Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

[jon1856]

Officials Tell How Sect in West Texas Was Raided
SAN ANGELO, Tex. — For years, the veiled world behind the doors of a fundamentalist Mormon polygamist temple tantalized local imaginations in the Hill Country south of here.
On Thursday, a Texas ranger described in detail what occurred last week when law enforcement officers, responding to a call for help from a 16-year-old who said she was being sexually abused in the compound, sought entry.
In essence, 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 opted not to do that because they would be aiding or assisting us in the desecration of their worship place,” Captain Caver said.
The authorities called in a 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, Captain Caver said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/us...rssnyt&emc=rss

POLYGAMIST COMPOUND

Texas Authorities Are Unsure Where Girl Caller Is

SAN ANGELO, Tex., April 10 -- Texas law enforcement authorities have yet to find the teenage mother whose call to authorities sparked the raid on a polygamist sect's compound that resulted in the largest child removal in the state's history.
The 16-year-old girl has been identified in court documents, but neither child protective services officials nor law enforcement officers have confirmed her presence among the 416 children removed from the ranch, authorities said Thursday. Darrel Azar, spokesman for Texas Family and Protective Services, said the agency believes she is among the children but that, given the allegations, "she may be reticent to identify herself."
"We think we may have her, and we hope that we have her," Azar said. "But it's going to take time for these children to open up."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...nav=rss_nation

[RACooper]

Originally Posted by EE-BO

I never said any such thing, and you know it. This is just the kind of comment that makes debating with you utterly useless.

Ahem...

Originally Posted by EE-BO

Find me a significant body of work exposing a systemic sexual abuse of children by Baptists, Jews, Episcopalians, Muslims, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Buddhists, Zoroastrians (gotta throw that one in for a buddy of mine) or ANY other major religion in world history and then we can talk.

[DSTCHAOS]

LOL. jon1856 rocks. Keeping fighting the good fight.

macallan, I am scared of that photo. But you're still cool.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

LOL. jon1856 rocks. Keeping fighting the good fight.

macallan, I am scared of that photo. But you're still cool.

Well I do believe this is the first time I have ever seen Mods hi-jack a thread.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by jon1856

Well I do believe this is the first time I have ever seen Mods hi-jack a thread.

"Do as I say and not as I do?"

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by DSTCHAOS

"Do as I say and not as I do?"

Perhaps-or just "heat of the moment(s)"
We NOW return you to the program already in progress......

[jon1856]

Texas Polygamy Raid May Pose Risk
ELDORADO, Tex. — The raid last week on a polygamist compound here is complicating law enforcement efforts in Utah and Arizona, where there are far more offshoot Mormon polygamists but where the authorities try to avoid such large-scale confrontations.
Officials in those states have dealt for many years with the tangled and delicate problem of opening communications with polygamist groups while also winning the confidence of girls who are taken as under-age wives. The Texas authorities say the raid here was prompted by a 16-year-old who called on a cellphone from the compound in a cry for help.
But the raid’s scale — 416 children were removed, making it the largest raid in more than a half century in the West — and the fact that the 16-year-old has not been identified, has sharply eroded trust in the government among polygamist groups, according to law enforcement officials in several states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us...ss&oref=slogin

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by jon1856

Texas Polygamy Raid May Pose Risk
ELDORADO, Tex. — The raid last week on a polygamist compound here is complicating law enforcement efforts in Utah and Arizona, where there are far more offshoot Mormon polygamists but where the authorities try to avoid such large-scale confrontations.
Officials in those states have dealt for many years with the tangled and delicate problem of opening communications with polygamist groups while also winning the confidence of girls who are taken as under-age wives. The Texas authorities say the raid here was prompted by a 16-year-old who called on a cellphone from the compound in a cry for help.
But the raid’s scale — 416 children were removed, making it the largest raid in more than a half century in the West — and the fact that the 16-year-old has not been identified, has sharply eroded trust in the government among polygamist groups, according to law enforcement officials in several states.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us...ss&oref=slogin

Not that I really have any problem with the raid in practice, the fact that they can't find, or identify if they did find her, the girl who made the complaint does kind of make you wonder a tiny bit about a relatively low standard for probable cause for the raid.

Suppose all it took for anyone's house to be raided was a cell phone call by someone who later couldn't be found? It seems a little troublesome.

Sure, in this instance, coupled with it being a FCJCLDS compound, the call seems like enough. But it's troublesome on some level too even if you aren't a a member of polygamous group.

[Benzgirl]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaind...270.xml&coll=2

San Angelo, Texas - All their lives, the girls in the polygamist sect in the west Texas desert were told that the outside world was hostile and immoral, and that venturing beyond the brilliant white limestone walls of their compound would consign them to eternal damnation.
Now, if the state gets its way, hundreds of the girls could be put in foster homes, in what could be a wrenching cultural adjustment that may require intensive counseling.
"What they are up against is having to deprogram an entire community," said Margaret Cooke, who left the sect with seven of her eight children near the end of 1994. The children "are so naive and they have been sheltered to the point that they don't even trust their own judgment."

[jon1856]

Rangers talk with polygamist ranch suspect

ELDORADO, Texas (CNN) -- Texas Rangers on Saturday met with -- but did not arrest -- the man accused by a teenage girl of physically and sexually abusing her at a polygamist compound.
Arizona probation officials said the meeting with Dale Evans Barlow, 50, happened just across the Arizona state line in St. George, Utah.
"The Texas Rangers met with him. He was allowed to go, and no arrest was made," said Friend Walker, director of the Mojave County, Arizona, probation office.
Barlow's attorney, Bruce Griffen, said the meeting was voluntary
http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/04/12/...rss_topstories

[jon1856]

Attys: Texas Polygamists May Recant
PHOENIX (AP) - Polygamous sect members who were moved to a Texas compound from their longtime homes along the Utah-Arizona line were hand-picked for their fierce loyalty to leader Warren Jeffs, and that allegiance may be a stumbling block for law enforcement, authorities say.

Jeffs, the imprisoned leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, transferred people to Eldorado, Texas, to escape growing government scrutiny on the sect's base in Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said.

"This was Warren Jeffs' all-star cast," said Goddard, who has been investigating the sect since 2004. "They had the strongest sense of obedience."

As a result, their extreme devotion could make it hard on Texas authorities as they push for prosecutions, said Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff.
http://news.aol.com/story/_a/attys-t...4?ecid=RSS0001

[Benzgirl]

^^^^ I read that this morning. This had my skin crawling.

"However, Goddard started talking with Shurtleff about the FLDS in 2002 shortly after he was elected, his spokesman said.

Arizona officials put up a billboard in Colorado City with a toll-free number for young women who felt abused. They got rid of local police officers, who had pledged loyalty to Jeffs, and opened an office in the community manned by Mohave County officers."

From what I understand, there is a state representative from Eldorado that backs up everything they do, trying to get the age for women to marry in Texas from 16 to 14.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by Benzgirl

^^^^ I read that this morning. This had my skin crawling.

"However, Goddard started talking with Shurtleff about the FLDS in 2002 shortly after he was elected, his spokesman said.

Arizona officials put up a billboard in Colorado City with a toll-free number for young women who felt abused. They got rid of local police officers, who had pledged loyalty to Jeffs, and opened an office in the community manned by Mohave County officers."

From what I understand, there is a state representative from Eldorado that backs up everything they do, trying to get the age for women to marry in Texas from 16 to 14.

Seeing as they can only actually marry the first wife legally anyway, are they really talking about lowering the age of consent for sex with minors?

The description of previous local cooperation is mind blowing. Police officers who pledged their loyally to Jeffs?

[Educatingblue]

Originally Posted by jon1856

"Polygamy is outlawed everywhere in the United States but the male followers of such sects typically marry one woman officially and take the others as "spiritual wives."
This makes the women single in the eyes of the state which can entitle them and their children to various welfare benefits."

I am glad you mentioned this. My husband and I were discussing this the other day and minus the child molestation, this is the same thing many married people choose to do everyday...Married and have affairs with other women/men. What about people who do not acknowledge or follow any religion and just sleep around??? I know it does not hold the same stigma, but it is definitely something to consider. I am not going to condone what happened there, but I definitely try to be open-minded about different cultures/religions etc.

[jon1856]

Originally Posted by Educatingblue

I am glad you mentioned this. My husband and I were discussing this the other day and minus the child molestation, this is the same thing many married people choose to do everyday...Married and have affairs with other women/men. What about people who do not acknowledge or follow any religion and just sleep around??? I know it does not hold the same stigma, but it is definitely something to consider. I am not going to condone what happened there, but I definitely try to be open-minded about different cultures/religions etc.

One of the very big differences is that they use/abuse the system and use the monies to support the group.
Read any of the books suggested here for more details.