Polygamist Sect’s Mothers, Young Children to Be Separated

Saturday, April 19, 2008

This article on foxnews.com was provided by The Associated Press

SAN ANGELO, Texas —  Adult mothers who have been allowed to stay with their young children since theywere taken from a polygamous sect will be separated from them after DNA sampling is completed next week, a child welfare official said Saturday.

State District Judge Barbara Walther late Friday ordered that parents and children of the Yearning For Zion Ranch submit DNA samples to help sort out family relationships that have confounded authorities since 416 children were taken into state custody two weeks ago.

Sampling is to begin Monday and will probably take several days to complete, said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. Results could take more than a month.

Once sampling is complete, the agency will begin moving the children from the San Angelo coliseum and fairgrounds to other sites.

Child welfare officials allowed adult mothers with children ages 4 and younger to stay together when the state took custody of the rest of the children from the ranch. Now, only mothers younger than 18 will be allowed to remain with their children once the sampling is complete. The welfare agency will also try to keep siblings together, he said.

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Jury Finds Polygamous-Sect Leader Warren Jeffs Guilty on Sex Charges

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

ST. GEORGE, Utah —  A jury found polygamous-sect leader Warren Jeffs guilty Tuesday of being an accomplice to rape for performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin.Jeffs, the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since 2002, faced two counts of rape by accomplice in connection to the arranged marriage at a Caliente, Nev., motel room in 2001.

Jeffs, 51, wearing a suit with a blue striped tie, looked straight ahead with little reaction when the verdict was read.

The now 21-year-old woman testified during the trial that the couple were married for at least a month before they had intercourse, her husband telling her it was “time for you to be a wife and do your duty.”

“My entire body was shaking. I was so scared,” she testified. “He just laid me on the bed and had sex.”

Jeffs previously on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, is viewed by followers as a prophet who talks to God while ex-church members say he demands perfect obedience. Jeffs could get life in prison.

Authorities captured Jeffs in a 2006 traffic stop outside Las Vegas after he was on the run for 18 months.

The verdict was postponed earlier on Tuesday when Fifth District Judge James Shumate replaced a female juror with an alternate juror who had also watched the trial.

The jury deliberated about 16 hours over three days.

Jeffs succeeded his father in 2002 as president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Former members say he rules with an iron fist, demanding perfect obedience from followers and exercising the right to arrange marriages as well as break them up and assign new spouses.

The church has a large complex near the West Texas town of Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.