Eldorado, Texas case of FLDS Sect

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Michael
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Location: East Central District

Also 6 criminal charges have been filed

Postby Michael » Sun Aug 24, 2008 4:40 pm

by the District Attorney. One child brought back into foster care due to mother's actions.

MaggieC

Postby MaggieC » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:02 pm

Hi Michael,
Is this public record? What actions?
Maggie

Marina
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Postby Marina » Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:27 pm

Do a news search for "FLDS."

I am behind on posting the news alerts.

Marina
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Postby Marina » Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:13 pm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/18/pol ... cnn_latest

updated 8:05 p.m. EDT, Mon August 18, 2008

Mother mum in polygamy custody case

NEW: Mom of girl allegedly wed to Warren Jeffs refuses to answer questions

Texas wants girl back in foster care


SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- The mother of a girl allegedly given in marriage at age 12 to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs refused to answer questions Monday from attorneys for the state.


Warren Jeffs and four followers were indicted in Texas last month for sexual assault of a child.

The state wants to remove the girl, now 14, and an 11-year-old brother from the mother's care, saying she has refused to guarantee the girl won't have contact with men accused of being involved in underage marriages.

The girl's father allegedly blessed her marriage to Jeffs and the underage marriages of at least two sisters.

The hearing was initially delayed while lawyers in the girl's case and three others tried to negotiate settlements. Later, Texas Ranger Nick Hannah helped Child Protective Services introduce into record dozens of marriage records, photos and church records outlining family relationships that were seized from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.

The girl's mother refused to answer roughly 50 questions asked by attorneys for the child welfare agency, including what constituted abuse, the names of her children and her relationship with their father.

"I stand on the Fifth (Amendment)," she said repeatedly in a flat tone.

Her attorney, Gonzalo Rios, said Jessop, 55, was exercising her right against self-incrimination because of the continuing investigation.

In documents submitted with the state's custody petition, the 14-year-old girl is quoted as telling a caseworker that a young teenage girl marrying an older man "can't be a crime because Heavenly Father is the one that tells Warren when a girl is ready to get married."

Carolyn Jessop, now a best-selling author, testified about her relationship with the girl's father, from whom she ran away. She said the man harshly disciplined her son, who was 1 at the time, by alternately spanking him and putting his face under a running faucet until it turned blue.

Under cross-examination, Rios sought to discredit Carolyn Jessop, saying most incidents she described occurred two decades ago. He also criticized her for the amount of money she has earned from her book, "Escape," about her experience in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints community.

Child welfare authorities have been investigating the cases of 440 children since the Texas Supreme Court ordered that the children removed from the YFZ Ranch in April be returned to their parents. See a timeline »

The state has asked the court to dismiss cases involving 76 children, including nine who have turned 18 since the custody case began; the remaining cases are still under investigation.

Monday's hearing was the first Child Protective Services effort since the court ruling to retake custody of FLDS children. The high court said the agency overreached in sweeping all the FLDS children into state custody, noting it showed no more than a handful of teenage girls were abused or were at risk of abuse.

Willie Jessop, an FLDS spokesman, said nothing has happened to justify the children being removed again. None of the children the state wants back in foster care currently live at the ranch.

"They couldn't find (abuse) the first time it came up. What's changed?" he said.

Jessop also noted that the church made it clear it wouldn't sanction underage marriages and that doctrine has been in place for more than two years.

The FLDS believes polygamy brings glory in heaven. It is a breakaway sect of the mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.


Jeffs, already convicted as accomplice to rape in Utah and awaiting trial on similar charges in Arizona, was indicted along with four followers in Texas last month on charges of sexual assault of a child. One of the followers was also indicted on a bigamy charge.

A sixth man, Dr. Lloyd Hammon Barlow, was indicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse. Authorities are seeking custody of his two daughters, saying he didn't report the babies he delivered to underage girls and that he married a 16-year-old.

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Postby Marina » Mon Aug 25, 2008 5:50 pm

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700252061,00.html

Foster care for Jeffs' apparent child bride

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008 12:14 a.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — A 14-year-old girl believed to have been married to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs is back in foster care.
But her 11-year-old brother will remain with his mother, a judge here ruled.

"The court is concerned that the mother is unable to provide assurances she'd be able to protect the child in the future," Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther said while making her ruling Tuesday.

The decision to put the girl in state custody for a third time ended a contentious custody battle over allegations of underage marriages and accusations that Barbara Jessop was unable to protect her children from abuse in the Utah-based polygamous sect.

Three other families facing the threat of having their children put in foster care struck deals with Texas Child Protective Services shortly after Jessop lost custody of her daughter.

Texas child welfare authorities allege that at age 12, Jessop's daughter was married to Jeffs. Photos depicting Jeffs kissing the girl were entered into courtroom evidence.

Barbara Jessop, a wife of YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop, left the courthouse showing little emotion. FLDS member and spokesman Willie Jessop called the decision "barbaric."


Story continues below
"Who can tear families apart when there's clearly no evidence? They haven't had any evidence for years that there's been any marriages at all, let alone anything to justify what she's done," he said Tuesday. "It's barbaric."
Barbara Jessop's lawyer said he plans to appeal the judge's decision.

CPS claimed that Jessop was not doing anything to protect her children from men involved in underage marriages. Two of her husband's sons have been indicted on charges of sexual assault involving marriages to underage girls, and two daughters were married underage, CPS alleges in court documents.

"We need to take these children out of that environment and put them in a safer environment where they are safe from indoctrination," said CPS attorney Jeff Schmidt.

Jessop's lawyer, Gonzalo Rios, argued there was no evidence the girl was being abused since she had been returned to her mother.

"They're alleging things they didn't put us on notice about," Rios said. "It's fundamentally unfair."

CPS complained they made efforts to visit Jessop's Converse, Texas, home with no success. She also never returned calls and would not make the children available for interviews. Rios countered that Jessop was the only mother not offered a family service plan, unlike other mothers, and was essentially told to give up her children or go to court.

While making her ruling, Walther was critical of CPS. She glared at agency representatives while ordering them to set up parenting classes, psychological evaluations and home assessments for Jessop in the next 30 days.


Page: 2

Those requirements were part of the original deal Texas reached with many of the parents of the FLDS children when they were returned following a pair of court rulings. Texas CPS removed 440 children from their homes on the YFZ Ranch as part of an investigation into sexual and physical abuse there.
Jessop's hearing took a bizarre turn when she refused to answer dozens of questions on the witness stand, invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney said she is facing a criminal inquiry but acknowledged that her refusal to answer may not have helped her in the civil case.

"It probably did (hurt her)," Rios said.

Rios rested the case without calling any witnesses on Tuesday. Merril Jessop did not appear in court, and the judge ordered Jessop's children have no contact with him.

Court-appointed lawyers for Barbara Jessop's children expressed concerns about abuse allegations but said they wanted to stay with their mother.

"He's a happy kid, healthy kid," said Larry Hance, an attorney for Jessop's 11-year-old son. "His wishes are to be with his mother."

An independent group appointed by the courts to oversee the case on behalf of the children sought to have both children in foster care.



"We are not convinced Ms. Jessop can and will protect the children," said Valerie Trevino with Court Appointed Specialty Advocates (CASA).
CPS sought to place seven children in foster care, arguing their mothers failed to protect them from men involved in underage marriages.

The judge agreed to give Ellen Grace Young temporary custody of her 9- and 11-year-old daughters while allowing their father, Nephi Barlow, visitation.

"We have to work within the system. That's all we can do now. I think this lady and mother is a wonderful and good mother and she should keep the children with her," Barlow told the Deseret News.

Barlow is estranged from the FLDS Church, while court documents say Ellen Young was remarried to Merril Jessop. Young did not comment as she left the courthouse.

In the agreement, Young agreed to protect her daughters "from entering into a spiritual union/marriage until each of them respectively is of legal age."

A second deal involving the 13-year-old daughter of Amy Rose Johnson lets the girl stay with her mother, but she was ordered to keep her child away from her father, Orval Johnson, or Wendell Loy Nielsen. Johnson is currently married to Nielsen, who court documents allege was involved in underage marriages.

The judge at first refused to sign off on a deal involving children of FLDS community physician Lloyd Hammon Barlow until he showed up to court. Barlow is currently facing criminal charges of failure to report child abuse.

After a brief recess and some hurried phone calls, Barlow appeared in court and signed the papers alongside his wife, Alice Faye Barlow, letting the children stay with their mother.

Barlow will be allowed supervised visitation each week and his two girls, ages 5 and 13, can visit the YFZ Ranch with permission from CPS and if it is supervised by CASA.

Barlow declined to comment to reporters as he left the courthouse.

"Not at this time, thank you," he said.

Momoffor
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Postby Momoffor » Tue Aug 26, 2008 4:02 am

I watched a documentary the other day about exiles from the FDLS communes. It talked about the lost boys where teenage boys are sent exiled from the communes for a variety of reasons, most stating that they werent following the 'rules' enough ect, but the real reason is because they are competition against the older men and young girls wouldnt be so inclined to marry old men with several wives if they had the chance to marry a younger man with none.

There are also women featured, one of them was one of Warren Jeffs wives and another was a 'Jessop' wife, and both of them fleed. (They are actually cousins) The Jessop wife was only 14 and something like the 6th or 7th wife to a crusty old man who had politics on his side. She had to live in hiding from safe house to safe house until a formal custody order was established for the kids. They fled when they realized their daughters were 13 and soon would be forced into marriage and didnt want that life for them.

It was quite sad. Especially since one of the daughters did go back to the commune after everything the mother did to get her away from it. The training was too far embedded in her mind.

Marina
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Postby Marina » Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:05 pm

There have been a number of articles recently which are similar to this one. I just have not had time to post them.

For more information, search yahoo news for FLDS, or a similar news search.



http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,5143,700254614,00.html

56 more dropped from YFZ case

By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Friday, Aug. 29, 2008 12:42 a.m. MDT


In what is now becoming a daily occurrence as the nation's biggest child-custody case moves forward, Texas child welfare authorities have filed to "nonsuit" more children taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.
Texas Child Protective Services spokesman Patrick Crimmins confirmed 56 more children from the Utah-based polygamous sect were nonsuited in a San Angelo court on Thursday.

"The total number of individuals nonsuited is 253 (including the 26 disputed minors)," Crimmins told the Deseret News.

...

Marina
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Postby Marina » Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:26 pm

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,700263658,00.html

More deals over discovery in FLDS custody case

Marina
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Postby Marina » Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:35 pm

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,700263418,00.html

FLDS mom seeks sanctions against agency in Texas
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008 12:24 a.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — The mother of a 2-year-old girl taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch is seeking sanctions against the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services for what she calls the agency's "wrongful misconduct" in the nation's largest child custody case.
"At all relevant times prior to the filing of this lawsuit, DFPS was not aware of any facts and did not have any facts within its knowledge which indicated, in the slightest degree, that (Naomi Johnson) had perpetrated or had allowed anyone else to perpetrate any physical or emotional abuse towards the child," Johnson's attorney, Robert Gibson Jr., wrote in court papers filed here.

Johnson seeks to have the case against her and her daughter dismissed, as well as have attorneys fees paid and money for damages. A hearing has been scheduled here for Nov. 19.

Attacking Child Protective Services' case that the children were removed en masse from the polygamous sect's Eldorado property because they were in immediate danger of abuse, Gibson said the agency still hasn't made its case for his client's 2-year-old.

"DFPS and its attorneys knew or should have known that at the time they filed this suit that such an allegation was frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation and that it continues to this date to be frivolous, unreasonable and without foundation," he wrote.



Gibson claims the sole purpose of CPS' action was to destroy "disfavored religious beliefs, to turn a profit and to disseminate false allegations of abuse to other agencies."
"DFPS' continued maintenance of this suit is simply an effort to save face and to attempt to mitigate its tremendous liability exposure," he wrote.

CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins declined to comment on the motion, but the agency is expected to respond in a court filing of its own. Gibson did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Approximately 439 children were taken into state protective custody when Texas child welfare workers and law enforcement responded to the Yearning For Zion Ranch on a report of abuse. Once there, authorities said they saw other signs of abuse, prompting a judge to order the removal of all the children.

Two months later, they were returned to their families after an appeals court in Austin and the Texas Supreme Court ruled the state acted improperly and that the children were not in immediate danger for abuse.

As the massive child custody case drags on, CPS has dropped hundreds of children from court oversight. Boxes have begun piling up at the Tom Green County courthouse, filled with files of children from the Utah-based polygamous church being "nonsuited."

To date, 304 people have been dropped. One girl, a 14-year-old believed to have been married at age 12 to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, has been returned to foster care. A grand jury probing crimes within the polygamous sect has indicted nine people on charges ranging from sexual assault to bigamy to failure to report child abuse

Marina
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Postby Marina » Sun Oct 05, 2008 3:48 pm

This is an earlier article.

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,700261795,00.html

Conflicts abound in FLDS custody cases
By Ben Winslow
Deseret News
Published: Friday, Sept. 26, 2008 12:40 a.m. MDT


SAN ANGELO, Texas — There were so many perceived conflicts of interest in a hearing here Thursday, Child Protective Services lawyers created a flow chart to try to explain it all.
Annette Jeffs, the mother of 17-year-old Teresa Jeffs, wanted to jettison her attorney for Laura Shockley. So did Barbara Jessop, the mother of a 14-year-old girl allegedly married at age 12 to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. Jessop is also a stepmother of Raymond Merril Jessop, indicted in a criminal case and also believed to have married Teresa Jeffs at 15.

Shockley, who represented some of the "disputed minors" that turned out to be adults, also represented some children early on in the FLDS custody battle — including a 5-year-old boy whose mother is one of Annette Jeffs' sister-wives, and CPS alleged, a sister-wife to Barbara Jessop's 14-year-old daughter.

"Every individual, as Americans, are free to choose who they want to represent them," countered Kirby Roberts, a lawyer hired to represent Shockley, a Dallas-area attorney.

Appearing in court together, Annette Jeffs and Barbara Jessop both said they were willing to waive any conflicts to have Shockley represent them. But under questioning, both women refused to answer questions that underscored the perceived problem.



"As a mother of a child, do you see a problem with an attorney representing you, the mother of an alleged victim, and a parent of an alleged perpetrator?" CPS attorney Jeff Schmidt asked Annette Jeffs.
"I'm going to stand on the Fifth," she replied.

She invoked her right against self-incrimination to nearly every question about her daughter's alleged marriage at age 15 to Raymond Jessop. In civil court those non-answers can be used against her.

After a recess, Shockley withdrew from representing Jeffs. Her current attorney, Tim Edwards, wouldn't say why he was being fired.

"That's something I'm not at liberty to talk about," he told the Deseret News during a break in court proceedings.

As Schmidt tried to grill Jessop on the witness stand, she invoked her Fifth Amendment right to remain silent more than 24 times.

"She must be one heckuva attorney, because CPS is doing everything they can to get rid of her," Roberts said of Shockley.

But others, including an attorney for Jessop's daughter and the Court Appointed Specialty Advocates (an independent organization appointed to act in a child's best interest) agreed there was a conflict.

"The court grants the motion that Ms. Shockley is disqualified in this case," Texas 51st District Judge Barbara Walther said.

Jessop's 14-year-old daughter is the only one of hundreds of children taken in the April raid on the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch to be returned to foster care. Walther had ruled that Jessop was unable to protect her child from abuse.

page 2

"I think she's doing the best she can," CPS caseworker Cathie Irons testified during a hearing on the girl Thursday. "It's been a hard adjustment."
On the witness stand again, Jessop struggled to keep her emotions in check as she answered questions about her daughter.

"Is it fair to say she wants to go home?" the girl's court-appointed attorney, Angie Trout, asked.

"I know she does very, very much," she said.

Jessop denied many of CPS' claims that she has been uncooperative and refused to take steps to prove she can care for her child. She denied offering to "trade" a child to go into foster care in her daughter's stead.

A CPS caseworker testified they put a halt to notes being passed to the girl, but allowed siblings to visit alongside her mother. When CPS had documentation of dozens of phone calls between the two, Jessop explained that it was her daughter who would call her.

"What's she supposed to do, hang up the phone on her crying daughter?" Jessop's lawyer, Gonzalo Rios, said.

As of Monday, Barbara Jessop had started paying child support, undergone a psychological evaluation and had a social study conducted on her home. However, she has refused to sign a family service plan that outlines the steps she must take to be reunited with her daughter.



Jessop told the judge she was still negotiating that with CPS. Her husband, YFZ Ranch leader Merril Jessop, cannot be found.
CPS said it was working toward reuniting the girl with her mother by next year. Rios feared that anything his client did would not be good enough for CPS.

"She's going to do everything she has to do," he said as he walked out of court alongside Barbara Jessop.

In a sign the legal squabbles aren't over, the girl's court-appointed attorney said her 14-year-old client wants to fire her.

"My client wants me off the case," Trout said. "She wants another attorney appointed for her."

Marina
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Postby Marina » Wed Nov 26, 2008 7:49 pm

http://gosanangelo.com/news/2008/nov/25 ... _headlines

Sealed agreement reached on dispute over FLDS infant
By PAUL A. ANTHONY [email protected] or 659-8237

Originally published 04:06 p.m., November 25, 2008
Updated 06:46 p.m., November 25, 2008




Attorneys reached an agreement Tuesday over a teen girl's refusal to divulge the whereabouts of her 5-month-old baby to the state's Child Protective Services agency.

The agreement, which is under seal, headed off what could have been a messy conflict between the girl, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, who had ordered her to answer questions about the location of her child.

"There was an agreement reached," CPS spokesman Patrick Crimmins said, "but on the direction of the judge we can't talk about it."

The girl's refusal to divulge the whereabouts of her infant set in motion a chain of events in which Walther essentially forced the attorneys to reach an agreement to avoid a scenario in which the girl could have been jailed for contempt of court.

Walther unexpectedly left the Tom Green County Courthouse while the sides were negotiating, surprising observers and attorneys alike, telling an attorney on her way out of the building, "I trust you'll get it resolved."

Just after 5 p.m., CPS attorneys left the courthouse, followed soon after by attorneys for the girl and her mother.

All attorneys declined to comment.

"I really can't say anything," said Kelly J. Ellis, the girl's attorney.

The hearing had been delayed from last week after the girl did not appear in court. Walther ordered the girl to bring her child to court Tuesday for the hearing, which was to decide whether the state should be allowed to observe the girl's interaction with the baby and do a DNA test.

The girl showed up; her infant did not.

"The baby is not here, so they have defied the court's order," CPS attorney John Dolezal told the judge, asking to put the 17-year-old on the stand to testify about where the infant was.

The girl initially pleaded the Fifth Amendment when asked whether the baby stayed with her at her given address in San Antonio, but after consultation with Ellis, she answered that the child at one time did stay with her at that location but was not there anymore.

The girl told Dolezal the baby is out of state.

"I don't know right now" the exact whereabouts of the child, she said. "She is traveling."

When Dolezal asked where the infant was being taken, the girl shut down.

"I refuse to answer that question," she said, and when pressed on why she refused, she said: "I just don't want anyone to know where she is."

Ellis then consulted with the girl again, and the attorney quietly told Walther the girl knew the potential repercussions of refusing to answer a question when instructed to by the court.

"Ma'am, the court instructs you to answer the question," Walther said.

"I refuse to answer," the girl replied.

Walther recessed the court and called the attorneys into her chambers, where - as she has been known to do, especially during this case - she tersely ordered both sides to reach an agreement. Soon after, she left the courthouse.

The girl gave birth to her child June 14, just 10 days after CPS returned the last of 439 children taken from the YFZ Ranch northeast of Eldorado in April to their parents.

A CPS motion filed earlier this month alleged the girl was married to an older man at age 14, and in a hearing last week, Dolezal told Walther CPS had received no cooperation from the girl or her mother when making unannounced visits to the given location.

The girl testified Tuesday that while she lives at the address, she spends more than half her time visiting with friends and often does not spend the night there.

After the sides reached the agreement, Texas Ranger Sgt. Nick Hanna and an investigator from the Texas Attorney General's Office told the girl they needed to serve a search warrant, immediately after which courthouse security cleared the building, telling reporters and observers it was closed.

The warrant was for a DNA sample, said sect spokesman Willie Jessop - a move Jessop criticized, noting that samples were taken of all children by court order in April.

The girl's defiance is CPS' own fault, Jessop said, adding that the girl is afraid CPS will take custody of her baby while the child is in San Angelo and accuse her of abuse or neglect.

"There's been an absolutely tremendous breakdown of trust," Jessop said. "That's what her belief was. Who could change her mind?"

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Postby Marina » Tue Dec 30, 2008 7:22 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081224/ap_ ... _retreat_7

Texas report: Kids in sect suffered neglect, abuse

Print By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer Michelle Roberts, Associated Press Writer – Tue Dec 23, 11:30 pm ET


SAN ANTONIO – A dozen girls were sexually abused at a polygamist group's ranch targeted in a high-profile raid last spring, and parents neglected more than 250 other children living there by doing nothing to protect them from becoming future victims, Texas child welfare officials said in a report released Tuesday.

...

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705273453,00.html

FLDS attack report by Texas child welfare authorities
By Ben Winslow

Deseret News

Published: Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008 12:00 a.m. MST

Members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church are attacking a report by Texas child welfare authorities, saying it is "as false and fraudulent as the original hoax telephone call that triggered the raid" on the YFZ Ranch.

...

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Postby Marina » Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:08 pm

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705275420,00.html

FLDS mother wants jury to decide custody
By Ben Winslow

Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2009 1:33 a.m. MST


Texas child welfare authorities are seeking permanent conservatorship of a 14-year-old girl allegedly married to Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs.

The girl's mother wants a jury to ultimately decide who gets custody of all of her children. Barbara Jessop's attorney, Valerie J. Malara, filed a demand notice in an Eldorado, Texas, court, seeking a jury trial to decide custody over her three children.

The demand was filed in advance of a permanency hearing scheduled Thursday in San Angelo, Texas, where child welfare authorities were to update a judge on the girl's status in foster care.

The girl, believed to have been married at age 12 to Jeffs, was ordered back into foster care in August after a judge ruled Jessop failed to protect her from abuse. In a Child Protective Services status report filed in the case and obtained by the Deseret News on Monday, child welfare workers sought "permanent managing conservatorship" over the girl. In the immediate future, CPS is asking to keep the girl in foster care.

"We are still hopeful for reunification in this case, if it can be achieved," agency spokesman Patrick Crimmins said Monday.



Malara did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Permanent managing conservatorship would give CPS widespread authority over the girl under Texas law, including the right to decide care, education, medical care, legal rights, the right to consent to a marriage and even direct the "moral and religious training of the child."

The CPS report said Jessop "has not demonstrated herself as a safe and responsible caregiver."

A psychological evaluation in September described her as "moderately guarded and suspicious" and recommended more therapy sessions.

Jessop wants her daughter back, but the report said "Mrs. Jessop has no plan for how she might protect (the girl) from being placed in another marriage."

"The major concerns were that Mrs. Jessop does not believe that abuse to (the girl) happened, she does not take responsibility for her role in that abuse, she is dependent on people that had involvement in the abuse to (the girl), she does not have a plan to protect (the girl) other than her promise, she is minimally cooperative with CPS and seems to be deliberately misleading CPS about her marriage to Frederick Merril Jessop," the report said.

The girl is doing well in foster care, the report claims.

"(The girl) has kept busy with piano, schoolwork and reading," it said. "The foster family continues to expose (the girl) to new things through outings, family gatherings and other social activities."

In therapy, the report said the girl expressed sadness at not being around her family. Attempts to find relatives to care for her have not worked out, CPS said, noting one did not believe the girl had been abused and "agrees with underage marriage and supports plural marriages."

page 2

The girl has weekly visits with her mother in San Antonio. Recently, more of her siblings were allowed to visit her. She also has weekly phone calls with her mother. CPS complained about letters being sent to the girl originating from a blog, which it said has encouraged people to "kidnap" the girl from her foster home.

CPS claims to have been unable to contact Frederick Merril Jessop, the leader of the YFZ Ranch. One of his attorneys refused to provide contact information beyond the address of the ranch, the report said.

Jessop was recently indicted by an Eldorado grand jury on a charge of performing a marriage ceremony prohibited by law, accused of performing the ceremony between Jeffs and the girl. Shocking photos showing the FLDS leader kissing the girl were released during the ongoing custody case involving hundreds of children from the FLDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

Approximately 439 children were removed from the ranch in April when CPS caseworkers and law enforcement responded to a call from someone claiming to be a pregnant 16-year-old in an abusive, polygamous marriage to an older man. CPS alleged a pattern of abuse at the ranch with girls groomed to be child brides and boys growing up to be sexual perpetrators.



The children were returned to their families two months later when an Austin appeals court and the Texas Supreme Court ruled the state acted improperly, and that the children were not at immediate risk of abuse. All but 15 children have been dropped from court oversight as the custody case drags on.

The phone call that sparked the raid is believed to be a hoax.

A CPS report claims to have found evidence of a dozen young women involved in underage marriages. The FLDS Church fired back, calling the report "as false and fraudulent as the original hoax telephone call that triggered the raid" on the YFZ Ranch.

A dozen FLDS men, including Jeffs, have been indicted on charges ranging from sexual assault of a child and bigamy to failure to report child abuse and performing a marriage ceremony prohibited by law. Some of the men are due back in court on Jan. 12.

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Postby Marina » Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:45 pm

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/fe ... _headlines

Report: Texts coached FLDS girl
By Paul A. Anthony (Contact)
Wednesday, February 4, 2009



A 14-year-old girl alleged to be a wife of Warren Jeffs received text messages while in foster care telling her to "please stay angry" and to "keep crying, pout, sleep in," according to a court-appointed guardians' report obtained by the Standard-Times.

The report, filed last week in the 51st District Court by San Angelo-based Court-Appointed Special Advocates, describes a series of text messages sent to the girl between Jan. 15 and Jan. 21 from a contact labeled as "POP."

The girl's court-appointed guardian, Valerie Trevino, recommends in the report that 51st District Judge Barbara Walther halt visitation between the girl and her mother, Barbara Jessop, except when monitored by a therapist. It also recommends barring all phone communication between the two. "CASA is shocked that Mrs. Jessop would place her daughter again in a situation where she would be forced to sneak around to communicate," the report states. "The text messages telling (the girl) how to behave are disturbing."

Brett H. Pritchard, the Killeen-based attorney for Jessop, declined to comment on the report. A hearing on whether to seal the report is scheduled for Friday, and a court administrator said it remains under temporary seal until the hearing.

"Come to the hearing on Friday, and you'll hear all my problems with it," Pritchard said.

The girl's court-appointed attorney, Carmen Symes Dusek, of San Angelo, declined to comment.

Child Protective Services investigators allege the girl was married at age 12 to Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in a 2006 ceremony at the sect's YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County.

The ranch was the focus of a weeklong raid in early April that led to the removal and subsequent return of 439 children in the nation's largest child-custody case.

The girl was returned to state custody in August on the strength of evidence that included the sect's own documents and photos showing Jeffs kissing the girl deeply soon after their alleged wedding.

According to the report, the girl secretly obtained the phone from her mother and, after finding it, CPS went through it "to determine who she had been talking to and the content of the text messages."

The report says the girl told CPS her mother told her to take the phone, after which the girl received at least 36 text messages.

The report does not include a transcript of the messages, but describes several "incoming text messages telling (the girl), 'Please stay angry,' 'We need you to keep crying, pout, sleep in,' 'Crying will get you what you want,' 'CPS needs to see that you are miserable there.'"

Although the phone also contained 88 outgoing messages - many to a contact named "Mother," according to the report - the cited incoming messages came from a contact named "POP."

"Having (the girl) take responsibility for the cell phone shows a serious disregard for her," the report states, "and it places her in a terrible position of having to lie repeatedly, especially to her foster family with whom she's developed a close relationship."

The report is the latest in a series of struggles CPS and CASA have reported in their efforts to ensure compliance with court-ordered restrictions on visitation and telephone contact between the girl and sect members beyond her mother and siblings.

It notes the text messages were particularly harmful because they encouraged the girl to lie even though an "aspect of the FLDS culture is to be truthful and honest," the report states, citing the girl's therapist.

"The members of (her) community that are encouraging her to lie and be deceitful," the report states, "are causing confusion for" the girl.

Upon being confronted by CASA workers about the phone, the report states, the girl said she "did not 'want to cause trouble or anything,' and that she knew that what she was doing was wrong."

According to the report, the girl also had called her attorney - presumably Dusek - on a land line from her foster family's house, then hung up and called her mother instead.

Dusek has since asked to be removed from the case, though her motion for withdrawal does not indicate why, beyond "for good cause" and "professional considerations." A hearing on Dusek's motion also is scheduled for Friday.

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Postby Marina » Sat Mar 14, 2009 7:50 pm

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705282720,00.html

FLDS mother criticizes child welfare report
By Ben Winslow

Deseret News

Published: Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009 5:19 p.m. MST


The mother of a 14-year-old girl at the center of a custody fight with Texas child welfare authorities is criticizing a report about the girl.

In a statement Wednesday, lawyers for Barbara Jessop denied that she or anyone acting on her behalf leaked a copy of the Court Appointed Special Advocates report to several Texas newspapers. The Deseret News also obtained a copy of the report, which described 36 text messages sent to the girl that included telling her to "please stay angry," "crying will get you what you want," and "CPS needs to see that you are miserable there." The report claims the cell phone was smuggled to her by her mother.

Jessop's attorneys, Valerie Malara and Brett Pritchard, said they are joining Texas Child Protective Services in seeking to have the report sealed in a hearing scheduled Friday, saying that publication of its contents are "inappropriate." They also take issue with what it says.

"Jessop's attorneys do not believe the statements contained in the CASA report accurately reflect the actual text messages and were taken out of context," Malara and Pritchard wrote.

CASA acknowledges it hadn't seen the text messages themselves by the time the report was filed with the judge, nor did CPS give any input on what it should do. CASA recommends that the girl's phone contact with her mother be cut off and that their in-person visits be restricted to twice a month and supervised by a therapist. Jessop's lawyers said the recommendations are "inappropriate, factually incorrect and heavy handed."



The girl is the only one from the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch to be ordered back into foster care after a judge ruled her mother was unable to protect her from abuse. Photos surfaced in connection with the custody case showing FLDS leader Warren Jeffs and the girl at age 12 kissing in a manner that CPS lawyers described was "how a husband kisses a wife." Authorities have alleged she was married to Jeffs during a ceremony at the YFZ Ranch in 2006.

The girl's court-appointed attorney has filed a motion to withdraw from the case, but reasons have not been explained. CPS is seeking permanent custody of the girl, but has said it is hopeful for reunification. A custody trial is set for September.

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Postby Marina » Sat Mar 14, 2009 8:01 pm

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/fe ... _headlines

Text claims disputed by sect mom's attorneys
Sect mom's attorneys say bits out of context

By Paul A. Anthony (Contact)
Thursday, February 5, 2009




Attorneys for YFZ Ranch matriarch Barbara Jessop sharply dispute a report intimating that the woman's daughter was coached on how to behave while in foster care.

Valerie Malara and Brett H. Pritchard broke from their practice of declining comment on issues related to the state's investigation of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to criticize both the publication and the content of a report filed last week by the court-appointed guardian for Jessop's 14-year-old daughter.

The attorneys' remarks provide a rare public prelude to what is expected to be a lengthy, possibly contentious hearing Friday in the Tom Green County courthouse.

The guardian's report, obtained and published Tuesday by the Standard-Times, describes text messages telling the girl - an alleged wife of sect leader Warren Jeffs - to "please stay angry" and "to keep crying, pout, sleep in."

"Jessop's attorneys have reviewed the CASA report and compared it to complete transcriptions of the text messages prepared by the Department," Malara and Pritchard said in a joint statement released Wednesday. "Jessop's attorneys do not believe the statements contained in the CASA report accurately reflect the actual text messages and were taken out of context."

The statement chastises the release of the report, calling its publication "inappropriate," and asks media organizations to refrain from publishing any further reports "made in connection with the case so as to maintain the right of privacy of the individuals involved, as well as ensure a fair trial for all parties."

The attorneys also reject recommendations from the report - filed by the Children's Advocacy Center of Tom Green County, which runs the area's Court-Appointed Special Advocates program - that the girl be restricted from visiting her mother except when supervised by a therapist, and from calling her at all.

"Jessop's attorneys believe that CASA's recommendations are not supported by" the state Department of Family and Protective Services, the attorneys said.

"They further believe that the recommendations are inappropriate, factually incorrect and heavy-handed."

State investigators allege the girl was married at age 12 to Jeffs, who has since been arrested and convicted in Utah of forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her adult cousin.

She is the only one of 439 children removed from the ranch to have been taken into state custody since appellate courts ordered their return in June.

The attorneys' statement serves as a prelude to what could be another in a long line of contentious hearings, as 51st District Judge Barbara Walther is expected to take up Friday several motions in the still-jumbled FLDS case.

The attorneys have asked Walther to seal the CASA report, and said in their statement that the state's Child Protective Services agency supports that effort.

Meanwhile, the girl's court-appointed attorney, Carmen Symes Dusek, has asked to be withdrawn from the case for reasons that are not yet clear.

Motions have also been filed to seal the transcript of a deposition given by the girl's father, sect bishop Merril Jessop.

The deposition was used as evidence during a Jan. 26 hearing to compel Jessop's testimony after the ranch leader invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination roughly 300 times.

The motion, filed by Jessop's attorney Amy Hennington, also includes a request to seal the transcript of the hearing.

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Postby Momoffor » Sun Mar 15, 2009 3:43 am

Marina wrote:It notes the text messages were particularly harmful because they encouraged the girl to lie even though an "aspect of the FLDS culture is to be truthful and honest," the report states, citing the girl's therapist.

"The members of (her) community that are encouraging her to lie and be deceitful," the report states, "are causing confusion for" the girl.

Upon being confronted by CASA workers about the phone, the report states, the girl said she "did not 'want to cause trouble or anything,' and that she knew that what she was doing was wrong."


While I dont agree with what is going on within that sect, I do have to point out the irony of how NOW CPS wants to use FDLS beliefs when it was FDLS beliefs that got her involved with CPS to begin with!

I also find it off that a girl who was allegedly married at 14 "knows what she was doing was wrong' when it comes to having a cell phone. WTF?

They also say the use of the cell phone (and perhaps LIES) are confusing for the girl, perhaps being taken away from the lifestyle that she has been raised in as 'normal', and being tossed into a completely different world would be the confusing aspect for her. I highly doubt some text messages telling her to 'stay angry' (which she should) are going to throw her off of her game!

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Postby Marina » Sat May 23, 2009 10:51 am

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12373455?IADID ... sltrib.com

Texas judge hearing witnesses before ruling on challenge to FLDS search warrant

By Brooke Adams

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 05/15/2009 01:35:53 PM MDT


San Angelo, Texas » A Texas judge on Friday asked to hear testimony from defense witnesses before she rules on whether to allow attorneys for 10 FLDS men to challenge a search warrant used to enter a polygamous sect's ranch last spring.

51st District Judge Barbara Walther will first hear from Texas Ranger Brooks Long. Earlier, defense attorneys, led by Gerald Goldstein of San Antonio, had identified at least 12 witnesses they plan to call if the judge grants a hearing.

They include law officers, a Baptist pastor, a crisis hot line employee and Dale Evans Barlow, the sect member named in the warrant that led to the largest child welfare investigation in U.S. history.

At stake is use of hundreds of documents seized from the ranch the state relied on to build criminal cases against the men, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, on charges related to underage marriages.

Texas authorities descended on the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch on April 3, 2008, after a crisis hot line received calls from someone who claimed to be "Sarah Jessop Barlow," a 16-year-old, pregnant plural wife being abused by her husband.

The calls are now believed to be a hoax staged by a Colorado woman with a history of making false abuse claims.

On Thursday, Goldstein and other attorneys methodically reviewed aspects of the abuse claims law officers failed to fully investigate or



independently verify and information omitted from an affidavit submitted to the judge with the request for a search warrant.

By March 30, four days before the search warrant was issued, law officers knew Barlow was on probation in Arizona and barred from leaving the state without permission but made only a cursory effort to check his whereabouts.

Had officers made one call to Barlow's probation officer, whose name and number they had, "none of this would have happened," Goldstein said.

The affidavit by Long also omitted previous false reports involving the ranch and that the alleged victim had to be prompted with names of her husband and the hospital where she claimed to have been treated for broken ribs.

Long also did not disclose that an investigation turned up no record of such a person being treated at the medical facility, Goldstein said.

There were other red flags in the caller's story that should have given an "objective, reasonably well-trained" officer pause, the attorney said. Among them: the caller referred to the sect's property in Eldorado as the "YZMIN" Ranch and refused to say where she was specifically or provide a contact number. Law officers also had no physical description of the girl to guide their search.

Hours before Walther signed the first warrant on April 3, law officers began amassing a large-scale response that included some 100 officers, a SWAT team, closure of the air space over the ranch, a drone surveillance plane and arrangements for buses to ferry women and children off the ranch. They also met with child welfare investigators and told them to prepare for "several young girls."

"Contrary to what the warrant states, this was not a search for two people," said attorney Mark Stevens of San Antonio, who represents Merril Leroy Jessop.

The defense team told Walther the hoax calls gave the state a pretext needed to enter the ranch to look for any abuse, which is why it left out anything that undermined statements made in the affidavit.

Defense attorney Kent Schaffer, who represents Wendell Nielsen, pointed out officers waited five days before going to the ranch to search for a victim they believed was being beaten, battered and threatened with death.

Deputy Attorney General Eric Nichols countered that the defense was engaged in a "woulda, coulda, shoulda" exercise over what law enforcement might have done differently but none of the points raised in their "valiant and heroic efforts" showed officers willfully misrepresented facts or acted recklessly in seeking the search warrant.

Instead, the caller relayed information that corresponded with what officers knew about the ranch and the sect, leading them to a "'genuine belief" that there was a victim of sexual abuse there who needed help.

"There is not a shred of evidence that they thought this might be a hoax," Nichols said.

He said the plan was to make a "soft entry" onto the 1,700-acre ranch and that the massed forces were a precaution in case something went wrong.

"The intent all along was to find Sarah Barlow and Dale Evans Barlow," he said.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 23, 2009 10:57 am

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12378967?IADID ... sltrib.com

FLDS sect's lawyers challenge ranch search warrant
Polygamy » Defense plans to call at least 12 witnesses if the judge grants a hearing.
By Brooke Adams

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 05/15/2009 08:51:13 PM MDT


San Angelo, Texas » A Texas judge today heard testimony from a Texas Ranger who obtained a search warrant that launched a raid on a polygamist sect's ranch last spring.

...


The rest of the article is almost the same as the previous one.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 23, 2009 11:04 am

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12382380?IADID ... sltrib.com

FLDS: Texas officers defend raid on polygamous sect's ranch
By Brooke Adams

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 05/16/2009 06:17:09 AM MDT


San Angelo, Texas » A Texas Ranger and Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran on Friday defended their work in the days before a raid on a polygamous sect's ranch, saying there was no reason to discount an apparent abuse victim's calls for help or to more aggressively seek her alleged attacker.

Shelter workers who spoke to the caller were "adamant that this girl needed help; they were adamant that this girl needed to leave the ranch," testified Texas Ranger Brooks Long.

The hearing, before 51st District Judge Barbara Walthers, is being held as part of an attack on the April 2008 search warrant she approved to enter the YFZ Ranch, home to members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Attorneys for 10 FLDS men charged with counts related to bigamy and underage marriages are challenging the warrant, with 928 boxes of evidence and more than 60 computers seized from the Eldorado ranch as evidence at stake.

The state entered into evidence Friday, under seal, about 10 photos taken inside the sect's temple and described as showing beds and pedestals. Testimony continued until 10:30 p.m. Friday and the judge asked attorneys to return at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. The next witnesses are expected to include another Texas Ranger and the lead child welfare investigator.

Long said the caller who sparked the raid was credible, citing as an example her frequent use of the word



"prophet," a title used for the sect's leader, Warren S. Jeffs. Her vagueness in naming her husband -- her alleged attacker -- or a hospital where she was treated was typical of domestic violence victims, he said.

The calls from "Sarah Jessop Barlow," a 16-year-old, pregnant plural wife being abused by her husband, are now believed to be a hoax staged by a Colorado woman with a history of making false abuse claims.

Once the caller identified her husband as Dale Evans Barlow -- selected from a list of men associated with the FLDS Church, read to her by hotline worker -- Long decided against contacting the man's Arizona probation officer.

Long said he had two reasons: in his experience, probation officers call offenders and alert them to such calls, and he had heard there were people sympathetic to the FLDS in the area's criminal justice system. Barlow, along with other sect members, had been prosecuted in Arizona on charges related to underage marriages.

Doran said he called Washington County Sheriff Kirk Smith and Arizona authorities to gather information about Barlow, but did not ask them about Barlow's whereabouts. He also did not ask the unnamed source he often used to gather information about the FLDS, he said, explaining his charge from the Rangers did not include locating Barlow.



Doran gave the same explanation for why he did not contact ranch leader Merril Jessop or take other actions, saying his duties were narrow. "I carried out the duties I was asked to do," he said.


He acknowledged that he spoke to Barlow by phone before the raid began, but said he could not be certain whether he was speaking to the correct man.

Doran would not confirm or deny whether former FLDS member Becky Musser, formerly married to previous prophet Rulon Jeffs, was the source to whom he referred. But he did say he had more than 100 conversations with her over four years, and gave her a 45-minute tour of the sect's temple days after the investigation began.



Defense attorneys argued that a better effort by law enforcement to find and question Barlow may have prevented the raid. They also argue the state's detailed planning before the raid -- which led to the largest child welfare investigation in U.S. history -- showed their intent ranged far beyond officers' pretext of locating the abuse victim and her husband.



They have identified at least 12 witnesses they plan to call, including Barlow, law officers, a Baptist pastor and a crisis hot line employee.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 23, 2009 11:12 am

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12386161?IADID ... sltrib.com

FLDS: Texas ranger testifies in polygamous sect raid probe
By Brooke Adams

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated: 05/17/2009 01:24:46 PM MDT


San Angelo, Texas » A Texas Ranger testified it took him two days to link calls that triggered the largest child welfare investigation in U.S. history to a known prankster -- something he could have done before authorities entered a polygamous sect's ranch if a supervisor had requested it.

And a probation officer for the suspect named in the state's search warrant said he would have immediately arranged to turn the man over if Texas authorities had asked.

But no one contacted him.

A hearing aimed at suppressing evidence against 10 FLDS men facing charges related to bigamy and underage marriage ended with no rulings from 51st District Judge Barbara Walther.

Instead, she gave defense attorneys 30 days to submit written closing arguments and the state 21 days to respond before she rules on the matter.

At stake is evidence contained in 928 boxes and 66-plus computers taken from the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch last April that the state used to indict the men, members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The investigation at the ranch was triggered by a caller who claimed to be a 16-year-old plural wife who was being beaten and raped at the ranch by her husband. Those calls are now believed to be a hoax.

Over four days, the mens' attorneys presented evidence they say shows law officers did nothing to verify the abuse calls or locate the


alleged abuser, but used the calls as a pretext to stage a massive search for evidence of child abuse.

Prosecutors say that at the time of the raid, officers believed a young girl was being beaten and held captive there and put together a prompt, safe plan to find her.

The defense called eight witnesses Saturday; Walther refused to let a ninth, law professor Gerald S. Reamey, testify.

Reamey is a former legal advisor to the Irving, Texas, police department and author of "A Peace Officer's Guide to Texas Law" and several other law enforcement texts. Defense attorneys wanted Reamey to share minimal practices officers might be expected to follow in similar situations. State prosecutors objected, citing Reamey's lack of experience as an officer.

The judge did hear from an officer who said he was contacted two days before she signed the initial search warrant on April 3.

Steve Mild, an operations captain for the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office, said he was asked about use of a mobile command center. He said Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran told him before the operation began that authorities planned to remove 20 to 25 children from the ranch.

Another officer, Texas Ranger Aaron Grigsby, said he arranged on the morning of April 3 to close air space over the ranch in preparation for the "most massive search" he'd ever encountered.

Walther signed the warrant about 5:50 p.m. that evening and authorities entered the ranch about three hours later.

Doran testified Friday he received a call from someone purporting to be Dale Evans Barlow, the man named in the warrant just before going on the ranch.

Doran said he questioned the caller about his height, weight, eye color, hair color, social security number and drivers license number. Everything matched, but Doran said he could not verify the caller was Barlow.

Former Mohave County Probation Officer Bill Loader told the judge that Barlow left him a message that night requesting to meet immediately. Loader said Barlow came to his office the next day and that he arranged daily, in-person contact to monitor his whereabouts.

No one from Texas ever contacted him, Loader said. If they had, he could have picked up Barlow immediately without a warrant because of his probationary status.

Texas Ranger Phillip Kemp said Saturday he was asked on April 14 to investigate calls to the New Bridge Family Center that triggered the investigation.

Kemp said his investigation connected the calls to Rozita Swinton, a Colorado woman with a history of making false abuse reports.

Kemp traveled to Colorado Springs on April 16 and met with police there who filled him in on Swinton's history. He later participated in a search of her apartment, where officers found notes and materials that referenced FLDS members, the Eldorado ranch, the hot line crisis workers, the Tom Green County Courthouse, the LDS Church and a math calculation in which 16 was subtracted from 2008.

"Based on evidence we found at the apartment, she had spent some" time studying the sect, Kemp said.

Kemp said he began reviewing Swinton's phone records in May 2008 and found numerous calls to the crisis hotline beginning March 29 and, a day later, to anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop. Jessop arranged three-way calls with the crisis center and Swinton, who claimed to be "Sarah Barlow Jessop's" sister in those conversations, Kemp said.

Kemp also found a 90-second call from Doran's cell phone to Swinton on April 8, 2008. Doran never told rangers he had the number until Kemp asked him about it.

The sheriff said he heard only silence in the 90-second call.

Also on Saturday, an investigator for Goldstein testified that he checked with the Schleicher County Medical Center and learned no one from law enforcement had ever attempted to verify the caller's claim of being treated there for broken ribs. That contradicts testimony by Long, who said that was done by the district attorney's office.

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Postby Marina » Sat May 23, 2009 11:28 am

Battle of FLDS, state attorneys continues
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/ma ... continues/

Judge imposes time limit as FLDS bid to get evidence hearing moves into fourth day
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/ma ... -get-into/

Written briefs OK in FLDS case
http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/ma ... flds-case/

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/ma ... long-shot/

Motion in FLDS case in Texas called long shot
Dave Hawkins/Special to the Standard-Times
Wednesday, May 20, 2009


Tucson attorney Mike Piccarreta believes a motion to suppress evidence seized during April 2008 raids on the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado stands a better chance of being granted in Arizona than in Texas.

Piccarreta in Arizona is defending Warren Jeffs
...


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