan for raiding the compound in the worst case scenario if children
were put in danger was taken off the shelf. Texas Governor Rick Perry
had been notified of and approved the raid , as were a number of state
agencies, including local, state law enforcement the CPS, and possibly
the FBI which had sought Warren Jeffs.

%%date: 4/2/08 Wednesday April 2 Ranger Long Interviews Shelter 

On April 2nd, Texas Ranger Leslie Long interviewed the two employees
of the New Bridge Family Shelter in San Angelo who took "Sarah"'s
calls on wednesday
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

%%date: 4/3/08 Thursday CPS
Raid starts with Search Warant

Daytime: Angie Voss calls up local CPS "We need you now" The Texas
Rangers determined the timing of entering the compound

http://www.sunrisesunset.com/calendar.asp

Daytime: The Texas Rangers determined the timing of entering
the compound

Daytime: Churches asked to prepare shelters for many people, CPS is
planning to remove large numbers of children though search warrant
looks for only one mother and child.

5:00 PM CPS leaves for / arrives at ranch, short 5 minute drive.
Officers started gathering at the main entry gate. State and local law
enforcement agencies set up roadblocks around the ranch, keeping out
press.

Jim Jessop talked to them to determine what was happening, negotiates
condition of entry, only women will be allowed inside.

One of the Musser boys came running into the dining room and
breathlessly announced, "There's a whole bunch of cops at the gate."

5:50 PM The first search warrant is dated 4/3/08 5:50pm, after CPS
arrives at the ranch.

6:00 PM An army of Texas State Troopers and Rangers,
accompanied by the County Sherriff and the Child Protective Services
Department come to the gate of the YFZ Ranch with a warrant to find a
Sarah Jessop and Dale Barlow and any records relating.

The warrant cited an "immediate need" for authorities to have access
to the 16-year-old and an 8-month-old child with either the last name
of Barlow or the girl's last name. It instructs law enforcement
officers to look for any records showing that Barlow and the girl were
married and any evidence of them having a child.(Not a fishing
expedition or removing every child!)

ESTHER: They said they want -- there's a whole group of people out at
the gate. That was the first we knew it. So we came up to the window
to see what was going on. We could see no one out there.

6:32 Moonset

7:00 PM small FLDS children are put to bed

7:49 Sunset

9:00 pm This is Pave Paws – a phased array warning system, basically a
big radar, a relic of Reagan’s “Star Wars” defence system. It’s where,
at 9pm on April 3, men from various sheriff’s departments with an
armed personnel character, Swat teams and Texas Rangers mustered to
move on the YFZ ranch below.


10:00 PM FLDS: State authorities enter Ranch The convoy enters the YFZ
Ranch filling the parking lot of the Meeting House. They request to
interview a group of young girls who they keep and interview all night
long. More than 20 vehicles in the first group.  

Esther: I was watching out the window to see what was going on. I had
put my children to bed, the younger ones. The older ones could not
sleep. (CPS abuse: children cannot sleep)

NANCY GRACE http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/17/ng.01.html FLDS
Compound Child Custody in Texas Courts Aired April 17, 2008 - 20:00:00
"Look, I want to sit down. I want to interview all girls who I
perceive are 17 years and younger"

All night: CPS investigators were at the compound all night and into
Friday. 

THE SCHOOLHOUSE FELT LIKE IT WAS SURROUNDED
http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy844.html Official
Describes Polygamous Sect Visit ABC News/April 17, 2008 By Scott
Michels It was a very scary environment, intimidating," said Voss, who
visited the ranch the night of April 3. "I was afraid."  "I saw men
all around," Voss said. "It felt like the schoolhouse was surrounded."
Voss said that when she first arrived at the ranch and asked to see
the girl who made the reported phone call, the men at the gates denied
anyone of her description existed.  Eventually, they were allowed
inside and taken to the schoolhouse, where the asked to meet with all
girls who were younger than 18....they had seen the teen the CPS
workers were looking for within the previous week, Voss testified.
They confirmed that she did have a baby but said that they did not
know where she was. 

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy844.html
"The information called in is easily checked out," said Parker. "We
see no evidence of any effort to corroborate before the search."

Midnight: Something happens that makes Voss  believe place is not safe
for children
http://conchovalleyhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=6301
FLDS Update: CPS Workers Talk About Investigation Reported by: Kristen
Clark Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 @07:46am CST
Angie Voss, CPS Supervisor, " A combination of things happened within
the first two hours that caused me great concern for the children. I
don't know how to describe it if you weren't there - the atmosphere
and the feeling of it. It's not a place for children."

april 3 notes:

http://iperceive.net/warren-jeffs-attorneys-to-put-sheriff-doran-on-hot-seat/
IF ONLY CPS WAS ALLOWED TO ENTER, CPS WAS ACTING AS LAW ENFORCEMENT
Joey 10.29.08 at 8:25 am There are some serious discrepencies in the
account of how the raid proceeded. Doran states in the article above
that LE was permitted on site to accompany the CPS women pursuent to
the first warrant. However, Voss, in an interview with the San Angelo
Times, says LE had to wait outside the gate, and only they, the CPS,
were permitted inside. If that’s the case, you have CPS workers
effectively acting as law enforcement, under the authority of an LE
warrant. Is that legal?  Voss and CPS subsequently demanded to see a
certain number of girls from separate households on the ranch, having
no warrants to justify such a deman. That opens up a new can of worms
in itself.



HYDE ACCOUNT OF PRE-RAID
http://www.houstonpress.com/content/printVersion/981363
A Mainstream Mormon's Test of Faith
Seven months have passed since the polygamist raid in Eldorado, but the effects linger
By Jesse Hyde
published: October 30, 2008
Evening falls on the Concho Valley. Along the highway, which is dotted
with rusty oil derricks and gnarled mesquite, spring grasses peek out
from the rocky soil. It's April 3, 2008, and few here know what is
about to happen.

Up on Rudd Road, a man steps from his bullet-riddled shell of a
trailer. He watches his goats graze in the rocky pasture, and then
sees them coming: cars with blacked-out windows he does not recognize,
carrying Texas Rangers and sheriffs' deputies he does not know. He can
guess where they are headed. Like everyone else in Eldorado, Texas, he
knows what lies up the road.

The cars continue up the two-lane blacktop until they arrive at the
gates of the Yearning for Zion Ranch. They sit outside and wait.

A mile up a dirt road another world exists. It's a world the U.S.
government has been trying to eradicate for more than 150 years. Mobs
and armies and judges have pushed the Mormon polygamists from the
badlands of Missouri to the barren deserts of Utah to this place — a
scab of scrubland in West Texas.

The men at the gate are prepared for the worst: a Waco-style standoff,
a ­Jonestown-style suicide. They've heard stories about the
fundamentalist Mormons who live here — about child brides and
stockpiled weapons and mysterious accidents that befall those who try
to leave the fold. The men can see the gleaming white temple, built
from limestone quarried from the hills surrounding the YFZ Ranch,
where, rumor has it, plural marriages are consummated in an upstairs
room outfitted with a bed. And they have heard about the group's
prophet, the jailed pedophile Warren Jeffs, and his doctrine of ritual
sacrifice known as blood ­atonement.

The men at the gate wait for word. The sheriff has instructed his
dispatcher to shut down all but one channel. The last thing they want
is for the media to get wind of this, at least for the time being.
They know this could turn bad, and fast.

FRIDAY MORNING
http://www.angelfire.com/film/tmtv/law_stand_off.htm
http://www.bctvkootenays.com/ (BC TV station, near bountiful settlement)
Law enforcement surrounds YFZ Ranch
Standoff continues into second day
UPDATED 8:15 a.m. CDT, Friday, April 4, 2008

ELDORADO, TEXAS -- State and local lawmen continued to man their posts
at a series of roadblocks around the YFZ Ranch as Friday morning broke
bright and clear.

During the night authorities made access to the ranch and escorted a
group of Child Protective Services officers onto the property.

Witnesses report seeing an armored personnel carrier being deployed
near the ranch shortly after law enforcement officers set up their
perimeter late Thursday afternoon.

At last report there has been no gunfire and no violence reported in
connection with the raid.

The YFZ Ranch is home to members of a polygamous sect from Utah known
as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
(FLDS). The group purchased the property near Eldorado in late 2003.
The following year they began construction of numerous dormitory style
buildings and a massive white limestone temple. Since that time a
small town has been built on the property.

Authorities remain tight lipped about exactly what is transpiring at
the YFZ Ranch, but lawmen have all approaches to the property
roadblocked.

A public information officer for the state Child Protective Services
office is in Eldorado as is a public information officer for the Texas
Department of Public Safety. Neither were releasing any information as
the operation at the YFZ Ranch, whatever it might be, continued toward
daybreak on Friday, April 4th.

State officials are believed to be operating from a command post at an
abandoned radar installation (PAVE PAWS) just north of the YFZ Ranch.
A number of Child Protective Services officers were escorted into the
ranch by law enforcement around midnight.

FLDS Church leader Warren Jeffs was convicted last year on two counts
of Rape as an Accomplice for his role in arranging and performing
marriages between one of his male followers and his underage cousin.
Jeffs is facing similar charges in Arizona as well as a federal charge
of Unlawful Flight to avoid Prosecution. He was on the FBI’s Ten Most
Wanted Fugitives List until his capture near Las Vegas Nevada in 2006.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4164416.ece
June 22, 2008 Yearning for Zion: What next for the polygamists?
Girls, believed to be the victims of paedophilia at the hands of a
religious sect in Texas, were rescued in April. So why are they now
back with their alleged abusers? Bryan Appleyard I drive south from
San Angelo. The landscape is green; it was an unusually wet spring.
Eagles and vultures circle the long straight road. As I approach
Eldorado, I notice a strange-shaped block on a hill. This is Pave Paws
– a phased array warning system, basically a big radar, a relic of
Reagan’s “Star Wars” defence system. It’s where, at 9pm on April 3,
men from various sheriff’s departments with an armed personnel
character, Swat teams and Texas Rangers mustered to move on the YFZ
ranch below. 



------------------------------------------
%%date: 4/4/08 Friday
Girls taken into custody to Eldorado, Hand over all children

Summary:

* 12AM? CNN website posts CPS announcement that ranch has been sealed
off, nobody allowed to leave, they are "the safety of children" (not
just one child), no determination of troubles yet. Does not mention it
is supposed to be for one mother and child, at this time search is not
for "all of the children"

1AM "About two hours after arriving" Voss determines the ranch is "no
place for children".

3-5am- "After 6 hours" Voss determines to remove some
girls Once on the ranch, initial interviews raised concerns about a
specific group of girls, and CPS asked Walther to allow them to be
brought into emergency temporary custody, Voss said. As the night
progressed, the concerns grew, eventually spreading to all the
children living on the ranch.

6AM 1st interrogation finished. Some girls have been up all night
under questioning as long as 6 hours. It is determined (Voss has
determined) that all children are at risk, changes focus to protecting
all children. No individual Sara was identified, but Voss believes
there are many are as many a 5 Sarahs, and a few girls told them they
knew the girl they were looking for (kids will tell you anything, or
Voss could be lying)

* 6AM interrogations conclude. Voss asks for more children to interrogate.
These appear to be the girls to be removed for questioning in the afternoon.

* 6AM Voss determines that all of the children are at risk of a
pervasive culture of child marriage and abuse. Officers will search
all the houses, find and remove all of the children. Voss later says
that she found pregant teens, and girls who claimed to know sarah,
testifies that there were girls like abused Sarah in every household,
but it is clear decision has already been made on basis of initial
interviews.

* Early Friday, five DPS patrol cars and three unmarked vehicles blocked
Rudd Road, which leads north from Eldorado to the YFZ Ranch, where
dozens of FLDS members moved in 2004. At 9:15 a.m., aviation
authorities closed off the airspace for a radius of 6 nautical miles
around the ranch, according to a Notice to Airmen issued by the
Federal Aviation Administration.

9AM On Friday, Walther issued a gag order in the case and, since then,
law enforcement officials have refused to comment about the operation.
Other stories include that witnesses have seen an APC, and that
walther was already at the ranch (perhaps outside at the main gate
before the noon raid) issuing legal orders. Many stories initially
issed at 9AM later updated with new count of girls removed.

9:11AM San Angelo Judge Issues Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado
Posted: April 4, 2008 09:11 AM PDT "No one has been taken into custody
and that the operation has been peaceful."
http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8119046 San Angelo Judge Issues
Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado Right now officials are searching as
many as 35 buildings on the sprawling 1700 acre property. A district
judge is on the scene and has ordered everyone under 16 be produced to
authorities (Walther) 

* 10AM Texas and Mormon press post on websites CPS announces girls
will be taken into custody, took temporary legal custody of 18 girls
(ages 6 months to 17 years), more girls to be taken for questioning.
Success reports a complaint had come in Thursday (false)

* 9AM-12PM Officers from Midland County Sherriff SWAT, the Texas
Rangers, and Child Protective Services descended on the compound
Friday morning Just before 11 a.m., more than 20 Ford pickup trucks
marked with Game Warden insignia, lights flashing, turned onto Rudd
Road off U.S. Highway 277, headed toward the compound.

11AM Sometime before 11am: A district judge is on the scene and has
ordered everyone under 16 be produced to authorities.  Gives CPS
custody of 1/3 of the girls.  Issues gag order.
http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8119046

Authorities still removing women, kids from sect's Texas compound Apr.
7, 2008 By: Bill Hanna - McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.ecollegetimes.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=3ccf313e-7586-4859-aa31-d571f470226c
Mary Jo McCurley, former chair of the State Bar of Texas family law
panel said that if CPS has evidence that one child had been abused,
that would be enough legally to remove all the children. She said she
couldn't recall another instance in Texas history where so many
children had been moved into protective custody.  "It's pretty amazing
that the judge had the guts to do that, to remove all of the
children," McCurley said. "I can't think of another case where so many
children have been removed. Of course, that didn't happen in Waco with
the Branch Davidian case and maybe it should have given what happened
there. Maybe that's why the judge did it."
(mid sunday) "I do not believe we have found all of them," Meisner
said. "We are continuing to try and find them."  Meisner said District
Judge Barbara Walther has instructed CPS caseworkers to remove every
child from the 1,691-acre YFZ (Yearn For Zion) Ranch.

[When did CPS ask Walther to allow them to be brought into emergency
temp custody? When she arrived at the ranch later that morning?]

* 12PM Midland LE, Tx Rangers "stormed the facility".  Midland County
Sheriff Gary Painter tells NewsWest9 that they are helping investigate
the sexual assaults of young girls and are looking for one 16-year-old
girl in particular.  Officers stormed the facility for searching.
"seemed like hundreds of trucks and cars came and surrounded the
schoolhouse" Officers force their way into homes to search for the
missing girl.  CPS workers then follow and inform the families in the
homes that they are here to take all the children. Petition to
actually take all the children into protective custory won't be signed
until monday. They allow the mothers to go with the children.

12:00 pm
FLDS: Trying to reason at the Meeting House to avoid the unnecessary
search and disruption of families. Searches start, occupants
identified by CPS (names and ages).  Friday, April 04, 2008 12:00:00

* 12:30 A pair of vans marked as belonging to Eldorado's First Baptist
Church headed up Rudd Road toward the ranch about 12:30 p.m. The
church's youth pastor, Sylas Politte, also was at the scene and,
through his wife, said he was unable to immediately comment.

12:46 CDT  PM CNN Broadcast Agents at polygamist ranch checking 'safety of
children' CNN (CNN) -- Texas authorities are investigating "the safety
of children" at a ranch occupied by about 400 followers of polygamist
sect leader Warren Jeffs, officials said Friday.  Authorities have
sealed off the 1,900-acre ranch near Eldorado and no one is allowed to
enter or leave, officials with Child Protective Services and the
Department of Public Safety said.  The people living at the ranch are
cooperating, authorities said.  Escorted by police, social workers
entered the compound in south central Texas at 8 p.m. Thursday after
receiving "a referral," said Child Protective Services spokeswoman
Marleigh Meisner.  Child Protective Services "is conducting an
investigation into safety issues of the children who live within the
compound," she said.  Meisner would not provide details about the
referral but did say officials responded "within days" of receiving
it.  As of Friday morning, Meisner added, her agency had "not
determined that there is a safety issue with these children."  (that
was at 6 when Voss blew hte whistle)

* 2-4PM Interrogators yell at Marie's family, scare boy, surround
house with guns, enter with armed men in body armor. 

* 2:45 PM CPS transports 18 girls taken into legal custody and 34 for
questioning took temporary legal to a civic center in Eldorado on two
Baptist church buses.  Girls are told to go to their mothers. Mothers
start to resist and demand lawyers, but sherriff asks Merrill to speak
on cellphone to tell mothers to cooperate. FLDS pictures show they are
escorted by armed guards and CPS out of the meeting house into buses.
"these armed policemen, they had taken the girls, strapped them on the
bus, pulled them away from their mothers... I could hear screaming and
crying and people forcing them into the bus and pulling them away, and
the bus going away."

2:30 PM NANCY GRACE
http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/17/ng.01.html FLDS Compound
Child Custody in Texas Courts Aired April 17, 2008 - 20:00:00 "at one
point, the women stopped cooperating with Child Protective Services.
So at that point, they actually reached out to the leader of the sect,
Merrill (ph) Jessop. Merrill Jessop said one word to them, I want you
to cooperate. And immediately, all those young girls fell into line
and once again began working with the state."

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy966.html
Gutierrez called "absolutely false" the characterization of the raid
by sect mothers and officials as a terrifying, chaotic experience in
which law enforcement and CPS workers were rude, even tearing children
away from their mothers.

4:45 PM CBS News Apr 4, 2008 Girls Shuttled Away From Polygamist Ranch
Youngest Girl Was 6 Months Old
http://cbs5.com/national/warren.jeffs.polygamist.2.692432.html CBS
News ELDORADO, Texas (AP) ? Child welfare officials following up on an
abuse complaint took custody of 18 girls Friday who lived at a
secretive West Texas religious retreat built by polygamist leader
Warren Jeffs. A total of 52 girls, ages 6 months to 17 years, were
bused away on Friday to be interviewed, but only 18 were immediately
taken into state custody...they are looking for foster homes.

5:30pm [52 children removed from sect's Eldorado-area ranch; man, 50,
faces impregnation-of-minor allegation By Paul A. Anthony 05:30 p.m.,
April 4, 2008
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/apr/04/man-50-accused-of-marrying-impregnating-girl-16/]
]

* 6:00PM Marie observes bus and SWAT van pull up to house, guns drawn,
gunman enters, followed by CPS.

* 6:30PM Family of house entered by SWAT team walks out of door to
bus, father walks around bus to say goodbye to kids insides, leaves
crying.

* 8PM In the evening another 85 children, and 46 adult women who wanted to
accompany the children, were transported to the civic center.

PRESS: 52 GIRLS REMOVED
8:41 PM They later stormed the facility just before noon.  52 girls
were removed and 18 are in CPS custody.  Midland County Sheriff Gary
Painter told NewsWest 9 he received reports that some of the girls who
were removed from the compound are
pregnant.[http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8119046 San Angelo
Judge Issues Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado Updated: April 4, 2008
08:41 PM PDT Staff Report NewsWest 9 ]

A judge so far has given the State custody to about one-third of the girls
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3776483.ece
April 19, 2008 'Hoax' cry for help, hundreds of children in custody .
. . chaos rules at sect trial
Angie Voss, ..was told that there was no girl known as Sarah. But
interviews have now identified five Sarahs, including three who could
have been the girl who called to report abuse.  “We learnt that a few
of the girls know of the Sarah we were looking for and that she’d been
seen last week and she had a baby,” Ms Voss said. 

Ms Voss acknowledged that most of the children showed no signs of
physical or sexual abuse. But she said that at least five girls
under 18 were pregnant or have children – with one becoming a mother at
the age of 13. (that was the 22 year old)

She told the judge that they should remain in state care because they
were “at risk”. “They will continue to grow up in an environment where
young women have sex with older men and young boys grow into adult men
and have sex with young children,” she said. (conflicts with later
statments that children would be returned after investigation)


6:30 AM Voss asks Walther for protection and interrogation of every
child and family. After overnight focus changes from finding and
removing 1 girl and infant to every child on the ranch. Order appears
to have been given by noon, when full scale raid and search starts.
Voss has already been informed a tank is coming, which must have been
made ready before thursday.

VOSS ASKS WALTHER TO ALLOW EMERGENCY CUSTODY
http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy966.html
Child-protection workers have no doubts of raid's necessity Scripps
Howard News Service/June 11, 2008 By Paul A. Anthony - Once on the
ranch, initial interviews raised concerns about a specific group of
girls, and CPS asked Judge Walther to allow them to be brought into
emergency temporary custody, Voss said.

DECISION MADE TO REMOVE ALL CHILDREN AFTER NIGHT
http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy966.html
- Voss: As the night progressed, the concerns grew, eventually
spreading to all the children living on the ranch.  "It was very
incremental," Voss said. "There was not a global, overall decision. As
more interviews occurred, the decision was made" to remove all the
children. 

..CPS officials said it was the discovery of several pregnant underage
girls that compelled them to remove all the children. (but this must
have been AFTER the decision to remove all of them early friday morning)

6:30 AM CPS asks for more girls to interview, keeping the group they
had interviewed the night before. She asks thirty-four other girls to
transported from the compound to a civic center in Eldorado for
further questioning to determine if they had been abused or were at
risk of abuse. They should questioned off premises because coming guns
and tanks makes it seem threatening to the children.

7:10 AM sunrise

LAW ENFORCEMENT FROM AROUND REGION, INCLUDING SWAT CALLED IN Officers
from Midland, the Texas Rangers, and Child Protective Services
descended on the compound. Friday morning Baptist Church called to
borrow bus in anticipation of taking girls into custory.  SWAT team
and APC arrive

CPS ANNOUNCES GIRLS TO BE TAKEN INTO PROTECTIVE CUSTODY, INTERROGATION
10:07 AM BREAKING NEWS: Authorities remove girls from FLDS ranch near
Eldorado By MATT PHINNEY and PAUL A. ANTHONY, Staff Writers Originally
published 10:07 a.m., April 4, 2008 Updated 04:36 p.m., April 4, 2008
Eldorado Standard-Times The Texas Department of Public Safety has
blocked off access to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, where troopers are
assisting on an investigation with Child Protective Serivices. A
complaint was called in early Thursday afternoon. (was prev saturday
night) CPS took temporary legal custody of 18 girls (ages 6 months to
17 years)

"We legally removed 18 children. We concluded they had
been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Darrell
Azar, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective
Services. "Under Texas law, either one is grounds for removal."

JUDGE WALTHER ON SITE ORDERS ALL CHILDREN PRODUCED TO AUTHORITIES
12:00 pm Officers force their way into homes to search for the missing
girl.  CPS workers then follow and inform the families in the homes
that they are here to take all the children. They allow the mothers to
go with the children. (When was Walther on the scene?)

WOMEN RESISTED GIVING UP GIRLS UNTIL DORAN CALLED MERRILL ON PHONE
http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy966.html
In court, Voss described an incident in which mothers resisted giving
up their children until Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran called
Jessop on speaker phone, and Jessop told the women to acquiesce to
authorities.  "I was surprised they were so cooperative," Voss said.
"They came very willingly."

FACILITY STORMED BEFORE NOON
They stormed the facility just before noon.  At first, members of the
religious sect said that girl was not on the ranch. Sect leaders then
said they would produce the girl when officials threatened to use the
armored personnel carrier to gain entry to the compound's temple. 


http://www.childbrides.org/raid.html (Flora's site)
CPS requested to see many of the young girls living on the ranch, but
that request was not carried out.  The ranch residents were moving
children around the property and keeping them out of sight. "They were
shuffled around houses as we were searching the houses. They were kind
of like the old eggshell game," said Texas Ranger Capt. Barry Caver.

2:00-4:45 PM Musser family is questioned.  Mary came and asked the
family to come down to the living room. Uncle Nate was there with CPS
workers, with two armed men guarding one side of the room. A very tall
bearded man asked for their names and birthdates, while the two armed
men walked through the home.  The CPS man struck Marie as friendly and
kind. As he walked out, he remarked what a nice looking bunch of
people they were, "see they're all smiling". There was a sign of
relief that it was over and they'd be gone once they got their
information, and Marie set up her meat grinder to prepare the wheat
for fresh bread At 2:20, they answer the door again. Younger lady
(voss?)  asked names and birthdates. Older lady speaks in raised
voice, kindness was gone, what had we done wrong? Older lady continued
to yell at Mary.  With a shaky voice and teary eyes, boy Moroni
explained that he had tripped, fallen on the carpet, and gotten a
carpet burn by his eye. Older lady screams about some spiritual
ceremony, tells marie to leave the room. Man with a gun opens door,
looked and then closed door. Armed men surround and walk through home.
Family is greatly shaken.(frightened)


1:46 p.m. EDT, Fri April 4, 2008 CNN Agents at polygamist ranch
checking 'safety of children'


2:00 PM CPS workers, led by Voss line up girls who appear to be 18 or
under, regardless of whether they have documentation or not. Judge
Walter later will not accept any age documentation as possibly
fradulent, Any girl who disagrees with the assessment is classified as
a "disputed minor".  Voss later testifies she and her staff have had
no special training in determining age. The age and beliefs of Voss
herself and other CPS workers is never published by the press. CPS
will later unsuit every case of disputed minors, accepting marri

2:30 PM First Baptist church buses leave Girls are told "Get your
things, you are going out to your mothers." They are taken out of the
Meeting House and loaded on buses - taken to Eldorado, to the Civic
Center first, then to a Baptist church. Mothers try to go but are not
allowed to.  Girls age 8 to 18 taken for questioning Friday, April 04,
2008 2:30:00 PM (google maps says 45 miles, about 1 hr drive)

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/19/lkl.01.html ESTHER:.
the next day my oldest girl saw these other girls going down and so
she came to me and says, they're going to take me. Mother, they're
going to take me. Don't let them take me. I don't want to go.

3:30-4:00 Girls arrive in San Angelo, buses return

4:40 Mussers make simple dinner of toast. Armed men had taken photo
albums from some homes.

5:00 PM Arrest Warrant released: 52 children removed from
Eldorado-area sect ranch; man, 50, faces impregnation-of-minor
allegation By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times Originally
published April 4, 2008 A 50-year-old man is accused of marrying and
fathering a child with a 16-year-old girl at the polygamist YFZ Ranch
in Schleicher County, according to a search and arrest warrant
released just before 5 p.m. by Tom Green County district court.  ABC
news will report that pregant teens have been taken ,but there were
none.

6:00 PM Dinner cleanup. Baptist church bus pull up to Musser
neighbors, CPS workers come out. (SWAT van?) SWAT team (armed men)
walked to house with guns, opened front door, others had guns pointed
at the door of the house. CPS workers followed gunman inside.

6:30 Marie observes: CPS comes out with neighbors children in single
file. Father followed children onto bus, then ordered off the bus. Man
walked around bus to each window and waved to each of his children who
waved back.  Tears were coming down Marie's cheeks.  The bus pulled
away, all the CPS workers and armed men left, and there stood this
father with his two older sons. He put his hands up to his face and
covered his face. He was weeping.

All of our family witnessed this scene from the east windows of our
home. The questions in all of our hearts and minds were, "Are we
next?" "Why are they doing this?" "What have we done?"

7:49 PM Sunset

8:30 PM The first families are taken away on buses - mothers and
children. Some mothers are invited to go so they can be with their
daughters taken earlier. After sitting for an hour on the bus with
hungry children, they are transported to Civic Center in Eldorado.
That evening, another 85 children, and 46 adult women who wanted to
accompany the children, were transported to the civic center. 

9:00 PM Ranch: Musser family slept in their clothes, not knowing when
our house would be next.

9:30-10:00 PM The Eldorado Success, 96 boys and 71 girls spent Friday
night at the small town’s civic center, 167 children total removed
from the polygamist YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch under protective custody
or for questioning.
 
11:00 PM Boy Who Prays and Reads Sermon is Locked in Closet overnight
At the Civic Center in Eldorado, an older boy says evening prayer and
starts to read a sermon of President Leroy S.  Johnson.  After a few
paragraphs two policemen enter the room, walk up to the young man
motioning and talking. He closes the book and walks out with the
policemen, offering no resistance. He is locked in a mechanical closet
with a guard at the door all night. The rest of the families sing a
few songs. The children finally sleep restlessly.  (Note FLDS is
accused of locking their children in closets)

april 4 notes:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-20-eldorado_N.htm
Polygamist ranch turns Texas town upside down 
Posted 4/20/2008 4:48 AM 
By Todd Lewan, Associated Press 
On April 3, hundreds of agents — a SWAT team, FBI agents, Texas
Rangers, San Angelo police, highway patrol, and sheriff's department
officers from four counties — raided the YFZ ranch, backed by an
armored personnel carrier, K9 dog units and ambulances. For six days
they searched the compound for evidence of child abuse and illegal
marriages, hauling away a cache of computers, photographs, and birth
and marriage records

The long-feared bloody conflagration didn't materialize. Tela Mange, a
spokesperson for the Texas trooper and Department of Public Safety,
said agents had been much more "diplomatic" with the sect that they
have been in other raids. "Not a shot was fired," she said, "and there
wasn't even a twisted ankle in this one." (She declined to say whether
weapons had been found on the ranch.)

Others wondered if it was legal for the agents to keep the sect's men
in their homes the first 24 hours after the raid, without charges.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5676830.html State removes
52 girls from polygamist ranch CPS received a tip about sexual abuse
in isolated religious sect By JANET ELLIOTT Copyright 2008 Houston
Chronicle Austin Bureau April 4, 2008, 11:44PM AUSTIN — Fifty-two
girls, including 18 suspected abuse victims, were removed by state
officials Friday from the West Texas compound where a religious sect
kept them isolated from the outside world. Boys were allowed to remain
at the Yearn for Zion Ranch but will be questioned by investigators
from Child Protective Services, said agency spokesman Darrell Azar.


Busload Of Girls Leaves Polygamist Ranch, Police Remove Children
...Apr 4, 2008 ... Busload Of Girls Leaves Polygamist Ranch ...
Officials escort two buses, April 4 , 2008 from the retreat built by
the Fundamentalist Church ...
www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/04/national/main3994946.shtml A total
of 52 girls, ages 6 months to 17 years, were bused away on Friday to
be interviewed, but only 18 (+34) were immediately taken into state custody

Raid on Polygamist Ranch Was Doomed to Fail, Critics Say By Michelle Roberts
Associated Press 
Sunday, June 1, 2008; Page A05
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/31/AR2008053101863.html

http://www4.reporternews.com/news/2008/apr/04/girls-taken-from-eldorado-compound/
Girls taken from Eldorado compound By Matt Phinney and Paul A. Anthony
San Angelo Standard-Times Friday, April 4, 2008 The girls, removed in
two buses owned by Eldorado's First Baptist Church, stared straight
ahead; some lifted jackets to the windows to block themselves from
view of the media. They were taken away from the ranch, about three
miles north of Eldorado, about 2:45 Friday afternoon.

Early Friday, five DPS patrol cars and three unmarked vehicles blocked
Rudd Road, which leads north from Eldorado to the YFZ Ranch, where
dozens of FLDS members moved in 2004. At 9:15 a.m., aviation
authorities closed off the airspace for a radius of 6 nautical miles
around the ranch, according to a Notice to Airmen issued by the
Federal Aviation Administration.

Then, just before 11 a.m., more than 20 trucks marked with Game Warden
insignia, lights flashing, turned onto Rudd Road off U.S. Highway 277,
headed toward the compound. Their mission was not immediately clear.

"It's part of the agency responding," Mange said.

The Game Warden Region 1 headquarters in San Angelo declined immediate
comment on that office's presence in Eldorado.

A pair of vans marked as belonging to Eldorado's First Baptist Church
headed up Rudd Road toward the ranch about 12:30 p.m. The church's
youth pastor, Sylas Politte, also was at the scene and, through his
wife, said he was unable to immediately comment.

http://texaspolygamy.blogspot.com/2005/12/new-pics-of-eldorado-flds-12-12-2005.html
Anonymous said...  I understand the FLDS believe Jesus birth, death
and I guess resurrection was on April 6 and celebrate it then. That's
OK, with me. 

Overkill In Eldorado Texas?  Posted by Guy Murray under
http://messengerandadvocate.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/overkill-in-el-dorado-texas/
"Unclear indeed how this type of investigation would result in the
removal of 52 other girls.  Either 52 girls were named in these
warrants or criminal complaints, or someone has gone a little
overboard in this investigation.  I have not read anything in any of
the media accounts that would suggest facts sufficient to support the
wholesale removal of 52 other girls, or the armed response of the
equivalent of a small army."

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695267411,00.html
Child welfare workers have taken custody of 52 girls from the
Fundamentalist LDS Church's compound in Eldorado, Texas, after a raid
over allegations of child sex abuse on the Utah-based polygamous
sect's ranch.  "We legally removed 18 children. We concluded they had
been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse," said Darrell
Azar, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective
Services. "Under Texas law, either one is grounds for removal."

http://www.childbrides.org/raid.html An eight member SWAT Team and an
armored personnel carrier from the Midland County Sheriff's office
also went to Eldorado to help about 60 other law enforcement agents
from around Texas gain access to search the buildings on the compound

http://messengerandadvocate.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/overkill-in-el-dorado-texas/
Overkill In Eldorado Texas?
Posted by Guy Murray
photos of girls entering eldorado shelter


http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=540ffaeb-dc67-40dc-8757-4f0aac3388c1
Women, children and pregnant teens removed from Texas FLDS compound
Reported by: Brent Hunsaker 4/05 2:33 pm (ABC 4 News) ELDORADO, Texas
(ABC 4 News) - Buses from nearby Eldorado, Texas were pressed into
service Friday to remove 167 children from the polygamist YFZ
(Yearning for Zion) Ranch.  According to the local newspaper, The
Eldorado Success, 96 boys and 71 girls spent Friday night at the small
town’s civic center.

San Angelo Judge Issues Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado Posted: April
4, 2008 09:11 AM PDT Updated: Friday April 4, 2008 08:41 PM PDT Staff Report
NewsWest 9
http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8119046
San Angelo Judge Issues Gag Order After Raid in Eldorado
pictures: bus, game wardens, police
ELDORADO, Texas - Law Enforcement officials are inside the YFZ ranch
which is a polygamist compound near Eldorado and are conducting an
extensive investigation. They gained entry this (friday) morning with an
armored personnel carrier from the Midland County Sheriff's Office. 

Officers from Midland, the Texas Rangers, and Child Protective
Services descended on the compound Friday morning after allegations of
abuse surfaced.  They later stormed the facility just before noon. 

At first, members of the religious sect said that girl was not on the
ranch. Sect leaders then said they would produce the girl when
officials threatened to use the armored personnel carrier to gain
entry to the compound's temple. 

COULD NOT TELL IF CALL WAS INSIDE OR OUTSIDE OF RANCH
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-04-polygamist-retreat_N.htm
Child services was responding to a complaint but a spokesman for the
Texas Department of Public Safety could not say whether the complaint
was made from within or outside the ranch. Tom Vinger said questioning
began Thursday evening but wouldn't say how many people were being
interviewed or how many officers were involved. No one has been taken
into custody.  "Could not say"- meaning they didn't know, weren't
certain if the call came from inside or out? Or that they couldn't
divulge that information? 

http://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2008/03_04/2008_04_04_Carlisle_ChildWelfare.htm
Child Welfare Officials Have 18 Children in Custody from Texas FLDS Ranch; 52 Girls Removed
An Investigation into Whether a Middle-Aged Man Married a Teenage Girl Spurred the Action
By Nate Carlisle and Russ Rizzo
The Salt Lake Tribune
April 4, 2008 pictures
http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_8809472
Eighteen of the 52 girls have been taken into state custody. The rest
are being interviewed away from the compound. The girls range in age
from 6 months to 17 years of age.(why remove 6 mo old for interrogation?)
A spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective
Services, Patrick Crimmins, said he did not know why the children were
removed.
A search and arrest warrant shows Texas authorities are investigating
whether 50-year-old Dale Barlow married and fathered a child with a
16-year-old girl.
Residents were not allowed to come in or go out of the compound while
people were interviewed, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman
Tela Mange.
The Federal Aviation Administration placed flight restrictions around
Eldorado, citing hazards.
In general, Crimmins said, children are removed when authorities
determine they have been or are in immediate risk of being abused or
neglected. Crimmins said a questionable marital lifestyle would not be
grounds for removal.
investigators interviewed children throughout the morning (it was night).
Schleicher County Attorney Raymond Loomis said a girl's accusation
that she was sexually abused triggered the raid, which began about
5:30 p.m. on Thursday. "Some girl at the compound called the sheriff's
office and said she was being abused," Loomis told The Salt Lake
Tribune.


----------------------------------------------------------------

%%date: 4/5/08 Saturday: 70 children, Temple to be searched

Summary:
* State looking for foster homes for girls
* State mass care plan implemented
* State plans to move shelter to San Angelo from San Angelo churches
* 15 more CPS special investigators called to assist
* The Governor's Division of Emergency Management dispatched its
Regional Incident Coordinator to the scene, activated the mass care
plan
* Headlines hit New York Times, BBC
* tensions escalated late Saturday - refused to enter temple
* ambulances called in, expecting worst
* 52 girls were removed for questioning and 18 are in CPS custody.  Child Protective
  Services says the girls, range in age from infants to 17 years old
* CNN: A police helicopter circled the ranch Saturday night.
* dozens of Eldorado residents brought food and volunteered to help the
displaced children.  "That's the Eldorado way," Mayor John Nikolauk
said. "Whenever there are problems, this town comes together."
* Tank used to end standoff at Temple

Timeline:
7:10AM  sunrise

9:00 AM Search continues: Doran, who was armed with a court order to
remove everyone 17 and under from the YFZ ranch, said it was sometimes
difficult to locate the children because some were hiding or being
hidden from police.  "They were shuffled around houses," Caver added.
"They were playing kind of the egg shell game, and we had issues with
that."

3:30 p.m. CPS announces it has removed an additional 131 women and
children since the previous day for a total of 183 people, of whom 137
are children.

7:49 sunset

10:15 p.m. Saturday - Another busload of women and children is removed
from the ranch, bringing the total number past 200.  10:30 p.m. in
Eldorado, a van pulled up at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall
to deliver two dozen children from Schleicher County's Civic Center.

Between 10:30-11:30 p.m. Standoff and Entry into Temple.  "No violence
or injuries occur."  Authorities feared the worst as sect members
refused to allow law enforcement access to the compound's temple in
defiance of local prosecutors. Citing their religious convictions that
no nonbeliever should set foot inside the temple, a group of members
of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have
rejected authorities' requests to search the temple for the
16-year-old Sarah.

Allison Palmer, who as first assistant 51st District attorney, would
prosecute any felony crimes uncovered as part of the investigation
inside the compound.  "Within the religion that we have encountered,
their place of worship is very special to them," she said Saturday.
"It appears to be of great concern to them if a person from outside
their congregation even attempts to step inside their place of
worship."  This is a very sensitive area, and members of this church
feel very strongly about nonmembers entering that area," Palmer said.
"This is a very important to them. It is proving to be difficult to
obtain their permission to enter that building."

Palmer threatened to forcibly remove the sect's followers
"as peaceably as possible." if no agreement was reached.  "They don't
want to intrude on anyone's sacred ground," she said.  "They just want
to ensure the safety of children." It had not yet been determined
whether the girl and her baby are among the 137 children removed from
the ranch, making a search of the temple that much more necessary,
Palmer said.  "Anytime someone says, 'Don't look here,' it makes you
concerned that's exactly where you need to look," she said.

Law enforcement met with leader Merril Jessop several times and with
his lawyers to discuss the best way of entering the temple, which they
would not permit due to religious prohibitions on allowing nonbelivers
into Mormon temples. "I wanted to do it in the most peaceful and
respectful way that we could," Caver said. The church members quietly
declined to leaving the doors unlocked or providing a key.  "They felt
if they did that that they'd be aiding or assisting us in the
desecration of their worship place. So we had to use other means to
gain entry and breach the doors," Caver said.

As a police helicopter circled the ranch that night, the faithful and
their vehicles surrounded the gates to prevent entry.  "They lined up
57 people, as we counted, around the walls of the temple. They didn't
appear to be armed," said Texas Ranger Capt. Barry Caver. Church
members told him they did so so they wouldn't be "in violation of
their beliefs by not defending the temple." One man — Levi Barlow
Jeffs, 19 — was arrested for trying to physically resist the entry,
Caver said they were mostly peaceful. Some men kneeled and prayed.
Other men were sobbing at the desecration. Authorities had to use the
"jaws of life" and other tools to break down the doors of the temple
Saturday night, he said. "We knew the temple would be the most
sensitive issue on the property. We opted to do that last."

Authorities brought in a locksmith to open the gate, but they were
unable to move the deadbolts to open the front doors of the temple.  A
“jaws of life” tool, normally used to remove people trapped in cars
after accidents was tried to pry open the doors, but they proved to be
too tightly constructed.

(1) http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=540ffaeb-dc67-40dc-8757-4f0aac3388c1
Women, children and pregnant teens removed from Texas FLDS compound
Reported by: Brent Hunsaker Last Update: 4/05 2:33 pm 

Finally, the Midland County SWAT team equipped with an M113 armored
personell carrier was called to apply brute force.  (1)Sheriff Gary
Painter of neighboring Midland County was asked to break both
standoffs with his SWAT and an armored vehicle.  “They had the temple
surrounded with their vehicles,” the sheriff explained.  “We rolled
the armored personnel carrier up and asked to be admitted and they
complied."  Other accounts say the sheriff put the options more
bluntly: “Either make way so we can search or risking being run over.”
Despite such confrontations, the sheriff reported no violence.  “There
was resistance.  But that’s okay.  Resistance we can handle.” - M113
tank threatens residents to permit entering the temple
http://www.childbrides.org/raid.html Sect leaders then said they would
produce the girl when officials threatened to use the armored
personnel carrier to gain entry to the compound's temple.  "They had
the temple surrounded with their vehicles refusing to allow
admittance. We rolled the armored personnel carrier up and they
complied," said Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter

11PM: Police scanner traffic indicated that authorities had "cleared"
the church's temple and were moving to the compound's annex.

The next morning it was announced “There were some tense moments last
night, but everything has remained calm and peaceful and they are
continuing their search,” Allison Palmer


April 5 notes: 


http://www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t9366.html
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/sto...d.3685ebcb.html
137 kids, 46 women removed from compound
Web Posted: 04/05/2008 09:06 PM CDT
Janet Elliott and Gary Scharrer
Hearst Newspapers
"An outpouring of support from the small town of Eldorado was keeping
the children fed and comfortable. Many of its 2,000 residents bypassed
the local spring civic festival with its tricycle races and
goat-kissing events to help women and children from the mysterious
outpost that was built on a nearby ranch in recent years.  Members of
various congregations brought bags of teddy bears, juice, snacks and
diapers to the First Baptist Church building. Two blocks away members
of the Church of Christ were preparing a dinner of fresh chicken,
broccoli, bread and salad for the temporarily homeless families.
“They couldn't have picked a better community for this to have
happened,” said Gary Shipman, a 46-year-old oil field worker, who was
helping unload $1,300 in supplies his church had purchased

Authorities still removing women, kids from sect's Texas compound Apr.
7, 2008 By: Bill Hanna - McClatchy Newspapers Posted: 4/3/08
http://www.ecollegetimes.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=3ccf313e-7586-4859-aa31-d571f470226c
An estimated 60 officials have been involved in the incident at
Eldorado. They have included Department of Public Safety troopers, CPS
investigators and caseworkers, Texas Rangers, state game wardens,
Texas Forest Service personnel, district attorney investigators, local
sheriff's department officers and a SWAT unit from Midland County.
Dozens of official vehicles clog the roads adjacent to the ranch and
authorities have utilized a helicopter for surveillance, neighboring
towns dispatched firetrucks to the site and the SWAT unit brought an
armored personnel carrier.

Tensions between the sect members and authorities peaked late Saturday
when investigators feared resistance as they prepared to search the
church's temple.  "There was never any violent confrontation of any
kind," Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter said Sunday. "But some of
them objected very strongly to (investigators) entering the temple."
Painter, whose SWAT team helped search the towering white temple, said
church members asked authorities to find a locksmith to open the doors
to the temple. 

Officials Tell How Sect in West Texas Was Raided By GRETEL C. KOVACH
and KIRK JOHNSON Published: April 11, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/us/11raid.html Capt. Barry Caver of
the Texas Public Safety Department said at a news conference here, the
officers knocked and asked for a key. The church members quietly said
no...they would be aiding or assisting us in the desecration of their
worship place,” ...locksmith to open the gate, but they were unable to
move the deadbolts to open the front doors of the temple. They tried
to use a “jaws of life” tool, normally used to remove people trapped
in cars after accidents, to open the doors. But the doors were too
tightly constructed

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080406/NEWS/804060468/-1/RSS&template=printart
Authorities fear 'worst' in standoff at compound THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 2:55 a.m. 
Sect leaders at a polygamist compound in West Texas refused Saturday
to let authorities search a temple for a teenage girl whose report of
abuse led to the raid, and authorities said they were preparing "for
the worst."

If no agreement is reached with sect leaders, authorities will
forcibly remove the sect's followers "as peaceably as possible,"
Allison Palmer, a prosecutor in Tom Green County, told the San Angelo
Standard-Times. Medical workers were being sent "in case this were to
a go in a way that no one wants," Palmer said.

"Within the religion that we have encountered, their place of worship
is very special to them," Palmer said. "It appears to be of great
concern to them if a person from outside their congregation even
attempts to step inside their place of worship."

http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8125024 Search for Teenager
Continues at Eldorado Compound Associated Press - April 6, 2008 1:55
AM ET authorities provided no details after tensions escalated late
Saturday when they were denied access to search the temple.

Allison Palmer, a prosecutor in Tom Green County, told the San Angelo
Standard-Times that medical workers were sent to the compound "in case
this were to a go in a way that no one wants." She had said
authorities will forcibly remove the sect's followers "as peaceably as
possible" if no agreement could be reached.

http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8124638
Authorities Prepare for "Worst" at Eldorado Polygamist Compound
ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - Sect leaders at a polygamist compound in West
Texas refused today to let authorities search a temple for a teenage
girl whose report of abuse led to the raid.

Late Saturday: Officers entered the temple on the grounds late
Saturday, but by Sunday they still had not located the 16-year-old
whose initial report of abuse led to the raid

Deseret News (Salt Lake City),  May 23, 2008  
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_/ai_n25464764
April 5: 167 children taken into custody by Child Protective Services
workers. Law enforcement officials with search and arrest warrants
look for Dale Barlow, the man named in the young woman's phone call. A
SWAT team breaks into the FLDS temple located on the ranch despite
protests.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695269191,00.html Dozens of FLDS
faithful surrounded the gates of the temple in an attempt to prevent a
SWAT team from entering it on Saturday night.  "They lined up 57
people, as we counted, around the walls of the temple. They didn't
appear to be armed," said Texas Ranger Capt. Barry Caver. He said
church members told him they did so so they wouldn't be "in violation
of their beliefs by not defending the temple."

While one man — Levi Barlow Jeffs, 19 — was arrested for trying to
physically resist the entry, Caver said they were mostly peaceful.

"Some would kneel and pray. Some of them were sobbing," he recalled.

Authorities had to use the "jaws of life" and other tools to break
down the doors of the temple Saturday night, he said. "We knew the
temple would be the most sensitive issue on the property. We opted to
do that last."

 Anticipating they would meet some kind of resistance to entering the
temple, Caver said they met with leader Merril Jessop several times
and with his lawyers to discuss the best way of doing it.

"I wanted to do it in the most peaceful and respectful way that we
could," Caver said.

But FLDS leaders declined the option of leaving the doors to the
temple unlocked or providing a key.

"They felt if they did that that they'd be aiding or assisting us in
the desecration of their worship place. So we had to use other means
to gain entry and breach the doors," Caver said

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695269191,00.html
http://agonist.org/20080405/texas_takes_custody_of_18_girls
Texas takes custody of 18 girls
Michelle Roberts | Eldorado, TX | April 5
AP Total of 52 girls, ages 6 months to 17 years, were bused away to be
interviewed on Friday, but only 18 were immediately taken into state
custody, said Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective
Services. No arrests have been made.  Meisner said welfare officials
were looking for foster homes for the girls, most of whom have rarely
been outside the insular world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. They were being housed for now at a civic
center, she said.

http://agonist.org/20080405/texas_takes_custody_of_18_girls
Texas police take 52 girls from FLDS compound, put 18 in state custody as they probe an allegation of underage marriage
The Salt Lake Tribune, By Nate Carlisle & Brooke Adams, April 5
ELDORADO, Texas - A search in Texas for a 50-year-old man accused of
marrying and impregnating a teenager led to the removal of 52 girls
Friday from an FLDS compound - the largest police action against the
polygamous sect in a half century.  Shortly before 10:30 p.m. in
Eldorado, a van pulled up at the First Baptist Church Fellowship Hall
to deliver two dozen children from Schleicher County's Civic Center.
Although Texas officials insisted only girls were taken from the
ranch, the group included a few small boys.  Volunteers were carrying
cases of water, gallons of milk, peanut butter, trail mix bars,
diapers and other supplies into the church.  Shea Politte, whose
husband works with the First Baptist Church, said the church had
welcomed "plenty and [had] more coming." 

April 5 BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7331909.stm Texas removes polygamy
sect girls The ranch is located near the small town of Eldorado
Authorities in the US state of Texas have removed 52 girls from the
ranch of the polygamist sect led by Warren Jeffs as part of a child
abuse investigation.  Eighteen of the girls, aged between 6 months and
17, are in state custody. The rest are being found foster homes

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,346390,00.html Child Welfare
Officials Remove Girls From Polygamist Sect Leader Warren Jeff's
Compound Saturday, April 05, 2008 By the end of the day, 18 were put
legally into state custody, and CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said
interviews would continue Saturday. The girls put in state custody
were believed to be in danger, Meisner said. "Those are the ones we
believe have been abused or they are in imminent risk of harm, and it
would not be safe for those children to remain in the compound," she
said.  Child welfare officials were looking for foster homes for the
girl

A small white bus that left the compound accompanied by state troopers
was filled with children, Meisner said. She could not immediately say
how many.  The bus was filled with what appeared to be mostly girls,
dressed in conservative long-sleeve dresses

CNN (video)
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/04/texas.ranch/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail
A total of 183 people -- including 137 children -- have been taken
away We're trying to find out if they're safe," she explained. "We
need to know if they have been abused or neglected."  The others were
taken to a nearby civic center. Meisner described them as doing
"remarkably well." State and local law enforcement agencies set up
roadblocks around the ranch Thursday evening, preventing journalists
from seeing what was happening on the property, according to Randy
Mankin, editor of the Eldorado Success weekly newspaper.  "This came
totally out of the blue," Mankin said
Salt Lake Tribune: More than 180 youth and children removed from Texas FLDS compound (April 5, 2008)

Associated Press: 52 Girls Removed From Texas Compound (April 5, 2008)
Official on children at FLDS ranch: 'It is not safe for them to
remain' By PAUL A. ANTHONY and MATT PHINNEY, Staff writers Originally
published 12:00 a.m., April 5, 2008 Some of the girls, ages 6 months
to 17 years, showed signs of having been abused or were in danger of
abuse, said state Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh
Meisner.  "We're dealing with many victims," she said. "There's
evidence they have been abused, or are at imminent risk of harm. It is
not safe for them to remain on the compound."

it's not clear whether the girl or her baby were among the 52 removed
from the ranch. The Standard-Times does not identify those listed as
victims of alleged sex-related crimes.  According to state law, a girl
younger than 17 cannot consent to have sex unless her partner is less
than three years older than she, or she is married. Girls younger than
16, however, cannot be married, even with parental consent, and
according to the birth date listed in the warrant, the girl was only
15 when she gave birth.

CPS was providing cots and food for them in the city's civic center.

"We really just handled it like any other incident," Meisner said.
"It's just on a grander scale."

http://gosanangelo.com/news/2008/apr/05/more-children-removed-flds-ranch/
More children removed from FLDS Ranch
By Paul A. Anthony (Contact)
Saturday, April 5, 2008 
FLDS members bar authorities from temple 
BREAKING NEWS: Authorities remove girls from FLDS ranch near Eldorado 
ELDORADO — State officials confirmed this morning(0405) that more
children were removed overnight from the YFZ ranch polygamist compound
overnight, and that the total number of children taken away from the
Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church property is likely well over
100.
Fifty-two children between the ages of 6 months and 17 years were
taken off the ranch in shuttle buses by authorities Friday during an
investigative raid that began Thursday night, involving Department of
Public Safety law enforcement officers, officials from Child
Protective Services and other agencies.
An additional two buses were sent to the ranch this morning and have
not returned. Buses also removed children from the compound overnight.
At least 100 children are being kept at Eldorado's community center
and the Eldorado First Baptist Church fellowship hall, said Linda
Love, owner of the Sutton County Steak House in nearby Sonora, which
served dinner to the children Friday night and breakfast this morning.

Love said officials told her to expect to serve about 225 people – a n
unknown mix of children, volunteers and law enforcement – for dinner
today.

“They're singing songs,” she said, standing outside First Baptist
Church. “So happy and sweet and precious. It's heart breaking.”

The DPS is no longer answering questions about the situation,
according to a recorded message on the agency's public affairs phone
line. Spokesman Tom Vinger in the recorded message cites requests from
the Tom Green County District Attorney's office for the agency to
cease commenting on the matter

http://gosanangelo.com/news/2008/apr/05/183-removed-from-flds-compound-so-far/
FLDS members bar authorities from temple By Paul A. Anthony (Contact)
Originally published 05:30 p.m., April 5, 2008 Updated 06:06 p.m.,
April 5, 2008 ELDORADO - State officials have now removed 183 women
and children from the YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, but a group of
sect members have refused to allow law enforcement access to the
compound's temple, local prosecutors say.

Citing their religious convictions that no nonbeliever should set foot
inside the temple, a group of members of the Fundamentalist Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints have rejected authorities' requests
to search the temple for a 16-year-old girl whose complaint triggered
the massive, three-day raid, said

Allison Palmer, who as first
assistant 51st District attorney, would prosecute any felony crimes
uncovered as part of the investigation inside the compound.

"Within the religion that we have encountered, their place of worship
is very special to them," she said Saturday. "It appears to be of
great concern to them if a person from outside their congregation even
attempts to step inside their place of worship."

Palmer said if no agreement is reached, authorities will forcibly
remove the sect's followers "as peaceably as possible."

"They don't want to intrude on anyone's sacred ground," she said.
"They just want to ensure the safety of children."

Of the 183 people removed from the YFZ Ranch since Friday afternoon,
137 of them are children, said Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for the
state's Child Protective Services agency.

About 40 of the children are boys, Meisner said.

"They're literally about halfway through" searching the ranch
northeast of Eldorado for children, Meisner said.

So far, 18 girls have been placed in state custody. The state has
located foster homes for them, Meisner said, although they remain with
the other 119 children at a pair of Eldorado sites, undergoing
interviews about their life inside the secretive compound.

"She didn't use the term 'forced into marriage,' " Palmer said. "She
indicated that she was underage and had a (50)-year-old husband."

It has not yet been determined whether the girl and her baby are among
the 137 children removed from the ranch, making a search of the temple
that much more necessary, Palmer said.

"Anytime someone says, 'Don't look here,' it makes you concerned
that's exactly where you need to look," she said.

CNN: A police helicopter circled the ranch Saturday night.

MEN PRAYED AND CRIED
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/21116/flds-52
ReligionNewsBlog.com • Item 21116 • Posted: Friday April 11, 2008
ELDORADO, Texas - When authorities moved to search the large white
temple on the polygamist compound in West Texas, about five dozen of
the sect’s men prayed and cried around the structure, state

investigators said Thursday.

TENSE MOMENTS AT TEMPLE http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958307/ AP Mon.,
April. 7, 2008 'Tense moments last night' “There were some tense
moments last night, but everything has remained calm and peaceful and
they are continuing their search,” Allison Palmer, a prosecutor from a
nearby county handling the case, said early Sunday.

--------------------------------------------------------------
%%date: 4/6/08 Sunday All children moved to Fort Concho, Temple Standoff

Summary
- Anniversary of prophet's birth, only FLDS holy day. Government
officials are searching all day, taking families all day, plundering
all day. 
- YFZ residents restricted to walking only.
- women, children bused into San Angelo in school buses
- women appeal to Gov Perry (who already approved the raid)
- Residents block entrance to temple with vehicles
- CNN: "Authorities stormed the temple of a Texas ranch "
- temple desecrated Morning "We watched many vehicles surround the
temple. A helicopter flew in and landed outside the temple walls. We
saw them unload their dogs. What a sight to see these hundred of
people freely walking in and out of the temple."
- All children and adults at shelters in Eldorado were moved to a
centralized shelter in at the Ft. Concho complex in San Angelo.
- Including new arrivals from the FLDS compound there were 246 children
and 93 women in DFPS care.  

- CPS continued to work with law enforcement to locate children at the
compound and bring them to the shelters in San Angelo.

- Singing on bus while traveling to San Angelo under police escort.
CPS workers seem confused. They are continually asked, "What is going
on?" "What is happening?" Their answer is that they "don't have a
clue." They seem quite nervous, and no one really knows anything.
12:16 PM Unloading at Fort Concho.  Sunday, April 06, 2008 11:14:00 AM

- Meisner said most of the children were coping with the sudden removal
from their home. "The kids are doing remarkably well," Meisner said.
"We're really trying to be aware that their whole world has changed."

- 2nd search warrant signed at 10:10PM authorizing more searcing,
cites interviewing of girls who were pregnant or gave birth as teens


Police Enter Polygamist Sect's Temple
West Texas Compound Is Searched For Signs Of Underage Girl Who Alleged Abuse
ELDORADO, Texas, April 6, 2008
(CBS/AP)  "They don't know this world, they don't know our world, and I know
it's frightening," said sympathetic Eldorado resident Barbara Arendt.
"


Image Getty Images school bus in April 6
http://cbs11tv.com/national/texas.polygamy.sect.2.797332.html
Image:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080406/search_poly_080407/20080407?hub=CanadaAM
* girls walk behind blanket onto school bus April 6
* procession of game warden pickup trucks heading to ranch
Slideshow
http://www.kutv.com/Photo.aspx?content_id=83068083-d8f3-4445-9fb2-a473cbaaab06

7:08A sunrise

9:00 AM We held Sunday school with our family. We listened to a
beautiful sermon of our dear Prophet.

10:00 AM we got word that they were starting to take more families.
Our house was in the pathway of the homes they were plundering. We
helped each child pack one set of clothes. I went out and watered our
just-established herb garden, not knowing when we would be back.

12:00 PM 10 buses gathered outside the Schleicher County Courthouse
and began transporting many of the residents taken from YFZ Ranch in
West Texas to new locations.  About noon, six of the buses left
Eldorado headed north under police escort. Four of them arrived at
Fort Concho in San Angelo -- about 44 miles away -- around 12:50 p.m.
A little after 1 p.m., two of those buses headed back to Eldorado.

5:00 PM Marie and 3 boys escorted to bus.  The bus pulled up to our
home. CPS workers came into the home without any explanation or
reasons for what they were doing. Our house filled with CPS workers
and armed men, who herded us out to the bus.  As I walked out to the
bus with my three boys, I thought, "Now what did we do; how can they
come in and do this? I can't think of any law we've broken." I just
wanted someone to tell me what I did wrong, what law I had broken for
them to want to take my children.  We went to other homes and picked
up more people.

6:30 PM The bus loaded, we began driving out to the gate. We passed by
the Big House and saw many hands waving through the west window. One
of those hands was Rosie's. The thought came to my mind, "When will I
return to my Zion home?"

6:45-7:45 1 hr trip to San Angelo As we rode on the bus, we prayed and
sang.

7:50P sunset. By nightfall, all the mothers and children were gone.
Imagine the lonely heartsick feeling of those who remained. The armed
force stopped all driving on the land and stopped all equipment.

8:00 PM It was dark when we pulled up to a building with a sign that
said "Fort Concho Stables." As we began to unload, there were people
who searched through all our luggage. We entered these stables through
a big garage door, noticing Christmas lights still wrapped around the
posts. The building was filled with lines of cots. We helped the
children get some of the available food. Then we did the best we could
to help them say their prayers and go to bed.  Someone who had brought
an iPod with speakers turned on our Priesthood songs; the music seemed
to comfort the children.

8:53P moonset

10:00 PM Marie: I slept on the end cot near the opening of the
building. The CPS workers would walk down the aisles of cots all
through the night. Some of us ladies established our own night watch.
During the night I got very cold, sleeping by this open door, One or
two of our ladies slipped a blanket over me as they walked by on their
night duty

- Levi Barlow arrested sunday evening, charged with interfering with
duties of a public servant in connection with the search (of temple?)
Monday night Leroy Johnson Steed is charged with tampering with
physical evidence, a third-degree felony.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Sunday April 6 notes:

INTOLERANT FAITH, BABY FACTORIES, HAD BRUISES AND WELTS, BRAINWASHING
http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy789.html Former
polygamists tell of isolation and brainwashing Ft. Worth
Star-Telegram/April 6, 2008 By Jack Douglas, Jr.  The young girls who
have been taken from a polygamist compound in West Texas, their stares
wide-eyed but blank as they pass the fields of TV cameras, come from
an intolerant faith that turns women and their young daughters into
"baby factories" ordered to obey the men who abuse them or suffer the
wrath of God, former polygamists said Saturday

Rowena Mackert was born in Short Creek the year of the raid, then
moved to Salt Lake City with her polygamist family when she was 6.
Fleeing the sect in 1977, following years of abuse as a youth, she is
now forced into hiding after receiving death threats for her public
renunciation of polygamy.  ... "And I told him to go to hell."
Mackert, now 54, said she respects the 16-year-old girl in Texas who
alerted authorities about being abused within the walls of the
polygamists' compound.  "You're told you can do all but kill a child
for deliberate disobedience, " Mackert said, remembering one day in
her youth. "I stole a candy bar when I was 13, and I had bruises and
welts from my waist down to my knees." 

Walther issues search warrant Sunday that allows officers to take away
cell phones and other communication devices.
http://familyrightsassociation.com/news/archive/2008/flds/april_2008.html
FLDS ranch leader says Texas raid 'matches anything in Russia or
Germany' By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated:
04/08/2008 03:52:42 PM MDT

http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8125024 Search for Teenager
Continues at Eldorado Compound Associated Press - April 6, 2008 1:55
AM ET Early Sunday, a bus that appeared to be filled with women were at the
civic center south of town, where a lawyer and law-enforcement
officials were talking with them.

http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8125024
Midland County Sends Aid to Eldorado 
Associated Press - April 6, 2008 1:55 AM ET 
ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - The search continued for a teenager whose
report of abuse initiated the raid on a West Texas polygamist
compound.  Law enforcement maintained a roadblock miles from the
religious retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, and
authorities provided no details after tensions escalated late Saturday
when they were denied access to search the temple.

http://www.kwes.com/Global/story.asp?S=8125529
Midland County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team Returns Home from Eldorado
NewsWest 9 has learned from Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter that
the Midland County Sheriff's Office SWAT Team and APC have returned
home after the raid in Eldorado

Women, Children Bused Farther Away from Polygamist compound Associated
Press - April 6, 2008 4:25 PM ET ELDORADO, Texas (AP) - Busloads of
women and children removed from a polygamist compound were taken out
of town Sunday as authorities continued to search the retreat for
evidence that a teen was married to a 50-year-old member of the sect.

Authorities look for more kids at W. Texas ranch By BILL
HANNAStar-Telegram Staff Writer
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:uGKWAS6G78gJ:www.star-telegram.com/804/story/565881.html+walther+gag+order+ranch&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
She said CPS investigators' presence in Eldorado could continue
indefinitely. Meisner said that she planned to be in Eldorado "for a
while."

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:uGKWAS6G78gJ:www.star-telegram.com/804/story/565881.html+walther+gag+order+ranch&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Apr. 06, 2008
Authorities look for more kids at W. Texas ranch
By BILL HANNA Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Of the 219 taken, 159 are children
Meisner: they do not believe they have found all of the children. She
also said investigators are uncertain whether they have the found the
16-year-old who started the investigation

10 buses gathered outside the Schleicher County Courthouse and began
transporting many of the residents taken from YFZ Ranch in West Texas
to new locations.  About noon, six of the buses left Eldorado headed
north under police escort. Four of them arrived at Fort Concho in San
Angelo -- about 44 miles away -- around 12:50 p.m.  A little after 1
p.m., two of those buses headed back to Eldorado.

Before a gag order was issued Friday by state District Judge Barbara
Walther, Midland County Sheriff Gary Painter, whose department sent an
armored personnel carrier to Eldorado, told Midland television station
KWES-TV that "one [girl] in particular is wanting out, and they're
hiding her."  


http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_/ai_n25464764 April 6:
Sixty FLDS mothers voluntarily leave the ranch to be with their
children at a makeshift shelter in San Angelo. State officials
continue to search the compound for children. Child welfare workers
say 18 children showed evidence of possible abuse.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695268014,00.html
Busloads of women, children taken from Texas polygamist compound leave
community By Michelle Roberts Associated Press Published: Sunday,
April 6, 2008 3:41 p.m. MDT Authorities who removed 219 women and
children from a polygamist compound were struggling Sunday to
determine whether they had the 16-year-old girl whose report of an
underage marriage led them to raid the sprawling rural property.  Many
people at the compound, built by followers of jailed polygamist leader
Warren Jeffs, are related to one another and share similar names;
investigators said in some case they were giving different names at
different times

The women and children were taken out of the compound Friday and
Saturday and had been staying in a local church and civic center.

By midday Sunday, dozens of women and children, mostly girls, were
seen boarding buses on their way to San Angelo, a larger town 45 miles
away. The women wore long pastel dresses and many carried bedding;
several had infants

The search warrant instructed officers to look for marriage records or
other evidence linking her to the man and the baby. The warrant
authorized the seizure of computer drives, CDs, DVDs or photos

Police Enter Polygamist Sect's Temple West Texas Compound Is Searched
For Signs Of Underage Girl Who Alleged Abuse ELDORADO, Texas, April 6,
2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/06/national/main3996587.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3996587
CBS News correspondent Hari Sreenivasan reported that by Sunday, the
women and children from the fundamentalist Mormon church were being
fed and housed by volunteers at a local church and community center.
"They don't know this world, they don't know our world, and I know
it's frightening," said sympathetic Eldorado resident Barbara Arendt. 

http://www.nolanchart.com/article3380.html The FLDS in Eldorado:
Please, Not Another Ruby Ridge or Waco Texas lawmen approach FLDS
compound near Ed Dorado, recalling tragedies of Waco and Ruby Ridge
where authoritarianism ran amok.  by Random Outlier (Libertarian)
Sunday, April 6, 2008
the local prosecutor warns
that emergency medical vehicles and personnel were dispatched to
"prepare for the worst."  Officers say they intend to remove the
holdout FLDSers as peaceably as possible.  It would seem to me that
the state of Texas could summon the patience to make that "peaceably,
period," even if it requires a siege of months

Texas raid prompts First Baptist ministry
Baptist Press Posted on Apr 7, 2008 | by Ken Walker
http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27776 Approximately 100 residents
were taken to the civic center and the remainder went to the church's
fellowship hall, the pastor said.  They stayed at the two venues until
noon on April 6, when state authorities transported them to Fort
Concho, a historical site in San Angelo, Anderson said. The old
pioneer days fort contains adequate (???) housing for the women and
children, Anderson added.

Officials Tell How Sect in West Texas Was Raided By GRETEL C. KOVACH
and KIRK JOHNSON Published: April 11, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/us/11raid.html Capt. Barry Caver of
the Texas Public Safety Department said at a news conference here, the
officers knocked and asked for a key. The church members quietly said
no...they would be aiding or assisting us in the desecration of their
worship place,” ...locksmith to open the gate, but they were unable to
move the deadbolts to open the front doors of the temple. They tried
to use a “jaws of life” tool, normally used to remove people trapped
in cars after accidents, to open the doors. But the doors were too
tightly constructed

Finally, a SWAT team was called to apply brute force. As the team
broke down the doors, about 57 men from the church stood in a circle
around the building to bear witness, Captain Caver said.  The sect
members sank to their knees in prayer, some sobbing, and one young man
rushed to intervene. He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of
interfering with a public servant but has been released on bond.

Marleigh Meisner, said in a telephone interview that investigators had
completed one-on-one interviews with all the young people taken in the
raid and did not have a definitive answer.  “It may take some time for
her to come forward,” Ms. Meisner said.

In their search of the ranch, troopers used cadaver dogs to look for
unmarked graves but did not find any, Captain Caver said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958307/
Polygamist ranch searched, followers moved
80-foot-high temple The compound sits down a narrow paved road and
behind a hill that shields it almost entirely from view in town. Only
the 80-foot-high white temple can be seen on the horizon. Authorities
kept onlookers miles away from the compound.

A caravan of K-9 unit vehicles were seen headed down the road to the
compound on Sunday morning. Palmer said she couldn’t say whether
authorities had entered all of the compound’s many buildings but
called it “a detailed search.”

Eldorado is a town of fewer than 2,000 people, home to a few
government buildings, a couple of churches and a few blocks of houses.
It’s surrounded by wind-swept plains where sheep are raised.

UPDATE: Sunday, April 6, 2008
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3256986&mesg_id=3257505
ELDORADO, Texas (AP) — Law enforcement agents entered an enormous
temple on the grounds of a polygamist compound, but by Sunday morning
they still had not found a 16-year-old girl whose initial report of
abuse led to the raid.  "There were some tense moments last night, but
everything has remained calm and peaceful and they are continuing
their search," said Allison Palmer, a prosecutor from a nearby county
handling the case, early Sunday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/us/06dorado.html Additional Children
Removed at Polygamist Ranch in Texas By RALPH BLUMENTHAL Published:
April 6, 2008 HOUSTON — Authorities removed an additional 85 children
from a polygamist compound on Saturday, bringing the total to 137,
officials said, as a confrontation appeared to be developing over law
enforcement access to parts of the facility in Eldorado, in West Texas
state ambulances were heading into the remote compound. Mankin said
police reports he was monitoring suggested that church officials were
refusing access to the authorities and that the officers were
preparing to force their way in. a judge’s gag order in the case —
issued Saturday in San Angelo at the request of the Tom Green County
district attorney, Stephen R. Lupton, who has jurisdiction in
Schleicher County — kept her from providing any information on whether
violence had broken out.  the 16-year-old girl whose complaint had set
off the raid had not been identified. 

Police called in ambulances and other emergency vehicles as they
prepared to search the polygamist group's temple, officials said.
Authorities wanted medical backup "in case they're involved in
sensitive areas that could escalate into a negative reaction," a law
enforcement source said. A police helicopter circled the ranch
Saturday night. Source: cnn.com

http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=540ffaeb-dc67-40dc-8757-4f0aac3388c1
Women, children and pregnant teens removed from Texas FLDS compound
Reported by: Brent Hunsaker Last Update: saturday 4/05 2:33 pm (ABC 4 News)
ELDORADO, Texas (ABC 4 News) - Buses from nearby Eldorado, Texas were
pressed into service Friday to remove 167 children from the polygamist
YFZ (Yearning for Zion) Ranch.  According to the local newspaper, The
Eldorado Success, 96 boys and 71 girls spent Friday night at the small
town’s civic center. 

More details of the siege of the sprawling FLDS ranch are coming out.
There was first a standoff at the gate (saturday raid?) and then at
the FLDS temple. (sunday?)   Along with
the search warrant, Texas lawmen carried with them an arrest warrant.
A spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety declined to
say who is named in that warrant, but as of Friday evening, no one had
been arrested. 

http://kdka.com/national/polygamist.sect.mothers.2.698762.html
Polygamist Sect Moms Appealed To Texas Governor SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP)
? The mothers of children removed from a polygamous sect's ranch in
West Texas after an abuse allegation are appealing to Gov. Rick Perry
for help, saying some of their children have become sick and even
required hospitalization. (of course he approved the raid 2 days before)


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

%%date: 4/7/08 Monday All Children Granted State Custody

Summary
- 133 women who "wanted to leave" also taken
- Baptist Church makes breakfast
- 400 children are officially taken into custody.
- FLDS counts 172 at stable alone
- CPS frustrated that families will not talk to CPS without a lawyer
- District Judge Barbara Walthers granted DFPS temporary legal custody
of all 401 the children in the shelter in San Angelo, after it was
(incorrectly) concluded that some of these children had been sexually
and physically abused and the rest are at risk of abuse if returned to
their homes at this time. 
- An adversarial hearing was set for April 17, 2008 to determine if
the children should remain in DFPS conservatorship. 
- Additional shelter opened in San Angelo (ap 7 email)
- Salvation Army camp identified in Midlothian to be used to separate
parents on Wednesday. (ap 7 email)
- Meisner "It's very difficult any time CPS removes children from
homes, that's the most difficult thing that we do"
- "I am confident this girl indeed exists, and the allegations she
brought forth are accurate" Meisner
- ABC Good Morning America: were girls abused? When will the truth come out? 
- Carolyn Jessop "now that they are in a safe place, away from the
compound, they do not have to be afraid to speak the truth" tells of
infant water torture
- Mothers told they could be there 2 or 3 weeks

Ranch:
- 8AM 2nd (FBI?) search warrant for all financial records and
confiscate computers,files, etc. Everyone under 'house' arrest -- no
walking away from homes permitted. Every home violated again as the
FBI go through everything. Records gathered and taken.
- "Police Continue Search for Missing Sect Teen; 533 Women, Children Are"
An unknown number of men remain at the retreat in Eldorado and will
not be permitted to leave until authorities complete a house-by-house
search throughout the 1,700-acre compound,
- Leroy Johnson Steed is charged monday night with tampering with physical
  evidence, a third-degree felony during search.
- Meisner: "The kids don't know about crayons or breakfast cereal."
- Marie: Had showers today, did laundry, and felt very blessed with the
privilege. The CPS people have been trying to get information about
all who are here. No one will tell them anything except, "I demand a
lawyer." It is hard to make any connections with lawyers without
phones. Quite a tense day as emotions heighten. A couple of CPS
investigators walk over to the shelters to see if they can convince
people to start giving some information so that mothers and children
can go home, and they can go home. They (CPS) just become more
frustrated.  Monday, April 07, 2008 6:00:00 AM

3:55 PM Petition for Protection of Children filed, asks for removal and
custody of all FLDS children. Only one Sarah born 1990 noted.

Marie: At the Fort Concho Stables, we helped the children with their
morning prayers. There was only a four-stall bathroom with two sinks.
(I'm grateful we had that much!) We made a head count of our people;
the total came to 174. We helped the children get some breakfast,
which was made by the Baptist Church. They really made an effort to
fix the food we were used to eating. 
 
I began to look around to see how we could improve our situation. I
saw a lot of folding tables by the side of the building and asked if I
could set one up.  CPS workers helped me, and we got some benches so
that the children could work on coloring, drawing, handwriting, and so
forth. We were surrounded by CPS workers, who would walk through all
day and watch us continually.
 
At the back of the building was a stage for programs. There were a
bunch of wooden risers covered with carpet. I hauled two of these up
by my bed and put them to the side, so that I might have a little
privacy.  I didn't get permission from CPS; I just did it. Only a few
feet from my bed was where the main group of CPS workers sat all
during the day and throughout the night.
 
It was a chore to keep our energetic children in this confined area.
They had already been confined for three days at home while all the
events took place there. Heavenly Father heard our prayers and saw our
needs. CPS workers put up a disposable fence in the back of this
building and fenced off a small area. We were grateful! About 30 feet
away was a big sand pile. I thought it would be ideal for the
children.  Later that night, I asked a lady who seemed to be in charge
if we could do something about extending the fence to go over to this
sand pile. She strongly agreed and said she would see to it in the
morning.  During this day we began asking when we would go home and
how long they planned on our being there. None of them had a definite
answer. One of the workers said we could be there for two weeks.
 
I still could not figure out why they wanted to take all of us away.
What were they going to do with us? What had we done?

Police Continue Search for Missing Sect Teen; 533 Women, Children Are
in Custody By MIKE VON FREMD, CHRIS STRATHMANN, RICH McHUGH, IMAEYEN
IBANGA and EMILY FRIEDMAN April 7, 2008 As many as 533 women and
children were removed from the West Texas compound built by polygamist
leader Warren Jeffs, authorities said today. 

Texas Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner
said. "This is not about numbers. This is about children,
children in imminent risk of harm," she said. 

"In my opinion, this is the largest endeavor we've ever been involved
in in the state of Texas," Meisner said, adding that she was also
involved in the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco
that left at least 86 people dead. 

The original 200 women and children who were removed during the
weekend are secure in nearby San Angelo, but officials said most are
afraid to speak candidly about what happened inside their church. 

LAST 15 CHILDREN MOVED OFF THE RANCH

http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy805.html Girl
whose call triggered raid complained of being beaten, officials say
Child agency workers finish search of ranch, but investigation
continues.  Austin American-Statesman/April 9, 2008 By Corrie
MacLaggan night: Azar - Working with law enforcement officials, "we
determined these children were in imminent danger of continued abuse.
We simply could not leave these children in homes where alleged
abusers also lived."  The agency Monday night moved the last 15
children from the Yearning for Zion Ranch into temporary state custody
in San Angelo shelters, officials said. On their own, 139 women left
the ranch.

 Some children interviewed did not provide the names of their parents
or identified multiple women as their mothers, the affidavit said.
"We do not know their real names at this time," Azar said. "We need to
 know about relatives who may safely care for these children."  Such
 court orders are fairly typical - paternity is often an issue - but
 this operation is on a larger scale, Azar said

Monday, April 7 notes:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-04-07-Polygamy_N.htm

401 children taken in raid of Texas polygamist compound 
Posted 4/7/2008 10:38 PM | Comments13 | Recommend3 E-mail | Save | Print | Reprints & Permissions |   
133 WOMEN WHO WANTED TO LEAVE ALSO WERE TAKEN
By Wendy Koch, USA TODAY Texas authorities said Monday they removed
401 children — mostly girls — from a polygamist compound in the
largest child-welfare operation in the state's history. 
"We have taken legal, temporary custody" of the children, said
Marleigh Meisner, spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services.
Each of the children will be given a guardian and placed in foster
care.
In addition to the children, 133 women who "wanted to leave" also were
taken, Meisner said.

LETTING PARENTS LEAVE WITH CHILDREN IS RIGHT
Texas is handling the case appropriately by letting parents leave with
their children, said John Llewellyn, a retired Salt Lake County
sheriff's lieutenant and a former polygamist.  "Something needs to be
done," he said. "You can't turn your back on something like this."

TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS
Others say removing the children without talking to the girl at the
center of the complaint is wrong.  "What the government is doing is
totally outrageous," said Bonnie Macri, executive director of the
activist group JEDI (Justice, Economic Dignity and Independence) Women
in Utah.


CPS Presser-FLDS Compound Raid 4/7/08

http://cc.msnscache.com/cache.aspx?q=marleigh+meisner&d=74242242258572&mkt=en-US&setlang=en-US&w=3811cdd8,ed72fff0
Jay Hendricks
CBS 7 News
April 7, 2008
San Angelo, Texas - CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner says they now
have custody of 401 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in Eldorado.
Meisner addressed the media today at a briefing in San Angelo.
She said that they originally took custody of 18 children last Friday,
after a judge ruled they needed to be removed.
There are also 130 adults and over 200 lawmen are still st the
compound, looking for evidence

Texas takes legal custody of 401 sect children updated 10:25 p.m. EDT,
Mon April 7, 2008 (CNN) -- Authorities said Monday they have taken
legal custody of 401 children who lived on an isolated West Texas
polygamist retreat built by imprisoned "prophet" Warren Jeffs.
The children will be appointed lawyers and legal guardians in about
two weeks, she added.

SHELTER IS FILLING UP QUICKLY
Meisner said the temporary shelter is filling up quickly, and
officials are facing a "critical shortage" of foster homes. Officials
will try to keep siblings together, she added

they believe more children will be found at the ranch, but Mange
stopped short of saying they were being hidden.

Videos from above article:
See why police want every child removed
Watch Eldorado residents react to the removals

deseret news timeline: April 7: A judge orders children, now numbered
at 401, into temporary protective custody based on determination of
significant risk of harm. A total of 133 women have now left the
compound. Men on the ranch are not allowed to leave while
investigation continues. Twelve attorneys hired to defend church
members

http://www.handelonthelaw.com/news_details.aspx?News=5336&Date=4/1/2008

SARAH MAY BE IN THE GROUP USING A DIFFERENT NAME RAID ON POLYGAMIST
COMPOUND IN TEXAS Monday, April 07, 2008 ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) --
authorities have not identified the girl who called them with
allegations of abuse.  The 16-year-old girl, who called authorities
last week with allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the
compound, may be in the group and using a different name, Marleigh
Meisner, a spokeswoman for Texas Child Protective Services, said at a
news conference Sunday.The others are now housed at a shelter in San
Angelo -- about 45 miles north of Eldorado -- where they are being
questioned about abuse, Meisner said.

EMOTIONAL FOR CHILDREN BUT THEY ARE WITH CARETAKERS
"It's certainly emotional for
the children, but they are with caretakers -- people that they're
accustomed to being with -- at the time," Meisner said. Many of the
adults at the shelter are parents or relatives of the children, she
said. Source:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/06/texas.ranch/index.html 

Search Continues for Teen Who Sparked Raid on Sect 
Posted Apr 7, 08 10:43 AM CDT in US  
http://www.newser.com/story/23662/search-continues-for-teen-who-sparked-raid-on-sect.html
Her alleged husband denies knowing her, but "I am confident this girl
does indeed exist," one official told the Dallas Morning News. The
group's isolationist practices are making communication tough: The
kids don't know about crayons or breakfast cereal. Their leader was
imprisoned last year on incest and rape charges, but his followers
face no criminal action.

Baptist Press: Texas raid prompts First
Baptist ministry http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=27776 Posted on
Apr 7, 2008 | by Ken Walker ELDORADO, Texas (BP)--A Baptist
congregation housed about 80 women and children April 4-6 after a raid
on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(FLDS) near Eldorado, Texas.

CANADA AIRS AUTHOR OF FLDS ABUSES BY MEN
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080406/search_poly_080407/20080407?hub=CanadaAM
Stephen Singular, author of 'When Men become Gods' speaks on CTV's
Canada AM from Denver, Colorado on Monday, April 7, 2008.  Singular
said he subtitled his book to acknowledge the fact that it's women
making the complaints to force authorities to act.  "This has long
gone on inside some of these communities," he said. "The interesting
thing is it's always been the women who have come forward, or the
girls in some cases, and pushed the prosecution or pushed the police
to do something."

NO SIGN OF SARA, INVESTIGATORS CLAIM THEY ARE CHANGING NAMES
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23958307/
AP Mon., April. 7, 2008 ELDORADO, Texas - Authorities who removed 219
women and children from a polygamist compound were struggling Sunday
to determine whether they had the 16-year-old girl whose report of an
underage marriage led them to raid the sprawling rural property.  Many
people at the compound, built by followers of jailed polygamist leader
Warren Jeffs, are related to one another and share similar names;
investigators said in some case they were giving different names at
different times.



--------------------------------------------------------------------
%%date: 4/8/08 Tuesday Mothers cooperate, Chickenpox spreads

- "polygamist husband beat her while woman held baby"
- The Department of Family and Protective Services, of which CPS is a
part, has 715 staff have been deployed since last week. Including: 288
investigators 49 special investigators
- secret email "There has been an outbreak of chickenpox at the
  shelter. I am stopping the move for tomorrow. … we must know what
  their plan is for separation. This is getting out of hand.  .. the  
  current scenario is to have the removal happen on Sunday night, 4/13.
- CPS involvement in the operation at the compound itself is over. All
the children who were living on the FLDS compound are now in CPS care.
15 more children were transported to the shelter last night, bringing
the total number of children in state custody to 416 children. 139
women are at the shelters.
- DFPS has now moved into the legal stage of this case. 
- cell phones returned
- Another shelter was opened in San Angelo and more than 100 children
were moved into it in order to better meet their needs.
CPS, Texas Rangers and Mothers meet CPS workers, Texas Rangers, and
some FLDS mothers meet and come to some agreement. Mothers agree to
give Texas Rangers names of everyone in the shelters, their date of
birth, and the name of the mother for each child. Mothers also agree
to give CPS a list naming everyone in the shelters and their date of
birth. Texas Rangers and CPS in turn agree to reunite children with
mothers and return the cell phones. Later in the evening three ladies
accompany Texas Rangers, CPS workers, and constables to each shelter,
except #1 and #2, to help encourage the mothers and children to give
the needed information. Texas Rangers say they will be back in the
morning to do shelters #1 and #2. The mothers and children respond and
cell phones are returned.  Tuesday, April 08, 2008 2:00:00 PM

Fort Concho:
- Portable showers arrive
- Floors swept, mopped, bathrooms cleaned by women
- officials observe living conditions, close spacing of cots
- officials frustrated 
- children interviewed away separated from mothers
- name and birth dates, repeatedly
- mothers talked to lawyers
- boys kick balls over the orange temporary fence
- cps notes children are very nice
- Mid afternoon Drove to San Angelo coliseum, much larger building
- Do they plan to keep us forever?
- mother don't hold my hand, they'll think it's abuse
- cell phones to be returned next day
- One family had chicken pox, all children were exposed
- Evening Mothers served with papers
Ranch:
8:00 PM The first papers were served on the men this evening in the
Meetinghouse, where the men filled the air with their songs. The
ladies and some of the men sang on the porches of the homes where some
few remained.

Tue apr 8 .. if judge approves transfer … transported by bus from San
Angelo shelter to Midlothian… due to security concerns with the
separation taking place in San Angelo, DFPS is planning to recommend
to the judge that the children and adults be allowed to board t he bus
together in San Angelo, but will be told prior to arriving that the
children will be staying in separate living quarters from the adult
women (mothers of 75 infants will remain in same quarters as infants).
Essentially, the remaining children will be separated from the adult
women who are not accompanying infants so that the interviewing can
proceed… security will need to be upgraded to prevent unauthorized
interaction with the children and escalating conflict.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/06-08/0604polygamists.pdf

april 8 notes:

http://familyrightsassociation.com/news/archive/2008/flds/april_2008.html
FLDS ranch leader says Texas raid 'matches anything in Russia or
Germany' By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated:
04/08/2008 03:52:42 PM MDT

BOYS IN FIELD TREATED WELL: SHOOK HIS HEAD "NO"
a group of 9 young boys were walking around a grassy parade field.
The boys approached the fence at one end of the field, where reporters
called out to ask if they were being treated well.  One young man
shook his head, no. As reporters moved closer to the fence, a CPS
worker called the boys back to the buildings. One older boy then
appeared to be being scolded by the worker.  Officers then approached
the media and told them to move across the street. The boys then
returned to the middle of the field to play soccer.
http://origin.sltrib.com/polygamy/ci_8851095

http://familyrightsassociation.com/news/archive/2008/flds/april_2008.html
FLDS ranch leader says Texas raid 'matches anything in Russia or
Germany' By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune Article Last Updated:
04/08/2008 03:52:42 PM MDT Posted: 9:29 AM- SAN ANGELO, Texas ---
Sounding weary and anxious, Merrill Jessop spoke briefly to The Salt
Lake Tribune Tuesday about the law enforcement investigation now in
its fifth day at the YFZ Ranch in Eldorado. 

He said the ability to communicate with those outside -- and family
members taken from the ranch -- is rapidly diminishing as officers
confiscate cell phones "as fast as they find them."  Tom Green County
District Judge Barbara Walther issued a new search warrant Sunday that
allows officers to take away cell phones and other communication
devices.  Jessop said that those at the ranch have no Internet or
television access and have no way to know what has become of the 133
women and 401 children taken from the ranch since last Thursday. He
expressed concern for their well-being


link, missing article: April 8: Girl says polygamist husband beat her while woman held baby
http://www.keyetv.com/mostpopular/story.aspx?content_id=f6c951a1-e7b0-4954-8398-2b38ac393bb7

BEATINGS AND RAPE AT THE RANCH
5:41PM Affidavit: Girl reports beatings, rape at polygamist ranch By
LISA SANDBERG and JANET ELLIOTT Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Austin Bureau SAN ANGELO — The 16-year-old girl whose call prompted a
raid on a West Texas polygamist compound said she had been repeatedly
beaten and sexually assaulted by her husband, according to documents
released today by the state.

SHORTAGE OF FOSTER HOMES
CROWDED BUILDINGS AT FORT CONCHO SLEEPING ON COTS
The removal of the children from the isolated compound threatens to
overwhelm the local court and foster care system.  "We had a critical
shortage (of foster homes) before last week. So certainly that's a
little bit overwhelming," Meisner said.  Already the children and
mothers are living in crowded buildings at Fort Concho, the historic
military site where they have been sleeping on cots since Sunday.
Meisner said the children could soon be taken to other facilities
around the state while awaiting foster homes

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5682336.html
** authorities were unable to take action until there was a
(UNVERIFIED) complaint or report of abuse **

RECORD CHILD WELFARE RESCUE

http://www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t9366.html
WEB Posted: 04/08/2008 09:58 AM CDT Janet Elliott Express-News Austin
Bureau SAN ANGELO — Some 400 children who wore pioneer clothing and
lived an austere, isolated life with adults at a West Texas polygamist
retreat are now part of the largest child welfare operation in Texas
history.

Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, to push for changes in the marriage
law, including increasing the minimum age at which teenagers can marry
to 16, if they get parental consent or a court order.  Previous law
allowed someone as young as 14 to get married with parental consent.
"Had this bill not passed, there would have been quite a few of them
that were married and were pregnant for instance — or married with
kids — that were under 16, that they could not have done much about,"
he said. "I feel pretty darn good. I've got some pride in it. It's one
of those things I knew it was the right thing to do." 

Houston Chronicle Staff Writer Roma Khanna in Houston and Express-News Staff Writer Peggy Fikac in the Austin Bureau contributed to this report. 


NO BOOKS, NO LAUGHTER, NO RADIO, NO INTERNET. PRIMITIVE AS CAN BE...
http://www.crimeandjustice.us/forums/lofiversion/index.php?t9366.html
The Life of a Polygamous Woman Warren Jeffs Had Strict Rules Governing
His Female Followers By DAN HARRIS, CHRIS STRATHMANN, KIRAN KHALID and
IMAEYEN IBANGA April 8, 2008 — "He allowed no television, radio or
Internet access. Even laughter was forbidden.  "He said, 'No
children's books with animals doing people things. Nature is OK.
Disney is not,'" said former member Lori Chatwin, who left the group
four years ago.  However, he did allow iPods, which people could use
to listen to hours of his sermons, and his control extended beyond
what people could read, see and wear. He also controlled who married
whom and, he claimed, who got to go to heaven.  Women who don't like
the rules are told to "keep sweet."  "Keep sweet, it's exactly that.
No matter what, it's a matter of life and death. 

http://wwwwakeupamericans-spree.blogspot.com/2008/04/documents-detail-abuse-at-yfz-ranch.html
April 08, 2008 Documents Detail Abuse at YFZ Ranch The proverbial lid
seems to have not just been blown off of incidents surrounding the YFZ
Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, but to have undergone violent explosive
decompression.

response: yes, I agree, a crime to send children back to an
environment that has already been shown and now a matter of record, to
have sexually abused children.  Susan 

http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About/News/2008/2008-04-08_news.asp
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
All the children are now in our care and CPS involvement in the operation at the compound itself is over. 
15 more children were transported to the shelter last night, bringing the total number of children in state custody to 416 children. All these children are now in foster care and we are exploring placement options that give them the stability they need while we continue our investigations.  (139 women)
We have now moved into the legal stage of this case we will be limited in what we can say in the future.
Additional information 
DFPS received a [false] report that a 16 year old girl was being sexually and physically abused. A girl called a family violence shelter twice (over the weekend of March 29-30) She was seeking help to leave the compound and indicated she was wife number "7" of a 49 year old man and who she married when she was 15. 
The report indicated she had been at the compound for three years and she had been physically abuse since shortly after she arrived. She said her "husband" beat her and hurt her whenever he became angry and in one case broke some of her ribs. She said she got her hands on someone else's cell phone and called the shelter for help.  The Shelter called in the report to the Abuse/Neglect hotline. 
During the investigation CPS investigators found a number of young, pregnant, teenage girls, [there were no pregnant teen girls] as well as several teenage girls who had already given birth to children.[these were never identified either]
Based on that ann other observations and interviews, investigators determined that there was a widespread practice of conditioning young girls to accept becoming the "spiritual" wives of older men and to have sex with them.
Based on the finding of our joint with investigation law enforcement CPS concluded these children were in immediate danger of continuing abuse and a district judge agreed. [appeals court disagreed, CPS was wrong]
Continuing Investigation
As needed, CPS will ask the court for orders to aide the investigation and to sort out exactly who these children are and who they are related to.
 	That includes orders for DNA testing for any person who claims to be a parent or is suspected of being a parent of these children. 
 	We will ask the court to order any parent or suspected parent to provide our agency with the names and addresses of all relatives of these children. 
 	And we are also asking the court to order each parent to provide identifying documents for each child, such as birth certifications, social security numbers, and marriage records. 


----------------------------------------------------------------------
%%date: 4/9/08 wednesday Rampant Abuse. Children Examined

Children
"	Children to be strip searched.
"	Tornado 
* CPS worker: "There's been a mistake"
* CPS worker: "my mother was a druggie"
* Picture, boys kicking ball at Fort Concho
* 12 cases of chicken pox identified, families isolated
* Headline "Sex Abuse 'Rampant' at Polygamist Ranch"
 
 DFPS and other state agencies continued to work to supervise and provide for the needs of 416 children who removed from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound and placed in state custody.  All the children, and 139 adult women, were housed in several shelters in San Angelo. 
The Department of State Health Services is coordinating medical and mental health services for the children. Health clinics and screenings are being held. 12 cases of chicken pox were identified and those children and their families were isolated. They contracted the virus before arriving in state custody. So far the screenings indicate that the physical and mental health of the children is generally good.
http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About/News/2008/2008-04-09_chronology.asp
News Brief: Wednesday, April 9, 2008
DFPS and other state agencies continue to care for and supervise 416 children who were removed from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound near Eldorado and placed in state custody. 
The Department of State health Services is overseeing all medical and mental health services for the children. 
 	DSHS is performing on-site health screenings and it appears the children are generally in good health. 
 	There have been a typical number of minor upper respiratory and mild gastrointestinal ailments for a group of this size. 
 	About a dozen children have what appears to be chicken pox, which they contracted prior to coming into state custody. It takes 14-16 days for the virus to manifest itself.  Chicken pox is usually a benign childhood disease and none of the children is seriously ill. These children and their families were relocated to another building to separate them from the other children. It is believed the children in the shelters have not been immunized, but some may have natural immunity from having contracted chicken-pox in the past. 
 	The children appear to be in good mental health and are adapting as well as can be expected. 
 	25 mental health professionals are on hand, along with four doctors and ten nurses. 14 more doctors and medical assistants are arriving soon. 
http://www.dfps.state.tx.us/About/News/2008/2008-04-09_news.asp

Wed April 9 The judge is not going to allow the move to Midlothian to
take place. The City of San Angelo cannot contin