Warren Jeffs FLDS compound in Texas — LINKS ONLY. No discussion.

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Hearing includes photos of Warren Jeffs kissing 13-year-old
The comments came amid testimony and evidence that raised eyebrows in the small courtroom and will continue to be when testimony resumes Tuesday morning. Most shocking was the state's release of a picture from summer 2007 showing imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs, now 52, deeply kissing a then-12-year-old girl, the aunt of the infant born May 12 whose custody was the subject of the hearing.

Rulon Daniel Jessop, the girl's brother and the infant's father, said he sees nothing wrong with his children being in the same house with underage "sister wives" of much older men. "It seemed a little wild to me," Jessop testified, "but you see a lot more wild things driving down the streets of the city at night. I do not consider a girl kissing a man sexual abuse."

Jessop identified the girl, who is listed in FLDS bishop's records as being born July 3, 1994, and is shown in pictures dated July 27, 2006, as his sister.



http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/23/hearing-includes-photos-of-sect-leader-kissing/
 
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...gamists_25tex.ART.State.Edition2.467ff56.html

"Based on both the children's and women's repeated deceptions, lies, and misinformation, the trial court had no reliable evidence" on the identities of the children or their parents...... " "This comes as no surprise to Mary Mackert, a former FLDS member who, as a child in a polygamous family, was taught that her behavior could determine whether her father ended up in jail." "Her mother rehearsed lies with her children: When her father spent the night at his other wives' houses? "Daddy's a traveling salesman." Why didn't the family attend the mainstream Mormon church? "Daddy's a Catholic."

By the time Ms. Mackert, from Utah, was married herself at 17, to a 50-year-old lying was second nature. When her husband was in public with her, he would ask their children to "come to Grandpa." When Ms. Mackert took the rent check to the landlord, she referred to her husband as her father. "You didn't think of it as lying. It's your duty and your responsibility to protect those who are living the principle," Ms. Mackert said. "They're going to lie to protect their prophet, and the head of their family. They'll do anything under the banner of religion."
 
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=bfbc44ad-5a6d-4a15-91e3-cdd5f3603001
Daphne Bramham, Vancouver Sun: Friday, May 23, 2008

"Polygamy is illegal. Sex with children is illegal. Abuse of children is illegal.
Still, the Texas appeal court ruling this week suggests that the state is powerless to protect the more than 400 children who were seized in April from the closed compound of a polygamous, fundamentalist Mormon sect.The problem is that the child protection laws weren't written to hold a community such as this to account. But in a group such as this, the danger is pervasive, inherent and imminent but not urgent or immediate. The future of any baby born into the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is not bright."

"The United Nations has decried the practise of polygamy as antithetical to equality rights, human rights and the rights of the child."
 
VELEZ-MITCHELL: "The big concern I had when I heard about this district court decision saying these kids were in no immediate danger and that they should go back with their parents -- and we`re not talking about these kids specifically -- but in general, could there be retribution? I mean, all these people were presumably interviewed by child welfare officials. If the child welfare agency loses and these kids go back to the ranch -- and again, not talking about these kids who`ve been reunited with their families specifically, but the 400 kids -- if they go back to the ranch, could there be retribution against some of the older kids for talking and spilling their guts, or for the moms?

FLORA JESSOP, FORMER POLYGAMIST AND CHILD BRIDE: Oh, absolutely. There`s going to be plenty of retribution, especially if it is reported that any of these children have talked. The FLDS is very renowned with ex- members for punishing family members that are still on the inside. Many of the people that are speaking out right now are -- their family members are being threatened and punished for them speaking out. I`ve had a missing persons out on my mother for four years, and they`ve told me for the eight years that I`ve been fighting for these children that she is punished every day for what I do.
 
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/26/ng.01.html

"Yes, he is a member of this sect. You have to believe that he was involved intimately with the birthing of babies, no matter what the age of the women are. Yes, if there were teenage girls on this compound giving birth, he was there. He would know about it. And yes, we`re told, Texas rangers have begun their investigation into Dr. Barlow"

Jessop: "They don`t beat you so that the bruises show. That`s why -- one of the reasons why they bear the long dresses and cover their bodies. They beat you in places where the bruises aren`t going to be seen. They don`t touch your face. The emotional abuse, the psychological abuse, though, that`s the worst of it. You know, this isn`t a religion. This is a white supremacist cult. They teach these kids hate. They teach them violence. They teach them that everybody outside this group is disciples from Satan. These children are brought up in terror and horror."

"And if you have the audacity of getting pregnant when you`re -- in your wife training by your father, they`ll give you an abortion with no anesthesia as punishment because if you were faithful enough, then you`re not supposed to get pregnant. And so you`re being sinful if you have -- if you happen to get pregnant by your father."
 
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/22/ng.01.html
FLORA JESSOP, FORMER POLYGAMIST AND CHILD BRIDE: "But I think it`s important that people understand that this isn`t a community. A community suggests that it`s a place where you can drive in, drive on the streets. This is a compound. You can`t get into this compound, and the guys sit there and say, You have to bring your tanks back and your snipers back if you want to come in and check on these kids once they`re back in here."

GRACE: Flora, the reality is, while these judges are sitting up in their posh offices in the appeals division and they`re ruling that there are to be individual hearings for each and every child, the reality is that`s not the way the FLDS lives. They live communally. Children really aren`t even sure who their biological mom is. Explain that.

JESSOP: Well, the children are taken away from their biological parents at about 1 year of age and given to a -- they`re raised communally. In all of the paperwork from the FLDS, they refer to these women as caretakers, not as mothers. These kids don`t know who their parents are. And in many cases, they don`t know who their dads are.
 
GRACE: "Carolyn, when we`re talking about the "Bishop`s Papers" that were just released today, do you have any idea who the bishop may be?

CAROLYN JESSOP, AUTHOR OF "ESCAPE", FORMER WIFE OF YFZ LEADER MERRILL JESSOP: I imagine it would be Merrill, because he`s been in -- he`s been in charge of that compound for about -- around the last four years. So that would make him bishop. He only moved up to first councilor after Wendell was kicked out, the man with 20 something wives.

GRACE: And to Flora Jessop, I noticed in these bishop papers that were found hidden away in a secret safe, a lot of the ages on the young girls are blank. What do you make of it, Flora?

FLORA JESSOP, FMR. POLYGAMIST & CHILD BRIDE, EXEC. DIRECTOR OF THE CHILD PROTECTION PROJECT: That`s normal that they leave stuff blank like that. One of the things I found very telling about the bishop`s papers, though, was that there was none of Merrill`s family listed, none of Warren`s family listed, and yet there was a large majority of Warren`s wives around that compound. And numerous other families that we`ve seen and known to be on that compound were not in those papers. So that is not a complete list of the people on that were on that compound as well.

GRACE: Man, you know, Carolyn, if a list including 21 wives for one guy is not complete, I wonder how many more examples of that there may be. Carolyn, how much can we rely on all of this evidence?

C. JESSOP: Well, I think it`s some good evidence, but I think the really incriminating evidence is missing, just like what Flora brought out. It`s the first thing I noticed is that Merrill`s family was not on that list. And there were other substantial families not on that list. The other thing is that the list is outdated. Some of the children that were listed on that list as living in Colorado City, they`re in state custody. So there`s more children down there that -- on that list as saying that they don`t live there.
 
SewingDeb said:
Hearing includes photos of Warren Jeffs kissing 13-year-old
The comments came amid testimony and evidence that raised eyebrows in the small courtroom and will continue to be when testimony resumes Tuesday morning. Most shocking was the state's release of a picture from summer 2007 showing imprisoned sect leader Warren Jeffs, now 52, deeply kissing a then-12-year-old girl, the aunt of the infant born May 12 whose custody was the subject of the hearing.

Rulon Daniel Jessop, the girl's brother and the infant's father, said he sees nothing wrong with his children being in the same house with underage "sister wives" of much older men. "It seemed a little wild to me," Jessop testified, "but you see a lot more wild things driving down the streets of the city at night. I do not consider a girl kissing a man sexual abuse."

Jessop identified the girl, who is listed in FLDS bishop's records as being born July 3, 1994, and is shown in pictures dated July 27, 2006, as his sister.



http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/23/hearing-includes-photos-of-sect-leader-kissing/
Click to expand...

When I looked closely at the photos on the above site, I saw that one of the photos was captioned "Warren and Loretta, First Anniversary" and it was dated 2005. Doesn't that make the girl closer to 10 years old when married? Has anyone else noticed this? I posted about it on another thread.
 
http://origin.sltrib.com/ci_9404134

"The supreme court is giving attorneys for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA) a deadline of Thursday at 9 a.m. to respond to the state's broad appeal of that ruling. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services also filed a second petition Wednesday with the state supreme court seeking a stay and a ruling on an identical decision from the appeals court in favor of an additional three mothers. The court gave Legal Aid of Northwest Texas until Thursday morning to file an answer to that petition."
 
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700229807,00.html
"In its motion for an emergency stay, lawyers for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services repeat their arguments that it still has not identified the parents of the FLDS children in custody.

"Louisa Bradshaw identified her children and husband," agency attorney Michael Shulman said in the filing. "Gladys Mae Jessop identified her children but not her husband or the father of her children. Marie Steed identified her children but not her husband or the father of her children." "Texas child welfare lawyers say that establishing those family links is critical to determining whether a home is safe from sexual predators. Failure to grant a stay will mean that approximately five children in this case will be returned to alleged mothers without any male sexual perpetrators being identified."
 
Texas gets DNA from Jeffs on suspicion of sexual abuse

SAN ANGELO - Texas investigators collected DNA samples from jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, suspecting him of sexual assault of a child stemming from so-called "spiritual" marriages with girls as young as 12.

Jerry Strickland, a spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's Office, said the samples were taken Thursday at an Arizona jail where Jeffs awaits trial on charges of being an accomplice to incest and sexual conduct.

and

The samples were taken as part of an investigation into whether Jeffs sexually assaulted four girls at the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch near Eldorado in January 2004 and July 2006.

and

Investigators have wedding photos and church records indicating he had spiritual unions - marriages recognized by the sect but not legal marriages - with four girls ranging in age from 12 to 14, according to an affidavit filed by Denis Gilbert, an Arizona officer aiding Texas law enforcement. At least one girl conceived a child at 15, the affidavit says.

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2008/may/30/texas-takes-dna-from-sect-leader-jeffs/
 
Sheriff: Sect members will be charged

FORT WORTH, Texas - Even as children continue to stream back home to the Yearning for Zion Ranch near El Dorado, Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran predicted Tuesday that numerous criminal charges will eventually be returned against followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

"I believe when all of the criminal charges come forward it is going to be very hard to practice their beliefs within the state of Texas," Doran said. "I believe there are numerous criminal investigations going, and a number of charges will eventually come out of those investigations."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/04/20080604polyretreat04-on.html
 
There's only a little sign of life at the sect ranch
Trucks, gardens are idle with few FLDS residents

One of those girls is thought to be a 16-year-old whose separate release Tuesday came with extra conditions after her lawyer claimed the girl was a victim of sexual abuse.

The court order signed by state District Judge Barbara Walther allows the girl, a daughter of jailed FLDS prophet Warren Jeffs, to be reunited in a private Bexar County residence with her mother, Annette Jeffs.

Walther's order also stipulates she cannot reside outside of Bexar County; cannot have contact with her father, a convicted sex offender awaiting a second trial in Arizona; or another alleged perpetrator, a man in his late 30s whose relationship to the girl is not established in the court order.

Natalie Malonis, the girl's attorney, said she felt her client's safety would be jeopardized without the special protections.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5819810.html
 
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700232577,00.html
Jeffs' defense lawyers put the court on notice that they intend to fight to suppress "any and all evidence obtained from the raid and the search of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS) property in the state of Texas."

Jeffs' attorneys put the court on notice in a legal reply, complaining that they have been denied access to public records regarding calls claiming abuse in Arizona and Utah. The Arizona Attorney General's Office objected to their records request, saying that attorneys representing criminal defendants cannot make public records requests because they can obtain it through discovery.

In their reply, Wright and Piccarreta said they want to gather information on the hoax calls and "show that the raid and search of the FLDS property in Texas was illegal and the fruits thereof must be suppressed."
 
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700232582,00.html
Texas Gov. Rick Perry said he accepted personal blame if Texas "stepped across some legal line" in seizing the FLDS children. But he defended the state's action in comments to the Dallas Morning News. I still think that the state of Texas has an obligation to young women who are forced into marriage and underage sex — to protect them. That's my bottom line on this," he told the newspaper during a visit to France.

The governor said he hopes prosecutors "continue to send the message" to the FLDS Church that child sex abuse won't be tolerated. "If you don't want to be prosecuted for those activities, then maybe Texas is not the place you need to consider calling home," Perry said. "If responsibility needs to be taken for (appellate and Supreme Court decisions) saying that we stepped across some legal line, I'll certainly take that responsibility," the Texas governor said during a business conference in La Baule, France. "I am substantially less interested in these fine legal lines that we're discussing than I am about these children's welfare, that's where my focus is. That's where CPS' focus is."
 
The attorney for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said Tuesday that the polygamist sect intends to sue state and county officials over the April 3 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado.


and

Joe Spurlock, a Texas Wesleyan University law professor and former family court judge, said the Texas Family Code provides Child Protective Services with immunity from lawsuits even if the children are taken without a court order. In this case, where a court order was obtained, Spurlock said he didn't know how a lawsuit would succeed.

"Lawsuit? I don't think so," Spurlock said. "I think as long as the state took those kids under the reasonable belief that there was some type of abuse or neglect going on, they don't have a leg to stand on. Even in hindsight, as the Supreme Court said, you shouldn't have taken all of the kids, that doesn't mean there are grounds for a lawsuit unless you can prove they deliberately lied about the conditions on that ranch."


http://www.star-telegram.com/state_news/story/693313.html
 
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700233685,00.html


Law enforcement in Texas has been on alert since a Fundamentalist LDS Church-related Web site published Walther's home address and work and home telephone numbers. As for the threat to "pay Ms. Walther's home a visit," on the site www.flds.ws, Parker said the site is not sanctioned by the FLDS Church. The site is run by Bill Medvecky, a Fort Myers, Fla., man who has donated to the fund for captive FLDS children, Parker said.
Once Parker told church leaders that the post could be construed as a threat, they contacted Medvecky and had him remove the judge's address, he said. However, Walther's work and phone numbers are still listed on the Web site. The site calls Walther the "leader of the Gestapo," and includes a link to a petition to impeach the judge.
Medvecky doesn't see the harm in publishing Walther's address on the Internet. After all, it's in the phone book, he said. "They are not confrontational whatsoever. I am," Medvecky told the Deseret News. "They are not me, and they have nothing to do with the site. We support them 100 percent."
 
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