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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Yearning for Zion ranch

Yearning for Zion ranch stories: 28 news summaries

1 - 20 of 28 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

Polygamist Sect Member Guilty of Sex Assault

Texas court convicts FLDS man married
to underage girl

(AP) - 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... More »

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.... More »

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,... More »





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... More »

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Texas polygamy Warren Jeffs FLDS Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Yearning for Zion ranch polygamists

update

 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... More »

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Texas polygamy Warren Jeffs FLDS Child Protective Services Yearning for Zion ranch Barbara Walther Texas Supreme Court

 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... More »

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parenting Texas polygamy social services child custody FLDS Yearning for Zion ranch polygamists

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... More »

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... More »

UPDATED

 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... More »

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... More »

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... More »

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Texas polygamy custody Mormonism child custody FLDS Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Yearning for Zion ranch polygamists

(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... More »

 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. More »

 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... More »

(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... More »

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rape child abuse polygamy Warren Jeffs child rape Yearning for Zion ranch Eldorado

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... More »

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Texas child abuse polygamy Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Yearning for Zion ranch Eldorado

Half of Sect's Teens Have Been Pregnant

Last of kids involved in polygamist case bused to foster homes 

(Newser) - Of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 taken from a polygamist sect in Texas, 31 have had children or are pregnant, the Houston Chronicle reports. Officials announced that the last of the 463 minors taken from the El Dorado ranch had been bused to foster homes after... More »

analysis

 Sect Style: Flamboyant Modesty

Women's uber-modest fashion clearly sets polygamists apart

(Newser) - The women’s clothes from the Texas polygamist compound call to mind both Little House on the Prairie and prison garb. Yet there’s something elaborate, or even flamboyant, in the carefully crafted styles that set these women so distinctly at odds with modern culture, writes Robin Givhan in the ... More »

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fashion polygamy fundamentalism Mormon Mormonism style child custody Yearning for Zion ranch

Sect Children Slowly Meet Outside World

Care workers advised to keep them away from TV—and red clothes

(Newser) - The last of the 462 children removed from the compound of a polygamous sect have been placed in foster care in 16 locations around Texas, the Houston Chronicle reports. The caregivers have been given lengthy instructions on how to treat the children, including keeping them away from TV, radio, and... More »

25 Moms ID'd as Minors in Polygamy Probe

Families separated as probe into rogue Mormon sect continues

(Newser) - Texas authorities have identified 25 more mothers from a polygamist ranch as underage girls, bringing the number of juveniles in custody to 460. The girls had initially claimed to be adults, Reuters reports. Officials are keeping hundreds of women and children from the polygamist compound in temporary custody in a... More »

1 - 20 of 28 Stories | 1 2 Next >>