Yearning for Zion ranch

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Warren Jeffs Accused of Importing Child Brides

Girls, 12 and 13, brought to Jeffs from Canada: records

(Newser) - Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs had three underage brides smuggled to him from over the Canadian border, according to new evidence. Records obtained from the FLDS by prosecutors reveal that the girls, two of them aged 12 and one 13, were taken from British Columbia to sect settlements along the...

Polygamist Sect Leader Jeffs Battles Extradition

Warren Jeffs refuses to sign waiver sending him to Texas

(Newser) - Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs refused to sign a waiver allowing his extradition to Texas at a brief court hearing in Utah yesterday. Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, faces bigamy and sexual assault charges in Texas for his alleged involvement with underage girls...

Arizona Drops Case Against Polygamist Leader

Texas now seeking to extradite Warren Jeffs

(Newser) - Arizona has dismissed charges against Warren Jeffs, saying the polygamist sect leader has already spent more time in prison awaiting trial than he would have done if convicted. Jeffs had been charged as an accomplice to the rape of a minor for allegedly arranging marriages involving underage girls. The move...

Polygamist Gets 33 Years for Girl's Sex Abuse

Texas sect leader 2nd to be convicted of charges

(Newser) - A leader of a Texas polygamist sect has been sentenced to 33 years in prison for child sex abuse after "marrying" and impregnating a 15-year-old girl. Allan Eugene Keate, 57, is the second man so far convicted of the charges among those who were busted after the headline-grabbing roundup...

Polygamist Sect Member Guilty of Sex Assault

Texas court convicts FLDS man married to underage girl

(Newser) - Jurors in the first criminal trial following the raid of a polygamist group's Texas ranch today convicted a member of sexual assault of a child. Raymond Jessop, 38, was found guilty of the charge that stemmed from his alleged marriage to an underage girl. He's the first group member to...

Polygamy Boss Charged With New Sex Rap

Jeffs charged with felony assault at Texas ranch

(Newser) - Polygamy sect leader Warren Jeffs and three other members of his group have been indicted on fresh felony charges, the Houston Chronicle reports. Jeffs is accused of aggravated sexual assault linked to actions at the Yearning for Zion Texas compound where authorities rounded up hundreds of children earlier this year....

Jeffs' Bride, 14, Ordered Into Foster Care

Parents let daughter marry sect leader at 12, authorities charge

(Newser) - A Texas judge has ordered a 14-year-old girl allegedly married to polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs at age 12 back into state custody, reports the Salt Lake Tribune. The judge said the parents of the girl, who was first taken into custody when the sect's compound was raided in April,...

5 More Jailed in Sect Child Abuse




5 More Jailed in Sect Child Abuse

Jul 29, 2008 4:15 AM CDT

5 More Jailed in Sect Child Abuse

FLDS members charged with sexual assualt, bigamy, concealing child abuse

(Newser) - Five members of a Texas polygamous sect charged in a child abuse investigation are in custody after surrendering to authorities, the Dallas Morning News reports. Four of the men are charged with sexually abusing girls under the age of 17. The fifth, said to be the physician at the sect's...

Sect Kids Aren't Going Home
 Sect Kids Aren't Going Home 
update
May 30, 2008 9:51 PM CDT

Sect Kids Aren't Going Home

Lawyer objects at last minute to release of 460+ children

(Newser) - The parents of children taken from a polygamist ranch in Texas will not see their kids on Monday after all. At the last minute, a lawyer objected to the state's deal with the sect and stopped the judge from ordering the children's release. Now the judge plans to get them...

Sect Moms Say Kids Scarred
 Sect Moms Say Kids Scarred 
May 29, 2008 12:39 PM CDT

Sect Moms Say Kids Scarred

State blasted ahead of ruling on whether it had right to take custody

(Newser) - Taking young children away from their parents has harmful effects, say mothers from the polygamist sect in Texas, and numerous studies agree—which is why federal and state guidelines require a “reasonable effort” to keep children with their parents before removing them. Texas authorities don't appear to have done...

12 Children Returned to Sect Parents

3 families reunited; not allowed to return to polygamist ranch

(Newser) - Texas has agreed to return a dozen of the children in its custody to their parents, members of the polygamist sect FLDS, but the state is fighting to hang on to hundreds more, the San Antonio Express-News reports. The reunited families won't be allowed to return to the sect's Yearning...

Polygamy Kids Could Be Back Home in 10 Days

Texas must appeal surprise ruling or send children back

(Newser) - Yesterday's surprise court ruling in favor of a polygamous sect has Texas authorities scrambling, Time reports. An appeals judge ruled that the state had no right to seize children suspected of being sexually abused from the Yearning for Zion ranch. Officials now must appeal the ruling or return the children...

Texas Court: Return Kids to Polygamy Sect
 Texas Court: Return Kids
to Polygamy Sect 
UPDATED
May 22, 2008 3:27 PM CDT

Texas Court: Return Kids to Polygamy Sect

Appellate body finds no evidence more than 460 children were in danger

(Newser) - A Texas appeals court found today that authorities, acting on "no evidence," and supported only by a "general allegation" of impropriety, should not have removed more than 460 children from a polygamist compound, the Dallas Morning News reports. The panel also said a local court "abused...

10 of Sect's 'Child Brides' Are Adults

But state may return to ranch to look for more children

(Newser) - Texas authorities have admitted that 10 of the "children" taken into custody from the Eldorado polygamist sect are actually adults—including one who is 27—and more could be reclassified this week, reports the Houston Chronicle. This development could weaken the Child Protective Services' case that the sect was...

Sect Parents Slam 'Vague' Custody Plans

Decry persecution, say Texas offering no clear way to reclaim kids

(Newser) - Hearings for the biggest child custody case in American history began yesterday and members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints weren't happy with proceedings, the AP reports. Parents of the more than 460 children in state custody complained that the court's recommendations were too generalized and...

Hard Choice for Polygamy Moms: Your Cult or Your Kids

Women may have to leave ranch

(Newser) - Mothers from the Yearning for Zion polygamist compound in Texas may have to distance themselves from their religion—or face not getting their children back, the Dallas Morning News reports. Texas officials have prepared a list of goals the women need to work toward to prove they can provide a...

Polygamist 'Teen' Gives Birth
 Polygamist 'Teen' Gives Birth 
May 13, 2008 4:09 AM CDT

Polygamist 'Teen' Gives Birth

Sect member has her third child in state custody

(Newser) - Another young woman taken from a Texas polygamist sect has given birth while in state custody. The mom has claimed to be 22 years old, but state officials say she is only 17, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

Sect Elder Blasts 'Terrorist' Raid

'It does not require a foreign country to commit terrorist acts on American soil,' letter to Bush reads

(Newser) - An elder of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints condemned the raid against a sect compound in Texas last month as a “terrorist act” in a letter to President Bush, CNN reports. Members of the FLDS have complained of the treatment of the families whose...

Polygamy Hubby Tallies 21 Wives
 Polygamy Hubby Tallies 21 Wives
May 6, 2008 6:18 AM CDT

Polygamy Hubby Tallies 21 Wives

And 36 children

(Newser) - A husband in the Texas polygamist ranch where children were seized to protect them from suspected child abuse has 36 kids and 21 wives—with the youngest 43 years his junior, reports CNN. The information on the 67-year-old member—whose youngest child is 6 months old—is included on a...

Many Kids From Sect Had Broken Bones

State also says boys may have been sexually abused

(Newser) - Of 463 children seized from a Texas polygamist compound, 41 show evidence of broken bones at a young age, the Dallas Morning News reports. "Several of these fractures have been found in very young children," said the head of Child Protective Services, which also said it's looking into...

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