Texas Poligamy Bust

[Hotplant]

..What are your thoughts on this developing story?

I am quite frankly happy it has been done and will hopefully put these wackos to rest.

News conference on now as I type.

Disgusting!!

14 year olds forced to "consumate" in the Temple!!

[eternal light]

..What are your thoughts on this developing story?

I am quite frankly happy it has been done and will hopefully put these wackos to rest.

News conference on now as I type.

Disgusting!!

14 year olds forced to "consumate" in the Temple!!

Generally it's best not to force 14 year olds to do anything except maybe help with the dishes and go to school.

[Hotplant]

What's to say is, these polygamy ( sorry misspelled in the thread) groups need to be put down for good.

Women have no rights whatsoever, except to reproduce, and be available for sex for these aging creeps!

Kudos to TEXAS. So far in Utah and Arizona, no such luck. The towns are set up so the cops and all are involved.

Maybe the kids can be reprogrammed to actually get to play with crayons, like they should.

And get the f out of those Little House On The Praire dresses.

[eternal light]

What's to say is, these polygamy ( sorry misspelled in the thread) groups need to be put down for good.

Women have no rights whatsoever, except to reproduce, and be available for sex for these aging creeps!

Kudos to TEXAS. So far in Utah and Arizona, no such luck. The towns are set up so the cops and all are involved.

Except the feds finally got after Warren Jeffs, and he is well-known in Utah. As a result he will be serving two consecutive 5 years to life prison sentences. Another result is this current raid on the Texas compound that he created. He is apparently also facing charges in Arizona. People had complained about him for a long time.

As United States citizens, women in Arizona, Texas and Utah have federally protected civil rights, including the right to withhold consent.

In November, Jeffs was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison in Utah. He was convicted of being an accomplice to the rape of the 14-year-old, who wed her cousin in an arranged marriage in 2001.

Jeffs still faces trial on similar charges in Arizona, where he is jailed. He's accused of being an accomplice to incest and sexual conduct with a minor because of two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.

"The actions we've taken today have nothing to do with religion or lifestyle," said protective-services spokesman Darrell Azar. "The pure interest is in protecting children from abuse and neglect. That's what we have done."

Children removed from Jeffs' polygamist-sect compound in Texas

[Hotplant]

Except the feds finally got after Warren Jeffs; as a result he will be serving two consecutive 5 years to life prison sentences. Another result is this current raid on the Texas compound that he created. He is apparently also facing charges in Arizona. People had complained about him for a long time.

As United States citizens, women in Arizona, Texas and Utah have federally protected civil rights, including the right to withhold consent.

if only they knew..

They are taught they will burn in hell if they aren't "being sweet" they call it, in other words submissive and obedient.

The Warren Jeffs bust was just the begining. And thank Gawd, Utah did get him.

[eternal light]

if only they knew..

They are taught they will burn in hell if they aren't "being sweet" they call it, in other words submissive and obedient.

The Warren Jeffs bust was just the begining. And thank Gawd, Utah did get him.

Finally; it's a relief for those who are held captive in isolation and silence. Warren Jeffs is quite a character. I almost feel sorry for the guy because he seems to really believe he was doing the right thing; sad.

Other records show that while incarcerated, Jeffs tried to commit suicide by banging his head against the walls and trying to hang himself.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Jeffs

[8LadyPlant8]

Yeah the [[16]] year old girl who called in said that her [[49]] year old spiritual husband would beat her and force her to have sex with him, and at the end of the converstaion with the officer, she started crying and said, "everything is fine, i was just kidding about all of it. None of it is true, so forget it happened". She is pregnant and already has an 8 month old baby! And he beats her! She told the athorities his name, and they checked up on it but it turned out to be some guy in arizona that is on probation. He has to ask for permission to leave the state, and checks in with his probation officer frequently, so police think whoever told the girl what her husbands name was had lied, or the girl just made it up.

In another report, they said that when they took the children and mothers, they gave them crayons and paper.(just to kill time or whatever) The children (and some young mothers) had no idea what a crayola even was.

Its so sad to see these people. Imagine being brought up to think the world was out to get you. Imagine being discovered, only to find that everything you beleived was a lie.

I remember going to colorado city once, and seing all the kids just sitting around. It was a beautiful summer monday, and these kids were just sitting around in their sunday best. I remember seeing a lady with weird hair bring a plate of something out to her husband with this really weird sad stepford smile on.

I honestly who felt the need to start this. To do this to people.

[The Rover]

IF only they'd taken 500 "boys" from Catholic schools in years past, how many could have avoided molestation.....

[SunChild]

Yeah the [[16]] year old girl who called in said that her [[49]] year old spiritual husband would beat her and force her to have sex with him, and at the end of the converstaion with the officer, she started crying and said, "everything is fine, i was just kidding about all of it. None of it is true, so forget it happened". She is pregnant and already has an 8 month old baby! And he beats her! She told the athorities his name, and they checked up on it but it turned out to be some guy in arizona that is on probation. He has to ask for permission to leave the state, and checks in with his probation officer frequently, so police think whoever told the girl what her husbands name was had lied, or the girl just made it up.

In another report, they said that when they took the children and mothers, they gave them crayons and paper.(just to kill time or whatever) The children (and some young mothers) had no idea what a crayola even was.

Its so sad to see these people. Imagine being brought up to think the world was out to get you. Imagine being discovered, only to find that everything you beleived was a lie.

I remember going to colorado city once, and seing all the kids just sitting around. It was a beautiful summer monday, and these kids were just sitting around in their sunday best. I remember seeing a lady with weird hair bring a plate of something out to her husband with this really weird sad stepford smile on.

I honestly who felt the need to start this. To do this to people.

What's even sadder is being brought up to think they weren't being "gotten" by the world created by these self-serving cretinous bastards.

Geld' em, I say. That's about the only thing that might stop people who have convinced themselves rape and enslavement of young girls is their god-given right.

IF only they'd taken 500 "boys" from Catholic schools in years past, how many could have avoided molestation.....

For real.

Edited for typos.

[DRUNK]

I am glad people are outraged by this!

This is nearly what Islam is like, but a kinder, gentler version.

[eternal light]

Texas was careful about the raid this time because of what they learned from their experience in Waco.

ELDORADO, Texas - It was no secret that a polygamist sect that built a compound in the West Texas desert believed in marrying off underage girls to older men. And the sheriff had an informant for four years who was feeding him information about life inside the sect.

But authorities say their hands were tied until last week, when they finally obtained the legal grounds to move against the group.

The trigger for the raid was a hushed phone call from a terrified 16-year-old girl to a family-violence shelter who accused her 50-year-old husband of beating and raping her.

Texas authorities defend polygamous sect raid.

[~Bonnie~]

Seems there are more of these compounds, i remember hearing they exist in North or South Dakota (forget which) and Colorado somewhere. I knew "San Antonio" was bad news....glad i never moved there (unrelated issue).

Thoughts? Slavery and brainwashing, what's to say?

Really?! I've lived here most of my life and have never heard anything about this! Perhaps I shall do some googling....

[Lake of Shadows]

IF only they'd taken 500 "boys" from Catholic schools in years past, how many could have avoided molestation.....

Those priests shouldn't have ever touche'd those boys in the first place...

~~~~~~~~

As for the sect compound that got raided... I approve... highly. Those kids, and perhaps most or all of the adult women, are going to have some major readjusting to do. I hope it goes okay for them.

I've heard of these sects, often with essentially their own town, being located in Texas, Arizona, Nevada. and Utah... never heard of them being in the Dakotas.

[eternal light]

Warren Jeffs again.

03/09/2006

Texas Newspaper: Polygamist Enclave Found In South Dakota

A Texas newspaper is reporting that South Dakota is home to a group of polygamists led by a fugitive.

The discovery of the 100-acre site south of Custer at Pringle was reported by The Eldorado Success.

The paper says the operation is connected to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, led by Warren Jeffs.

He's considered a prophet by his followers and is wanted on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Jeffs is accused of arranging a plural marriage between a 16-year-old girl and an older man.

The Success says the $135,000 purchase of the South Dakota property in 2003 was fronted by a man with ties to the polygamist group.

Texas Newspaper: Polygamist Enclave Found In South Dakota

[~Bonnie~]

03/09/2006

Texas Newspaper: Polygamist Enclave Found In South Dakota

A Texas newspaper is reporting that South Dakota is home to a group of polygamists led by a fugitive.

The discovery of the 100-acre site south of Custer at Pringle was reported by The Eldorado Success.

The paper says the operation is connected to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, led by Warren Jeffs.

He's considered a prophet by his followers and is wanted on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Jeffs is accused of arranging a plural marriage between a 16-year-old girl and an older man.

The Success says the $135,000 purchase of the South Dakota property in 2003 was fronted by a man with ties to the polygamist group.

Warren Jeffs again.

Wow. I had never heard about that. My bad. But then again...

in the middle of nowhere...

[eternal light]

Courtesy of www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/cac/jeffs_ws

Warren Jeffs is the leader of a polygamous sect known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and is considered a "prophet" by his estimated 10,000 followers. Jeffs has ties to Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and British Columbia. Jeffs may be in the Leesburg, Florida, area. Additionally, Jeffs may travel with a number of loyal and armed bodyguards.

[TRB]

Pringle is a real town...though I did see something interesting southwest of it on Google Earth.

[~Bonnie~]

Pringle is a real town...though I did see something interesting southwest of it on Google Earth.

Didn't say it wasn't....but it's pretty miniscule.

[TRB]

I know...it just made it look as though Pringle itself is the compound - context thing. The resolution wasn't good enough for me to ascertain what the buildings were when viewing the site southwest of Pringle, though one possibly looked like it could be a church or "temple" of some kind - difficult to tell, again.

[eternal light]

On January 10, 2004, the church suffered major upheaval when Dan Barlow, the mayor of Colorado City, and about 20 men were excommunicated from the church and stripped of their wives and children (who would be reassigned to other men), and the right to live in the town. As a result, a few teenage women reportedly fled the towns with the aid of anti-polygamy advocates. Two of the young women, Fawn Broadbent and Fawn Holm, soon found themselves in a broadly publicized dispute over their freedom and custody. They fled state custody together on February 15, and have been on the run in multiple states since.

Allegations of welfare fraud, tax fraud, incest, statutory rape, physical, emotional and psychological abuse--hidden by a veil of secrecy, isolation, and deprivation--in the FLDS dominated communities have been widely reported in 2004 throughout United States media. It has been estimated that 33% of the men, women and children in the group are receiving state and federal aid, though 0% unemployment was reported in the 2000 census.

Allegations also have been made that in the four and a half years ending in 2004, the FLDS has excommunicated over 400 teenaged boys, some as young as 13, for seemingly trivial offenses. Former members claim that the purpose of these excommunciations is that in a polygamous society these young men present competition to the older men for multiple wives, and that the boys must go. Six such teenaged boys have filed a conspiracy lawsuit against Jeffs and Sam Barlow, a former Mohave County deputy sheriff and close associate of Jeffs, for a "systematic excommunication" of young men to reduce competition for wives.

www.economicexpert.com/a/Fundamentalist:Church:of:Jesus:Christ:of:Latter:Day:Saints

[wanna be drummer]

IF only they'd taken 500 "boys" from Catholic schools in years past, how many could have avoided molestation.....

For once, I'm gonna just keep my mouth shut...

[2bitnogoodjive]

Saw the polygamist wives on Larry King last night. What happens to the kids??

The Texas Polygamy Mess: What Will They Do With 416 Children?

The forced removal of 416 children from a religious compound has set in motion a showdown between the state and a religious movement.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/82663/

[The Rover]

Maybe, Texas CPS (Child Protective Services) should premptively storm in and take ALL children from ALL parents that still allow -ANY- of their children to attend Catholic Churches, after claims of widespread sexual abuse in the Catholic church that have occured.

Using "Texas CPS" logic, children of parents, that know of the sexual abuse in the Catholic church, and even those that somehow do not know -- these children must be protected.....

In this case.... it would be the boys abuse, that then gets the entire familes' children removed until a judge can figure what to do with them . . . .

Or as they said in Germany, a few years ago..... THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS....

[eternal light]

By Emanuella Grinberg

Court TV

ST. GEORGE, Utah — A jury found polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs guilty Tuesday of forcing a 14-year-old to marry and have sex with her 19-year-old cousin against her will.

Jeffs, 51, was convicted of two counts of rape as an accomplice for his role in the arranged marriage of Elissa Wall and Allen Steed in 2001. He faces five years to life in prison on each count when he is sentenced Nov. 20.

Jeffs, the leader and "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), appeared calm and showed no reaction as the judge's clerk read the verdict. One of his followers in the back of the crowded St. George courtroom bowed his head and closed his eyes as the verdict was announced.

Jurors deliberated for just three hours before reaching a verdict after a panelist was dismissed and then replaced for undisclosed reasons. The original jury began deliberations Friday.

Washington County prosecutors alleged that Jeffs used his position of authority as spiritual head of the FLDS to "entice" Wall into going through with the marriage, despite her objections that she was too young.

Members of the FLDS believe that God speaks through the prophet, and reveals to him who should marry whom.

Members of the jury who spoke to the press after the verdict said they placed great credence in Wall's claim that she felt Jeffs "held the keys" to her salvation.

The verdict is a milestone for authorities in Utah and Arizona, who have already prosecuted several of his followers on lesser charges stemming from the marriages of underage girls. The lengthiest sentence netted in any of those cases was nine months.

In most of those cases, the alleged victims refused to testify against their husbands, making Wall's participation one of the most significant differences from previous prosecutions.

Jeffs is expected to stand trial in Arizona on similar charges related to Wall and two other victims. He also faces federal charges for fleeing prosecution for nearly a year when he was on the FBI's Most Wanted List.

Washington County prosecutor Brock Belnap praised Wall after the verdict was announced, calling her "a pioneer" for her courage to come forward.

"There always has to be someone who goes first," he said. "I hope that her example will shine a light of hope for others who might be in similar situations."

Elissa Wall, now 21, was married at age 14 to her older cousin. Speaking Tuesday, she said the trial "has not been about religion."

Despite her teenage experiences, Wall said Tuesday that she was not trying to attack the FLDS community as a whole by her allegations against Jeffs.

"I have very tender feelings for the FLDS people," said Wall, whose mother and siblings are still members of the sect. "This trial has not been about religion or a vendetta. It simply has been about child abuse."

But anti-polygamy activists and former FLDS members who paid close attention to the trial said they were skeptical that the verdict would have a significant impact on FLDS practices.

Former member Richard Holm, whom Jeffs excommunicated in 2003, said outside the courthouse that the leader's conviction could give him the air of a martyr.

"I think it will drive them underground further, but otherwise it will be business as usual," Holm said of the FLDS community, which is based in the border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. "He will always be in the background, but I think there is already a regime in place to continue his legacy."

Holm is one of many men Jeffs excommunicated after assuming leadership of the FLDS in 2002 after the death of his father, the prophet Rulon Jeffs. Jeffs' critics claim the mass exile is part of an effort to keep polygamy alive by purging the community of males.

"If Warren Jeffs even spent one day in jail for all the people he's hurt, it would be several dozen years," said Holm, who left behind a wife and children. "He was portrayed as a kind man and a religious leader. That's nonsense. He's left a trail of blood and bones."

During the week-long trial, prosecutors fended off allegations from Jeffs' lawyers that the case was a thinly veiled attempt to persecute him for the beliefs of his controversial religion, which broke from the mainstream Mormon church in the 1890s over the issue of polygamy.

But religious doctrine emerged as a prominent theme throughout testimony, as lawyers for Jeffs attempted to cast him as a marriage counselor simply preaching the same beliefs as his predecessors, including Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion.

Prosecutor Brock Belnap praised the victim in the case, saying he hoped she would be an example for other women.

The five men and three women on the panel listened to several hours' of FLDS sermons regarding the role of women in a "celestial marriage," where the husband is the "priesthood head" who receives the word of God and passes it on to his family.

The jurors heard conflicting interpretations of those doctrines from Wall and her two sisters, who have since left the FLDS, and nine of Jeffs' followers, who testified for the defense and gave a rare glimpse into the lives of current FLDS members.

Wall and her two sisters, the only witnesses for the prosecution, testified that a woman was expected to follow her husband "as if led by a hair" and that her relationship to him was based on unquestioning subservience.

But Jeffs' followers testified that a woman did not have to "follow her husband to hell," and that it was a woman's choice when to have sex.

The jurors also heard conflicting accounts from Wall, now 21, and Steed, who is 26, on whether a rape had actually occurred.

Less than three weeks after Jeffs married them in a legally nonbinding ceremony in a Nevada hotel, Wall testified that Steed forced himself on her while she sobbed.

When she reported the rape to Jeffs, according to Wall, the prophet told her to go home and "repent" and give herself "mind, body and soul" to her husband.

Steed, a truck driver who has not remarried since Wall left the FLDS community in 2004 with another man, testified for the defense that he never raped his wife. He claimed, in fact, that his wife initiated their first sexual encounter, and that the use of force is forbidden in the FLDS. Steed has not been charged.

Ultimately, jurors said they found Wall's account more credible and dismissed the suggestion from defense lawyers that she was motivated by the prospect of payoff in a civil suit.

Wall's attorneys, who sat with her in the courtroom throughout the trial, have proposed a settlement in her suit against Jeffs and the United Effort Plan, the trust that controls the holdings for the FLDS. Under the proposed terms, the UEP would hand over several plots of land to Wall and establish a $1 million trust fund that would be administered by her lawyers to assist other women who leave the FLDS.

Speaking after the verdict Tuesday, jurors said that the youth of the victim and Jeffs' position of authority weighed heavily on their decision to convict him.

"He was the only one who could have released her," said one of the jurors, Benjamin Coulter, 26. "He ultimately held all the keys to say, 'You don't have to be in this marriage and there won't be any consequences.'"

The jurors said they began deliberations with three panelists leaning toward acquitting Jeffs entirely. But those initial dissenters said a close reading of the elements necessary to convict on accomplice to rape guided them to their final decision.

Under Utah law, 14 is the age of consent. But a jury can find lack of consent if the alleged victim was "enticed" into doing something she would not have normally done by a person who occupied a special position of trust.

"Basically, she didn't have to say anything for rape to occur," said juror Jerry Munk, 36. "Mr. Jeffs, we all had the opinion, was pretty much her only ticket for getting out of the marriage."

Polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs convicted of rape as accomplice for role in teen's marriage

[Nathan]

The FLDS needs to go. In a situation like this, IMO, your "rights" no longer matter. When they got wind of the polygamy (which is outlawed in the US, in case anyone was wondering) is when they should have plowed in. Not later. They shouldn't have waited for this 16-year-old girl. And quite frankly, if she was lying, then I hold some respect for her, because her lie will (hopefully) bring the end of a very evil organization. Quite rarely, a lie is a good thing. This could very well be one of those times. She should be applauded if she lied; of course, if she's telling the truth, I hope they kill the sick son-of-a-bitch, and I hope she can readjust, fall in love with a much better person, and lead a better life then what she had.

And Warren Jeffs? When dogs do things outside a norm (like getting a mean, violent streak and attacking people), we put them down. Warren is no better then one of those dogs. Screw a prison sentence. Try him as the Constitution says we should, then follow that up by putting him down. Personally, I don't want my tax-money going towards his prison-life. I'll gladly pay to see him put down, though. He is no messiah, and Jesus did NOT appoint him. In fact, I think if Jesus were here today, he'd publicly condemn Warren and all his minions to Hell, and would also publicly spearhead the effort to (re)introduce these women and children to a normal society where (GASP!) a woman is running for President, polygamy is against the law, and women have all the same rights as men.

Quite honestly, part of me has always wondered how Jesus would react if he came back today and saw things like the FLDS and the Westboro Baptist Church and such. And I can only assume he's rolling in his grave.

These people aren't Christian... not by any stretch of the imagination.