> 52 girls taken from polygamous sect in Texas
> By Bill Hanna . McClatchy Newspapers . April 4, 2008
>
> FORT WORTH, Texas -- A total of 52 girls were removed today from a
> polygamous sect's compound near Eldorado in Schleicher County, Texas, --
> 18 of them legally, while the rest were being questioned this afternoon
by
> Child Protective Services caseworkers.
>
>
> All the children have been confirmed to be girls ranging from 6 months
to
> 17 years old, according to CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins.
>
> Crimmins said all the children will be placed in foster homes.
>
> "We're *****sing their needs and making arrangements for their
placement,"
> Crimmins said. "The caseworkers need to have an op****tunity to *****s
> their needs and try to find out what the appropriate action will be."
>
> The children were taken in two small buses to an undisclosed location in
> San Angelo, 45 miles north of the compound.
>
> No arrests have been made.
>
> Schleicher County Justice of the Peace James Doyle, who arraigns
suspects
> brought to the Schleicher County Jail, said no one has been brought into
> the jail.
>
> "We don't know anything," Doyle said.
>
> Randy Mankin, editor of the Eldorado Success, said the roadblocks remain
> on the roads leading to the ranch.
>
> Surveillance of the YFZ Ranch, which is owned by the Fundamentalist
Church
> of Latter Day Saints and led by Warren Jeffs, began Thursday afternoon
and
> continued throughout the night, Texas Department of Public Safety
> spokesman Tom Vinger said.
>
> Around midnight, Child Protective Services investigators entered the
> compound, located about 45 miles south of San Angelo, and began
> questioning members of the sect.
>
> This afternoon, a bus left the compound with children in it.
>
> Vinger described the sect followers as "very cooperative" and that the
> group is "providing all of the people we need to talk to" about the
> complaint.
>
> Vinger said authorities have implemented flight restrictions to prevent
> anyone from flying over the compound and said the Texas Rangers are also
> involved.
>
> The sect bought the 1,691-acre ranch in 2003.
>
> The group began building a temple and other buildings on the remote
> ranchland. Jeffs, who was considered their prophet, was arrested near
Las
> Vegas in 2006 and was sentenced to consecutive life sentences in
November
> in Utah for his role in arranging the marriage of teenage cousins. He
also
> faces federal charges in Arizona and Utah.
>
>
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