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Standoff emerges at polygamist retreat in Texas
Standoff at polygamist retreat
CTV.ca News Staff
Sat. April. 5 2008 9:23 PM ET
Sect leaders on a remote polygamist compound in West Texas are refusing to let authorities search a temple for a 16-year-old girl who was reportedly physically abused.
In preparation for the worst, ambulances have been sent to the compound, Prosecutor Allison Palmer told the San Angelo Standard-Times on Saturday.
Since Friday, child welfare officials have removed nearly 200 women and children from the religious retreat, built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.
The whole series of events was triggered last Monday when the 16-year-old girl in question made a call to officials and alleged physical abuse, said Marleigh Meisner, a spokesperson for Texas Child Protective Services (CPS).
A search warrant was then issued, allowing state troopers to enter the retreat to look for evidence of a marriage between the girl and a 50-year-old man.
The warrant states that the girl had a baby eight months ago, at the age of 15.
On Friday, CPS removed 52 girls from the compound.
Meisner said another 131 residents were removed overnight.
By Saturday afternoon, 137 children and 46 women were being housed and interviewed by officials.
"They seem to be doing fine," Meisner said.
Meanwhile, four investigators remain inside the polygamist compound searching for more children.
The ranch, once an exotic game farm, covers 670 hectares and is near Eldorado, although the nearest major community is San Angelo.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), bought the property in 2004 for US$700,000.
Members moved there from another community on the border between Arizona and Utah.
Earlier Saturday, Meisner said the whereabouts of the 16-year-old who called officials and the girl's baby is unknown.
Police are also believed to still be looking for Dale Barlow, 50.
Officials, who said Friday that Barlow had not been found, declined to comment on his status Saturday -- stating that a state judge had issued a gag order.
Texas law forbids girls younger than 16 from marrying, even with parental approval.
Most of these girls have little experience outside the closed world of the FLDS, said Meisner.
FLDS leader Jeffs is currently in prison. A Utah court sentenced him to five years to life in prison for being an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year-old girl in 2001. She married her cousin in an arranged marriage.
Jeffs is also awaiting trial on charges in Arizona. He is charged with four counts each of incest and sexual conduct with a minor. The charges stem from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.
The FLDS split from the more mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons, decades after the latter renounced polygamy in 1890.
With files from The Associated Press
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