Polygamy in Eldorado

Even for those women who escape the forced marriages and controlling patriarchy of polygamous sects like the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, life isn’t easy. Many turn to drugs and alcohol to escape the mental burden, CNN reports. And some never leave because they’re programmed to think “it's not only physically dangerous … you're also risking your soul.” More »

Lawyers for the state of Texas told a chaotic, objection-filled hearing today they would press for psychiatric evaluations and genetic testing of all members of a polygamist sect, the New York Times reports. On the first day of a custody hearing to determine the fate of the sect's 416 children, the state said it also plans to relocate the youths to another part of Texas for the duration of the trial. More »

Texas family-services officials today defended their decision to separate the mothers and children removed from a polygamous Mormon sect last week as the only way to get at the truth about alleged child abuse, the Houston Chronicle reports. Fifty-seven of the 139 mothers were forced to leave the group of children staying at the San Angelo Coliseum, and most returned to the sect’s Eldorado ranch. More »

Nearly 140 women from a polygamist sect returned home today as officials moved their kids to a new shelter, the AP reports. The mothers had joined 416 children who were seized by Texas troopers 2 weeks ago and taken to a historic fort. Today officials moved the kids to a sports center in San Angelo, Texas after the women complained of poor living conditions. More »

Over 400 children seized from a polygamist sect are being bused to a more "suitable" location from their current West Texas housing, a state official tells the Houston Chronicle . Women inside Fort Concho complained over the weekend of cramped conditions at the temporary shelter. The state plans to ask a court Thursday for custody of the children. More »

Mothers from a polygamist Texas sect are appealing to the governor to investigate the welfare of their children in state custody, AP reports. Three moms sent a letter claiming that several of the 416 kids seized in a raid on their compound because of suspected child abuse have been hospitalized, and that state custody is "traumatizing" them. More »

Warren Jeffs' hand-picked, devoted settlers may refuse to testify against his polygamist compound in Texas, officials fear—making it tough to win cases of suspected child abuse. "All these girls are taught from the cradle not to trust anybody from the outside—especially the government," Utah's attorney general said. "We're the beast. We're the devil." More »

Texas Rangers today questioned a man suspected of raping a girl at an Eldorado polygamist ranch, but let him go, CNN reports. Dale Barlow, 50, voluntarily met the Rangers in Utah, saying he is innocent of the charge that sparked a raid at the compound last week. "The Texas Rangers met with him," said the director of an Arizona probation office. "He was allowed to go, and no arrest was made." More »

Experts are debating whether the polygamist sect raided in Texas last week is a cult. Meanwhile, LiveScience has cooked up a list of bona fide cults—the top 10 craziest of them all: Raëlians: Followers believe that UFOs spawned most religions and cloning can lead to reincarnation. More »

Law enforcement authorities yesterday released dramatic details of the police raid that rescued children suspected of abuse at a polygamist ranch—and countered complaints that the action was too late. Some 60 men surrounded the ranch temple, weeping and praying, in the last day of the operation that seized 416 children—but no one violently opposed the officers, said a Texas Rangers captain. More »

While much of the media is calling the polygamous group raided in Texas a “sect,” some experts say it’s better defined as a cult, LiveScience reports. One scientist points out that the word “cult” is often avoided in academia for its negative connotations. But “if you've got a group that's abusing hundreds and hundreds of women and children,” says a sociologist, “let's call it what it is.” More »

Members of a polygamous cult had sex with underage girls inside the group's temple immediately after "spiritual weddings," according to court documents. Investigators found the bed, described by a tipster, in the temple of the Texas ranch. Men had sex with "brides" as young as 13, reports CNN. Police removed 416 children—including several pregnant girls—after a plea for help last week from a 16-year-old girl who called a hotline. More »

Young girls at a polygamous compound were readied for "spiritual marriages" to much older men as soon as they hit puberty, the AP reports. Papers submitted to a Texas court detail a "pattern of abuse" at the ranch, where young boys were forced to marry underage girls and girls in their early teens were required to bear children. More »

Texas officials have removed 534 people and arrested one in an ongoing raid of a polygamist ranch near Eldorado, the San Angelo Standard-Times reports. But the man they collared is only charged with obstructing the 4-day raid, not committing the rape that sparked it. Meanwhile, at a nearby historical fort, child protection officers continued to interview the 401 kids and 133 women bussed out of the compound since Friday. More »

Officials are still searching for the 16-year old girl whose abuse complaint set off the raid of a polygamist compound in Eldorado, Texas, the Houston Chronicle reports. Over 200 women and children were bussed out of the facility for questioning; the girl, who claimed to have a baby with the Mormon sect's 50-year old leader, may be among them. More »

Though "preparing for the worst," a SWAT team peacefully entered a polygamous sect's Texas compound after a tense standoff, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. They met limited resistance from members of the Mormon fundamentalist sect, and were continuing to search this morning for a 16-year-old girl believed to have had the child of the group's 50-year-old leader. More »

State workers bused out dozens more women and children today from the Texas compound of a polygamous sect, CNN reports. Troopers and child protection officers have removed 183 people, 137 of them children, since sealing off the ranch Thursday night. Investigators are now interviewing the kids, most of them girls, at a nearby civic center about claims of physical and sexual abuse. More »

Texas authorities pulled 52 kids from the compound of a polygamous sect today after a girl said she was raped there, the Houston Chronicle reports. Eighteen of the children were bussed out by court order, based on claims of abuse or neglect, and put into temporary custody. State troopers are also seeking a suspect at the compound, which was founded by jailed polygamist Warren Jeffs. More »

Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs was convicted today on two counts of rape as an accomplice for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin. The jury reached a verdict just hours after one member was replaced for undisclosed reasons, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Jeffs faces 5 years to life in prison; no sentencing date has been set. More »

Polygamist Warren Jeffs was accused yesterday of ordering a 14-year-old girl to surrender to her older cousin in an arranged marriage. That amounts to rape as an accomplice, prosecutors charged in the first day of Jeffs' trial. Church members consider their leader “God on Earth" who could only be disobeyed at peril of their souls, testified the young woman, now 21. More »