Sects Attorney, State Agree to Eldorado Probe Details A Special Master Will Be Appointed and All Seized Items from the Yearning for Zion Ranch Will Be Sealed, by Lisa Sandberg and Gary Scharrer, Houston Chronicle, April 9, 2008

ABOUT THE SECT

About the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sect:

• Since the early 20th century, the home base of the church has been the twin border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. It also has enclaves in Colorado, South Dakota, Texas and British Columbia.

• Members believe plural marriage brings exaltation in heaven. The doctrine is tied to the early teachings of Joseph Smith, who founded the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 and began teaching polygamy in 1843. He reportedly married more than 30 women.

• The Mormon church abandoned polygamy as a condition of Utah statehood in 1890.

• There are an estimated 40,000 fundamentalists practicing polygamy across the Intermountain West in organized churches and independently. FLDS, the largest-known polygamous sect, has membership estimated at 6,000 based on the census and incorporated as a church in the 1940s.

• Members are discouraged from contact with outsiders and appear caught between two centuries. Women wear prairie-style clothing and men are covered from ankle to wrist, but families have minivans and cell phones.

• The FLDS marriages are arranged by the church president, who is also described as a prophet.

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	Sect's Attorney, State Agree to Eldorado Probe Details A Special Master Will Be Appointed and All Seized Items from the Yearning for Zion Ranch Will Be Sealed By Lisa Sandberg and Gary Scharrer Houston Chronicle April 9, 2008 http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5688012.html SAN ANGELO — An attorney for a polygamist sect conceded in court today that the state has an interest in searching its compound because of allegations of physical and sexual abuse. San Antonio attorney Gerald H. Goldstein argued that the search should be conducted in a way that doesn't denigrate the religious beliefs of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. State District Judge Barbara Walther — who earlier granted the search warrant and agreed to allow the state to take temporary custody of 416 children — encouraged lawyers for the church and the government at today's hearing to come to agreement on several issues involving the way the search is conducted. ABOUT THE SECT About the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sect: • Since the early 20th century, the home base of the church has been the twin border towns of Colorado City, Ariz., and Hildale, Utah. It also has enclaves in Colorado, South Dakota, Texas and British Columbia. • Members believe plural marriage brings exaltation in heaven. The doctrine is tied to the early teachings of Joseph Smith, who founded the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 and began teaching polygamy in 1843. He reportedly married more than 30 women. • The Mormon church abandoned polygamy as a condition of Utah statehood in 1890. • There are an estimated 40,000 fundamentalists practicing polygamy across the Intermountain West in organized churches and independently. FLDS, the largest-known polygamous sect, has membership estimated at 6,000 based on the census and incorporated as a church in the 1940s. • Members are discouraged from contact with outsiders and appear caught between two centuries. Women wear prairie-style clothing and men are covered from ankle to wrist, but families have minivans and cell phones. • The FLDS marriages are arranged by the church president, who is also described as a prophet. According to the Associated Press, Texas authorities said on Wednesday that they have completed their search of the West Texas compound. The lawyers agreed to set up a procedure to protect confidential matters involving attorney-client privilege before the state examines computer records and other items seized during the search. A special master will be appointed and all seized items will be sealed. The hearing was the latest turn in a case in which the state has taken temporary custody of 416 children from the compound, where authorities alleged in an affidavit filed in court that underage girls were routinely sexually abused and boys were groomed to perpetuate the practice. The state last week began a raid that authorities said was sparked by furtive phone calls from a 16-year-old girl, who told a counselor at a family violence shelter that she had been repeatedly beaten and raped by her older, "spiritual" husband. After entering the Yearning for Zion Ranch, a community being built by the church a few miles from the small town of Eldorado in Schleicher County, authorities found minor girls who were pregnant or caring for babies — enough of them to justify taking all the compound's children into state custody, the affidavit states. "There is a pervasive pattern and practice of indoctrinating and grooming minor female children to accept spiritual marriages to adult male members of the YFZ Ranch resulting in them being sexually abused," according to the sworn statement by Child Protective Services investigator Lynn McFadden. "Similarly, minor boys residing on the YFZ Ranch after they become adults are spiritually married to minor female children and engage in sexual relationships with them," the affidavit states. The raid came more than four years after members of the church, long based on the Arizona-Utah border, acquired the ranch and began to build the community. The sect was led by the now-imprisoned Warren Jeffs and believes in plural, arranged marriages, often between teen girls and older men. The church's refusal to give up polygamy led it to break from mainstream Mormonism a century ago. Marleigh Meisner, a CPS spokeswoman, said she believed all children at the compound have been accounted for, except for the 16-year-old girl whose call prompted the raid. Meisner said authorities fear for her safety. Contact: lsandberg@express-news.net, gscharrer@express-news.net.

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