Texas troopers seal off polygamist compound
Child welfare officials investigate a complaint that girls may have been abused at the YFZ Ranch, built by a controversial Mormon offshoot once led by Warren Jeffs.
HOUSTON — State troopers sealed off a polygamist compound in a remote stretch of Texas today while child welfare officials investigated a complaint that girls may have been abused, authorities said.
The probe at the YFZ Ranch, a walled-off compound just outside the town of Eldorado that is anchored by a towering white temple, came as welcome news to local officials, who have been complaining for years about the compound.
State officials disclosed shortly after noon today that they were going to execute warrants to arrest some of the compound's inhabitants in connection with their investigation, but they did not explain why. Later, a spokeswoman for the state's Child Protective Services agency said officials had removed several children from the compound and taken custody of them but also did not elaborate.
"We know they're violating the law, but someone has to raise their hand and testify, and until that happens we don't have anything," said James C. Doyle, the local justice of the peace, who frequently flew over the compound in his private plane.
The YFZ Ranch, whose name stands for Yearning for Zion, was built by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after it purchased an exotic-game preserve in 2004. The self-styled prophet of the controversial Mormon offshoot, Warren Jeffs, was convicted in Utah last year of being an accomplice to rape after allegedly forcing a 14-year-old to marry and have sex with her 19-year-old cousin in 2001. Jeffs, 52, also faces charges of being an accomplice to incest and sexual misconduct with a minor in Arizona.
Marrying more than one woman is illegal in Texas. Although the polygamist followers do not allegedly obtain marriage licenses for their multiple nuptials, citizens of Eldorado, a town of about 1,800 people about 2 1/2 hours from San Antonio, have long called for Texas to investigate allegations that girls there were being promised to men against their will.
Texas officials have been deeply concerned about the YFZ Ranch and have been working to ensure that any confrontation with the members of the polygamist sect ends without the type of chaos and bloodshed that marked the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. The siege ended in the deaths of 82 of the church's members, including its leader, David Koresh.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said today that the YFZ Ranch probe was launched because the Child Protective Services agency had received a complaint about improper activity at the compound.
State troopers sealed off all entrances to the compound and child welfare agents began interviewing some of the estimated 400 followers of Jeffs, including children, Thursday evening, officials said. The probe was continuing today, and officials said they were restricting news organizations from flying over the self-sufficient compound, where armed guards were previously spotted in surveillance towers.
"At this point we are helping [child welfare agents] interview people within the compound," Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger said in a statement. "The people at YFZ Ranch have been very cooperative. They are providing all the people we need to talk to."
miguel.bustillo@latimes.com
