Hundreds of children removed from controversial Texas ranch
Tuesday, 08 Apr 2008 11:33
Warren Jeffs was recently jailed for being an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year old girl
Texan authorities have removed more than 400 children and 130 women from a ranch belonging to a polygamist sect as part of child abuse inquiry.
Authorities moved into the compound on Friday after a teenage girl came forward claiming she had been abused at the Eldorado County ranch.
Reports claim that an undisclosed number of men were being held in the compound as police search the 1,700-acre site.
The ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway Mormon sect whose prophet Warren Jeffs, a self-confessed polygamist, was recently jailed for being an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year old girl married to her cousin.
It is still unclear whether the 16-year-old girl who sparked the search of the Texan ranch has been found.
She told police that she had been sexually and physically abused and had given birth at the age of 15 to a child by her 50-year-old husband.
No one is yet to be arrested on charges relating to child abuse at the compound, although authorities have confirmed one person has been detained for "interfering with the duties of a public servant".
The ranch has apparently been under continual surveillance since the controversial sect bought it five years ago.
Polygamy is illegal in the United States.