Jeffs sentenced, CPS shunned @ ranch, & more custody talk

Sect father wants his children back
http://www.necn.com/Boston/Nation/Sect-father-wants-his-children-back-/1211377634.html

Excerpt

(NECN/ABC) - A father involved in a polygamist sect in Texas wants his children back. Dan Jessop says the life he knew has taken a dramatic turn over the past six weeks.

"I'm trying to get somebody to listen to me that I am an innocent man. I haven't done any of these bad things that they say I've done."

The father of three says after the raid his wife and newborn were moved to a shelter in San Antonio. His four year old daughter and two year old son are in foster care in Austin.


Police back at FLDS ranch but only to serve documents; teen denies allegations she is pregnant
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700227858,00.html

Excerpt

ELDORADO, Texas — Texas Child Protective Services workers are at the gates of the Yearning For Zion Ranch attempting to serve more court papers related to the massive custody case involving children seized from the property of the Fundamentalist LDS Church.Schleicher

County Sheriff David Doran told the Deseret News his office is merely accompanying CPS workers while they serve the documents.

"We just sent a marked unit to the gate," the sheriff explained, referring any additional questions to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

Forty-five miles away, a handful of FLDS men bolted from the courthouse in San Angelo after receiving word that law enforcement was at the ranch's gate. Rumors were flying at the courthouse that police had returned to the ranch to search for more children.

Earlier this morning at the courthouse, a lawyer for a 14-year-old girl that is on a list of so-called "disputed minors" said she is not pregnant as Texas child welfare authorities have alleged.

"My client does not have children. (She) is not pregnant. She's the youngest on the list of disputed minors," said Andrea Sloan.


FLDS shun Texas officials twice at ranch
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9343002

Excerpt

ELDORADO, Texas - Texas child welfare officials returned to a polygamous sect's ranch twice Wednesday because they had "new information" that children were there but were not allowed on the property.

Two Child Protective Service (CPS) workers, accompanied by a Schleicher County Sheriff's deputy, first asked to be let on the YFZ Ranch shortly before noon Wednesday.

The workers told Guy Jessop, who met them at the gate, they were "looking for more children" but he refused to let them enter without a search warrant.

News of the visit reached the Tom Green County Courthouse, where the third day of status hearings for about 450 FLDS children was under way. Several FLDS spokesmen - and media - made a mad dash to the ranch, whose residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

CPS officials spoke with FLDS member Willie Jessop after being rebuffed and were told he would allow them on the ranch, according to spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.

Investigators returned to the ranch at about 6 p.m. but Willie Jessop met them at the gate and turned them away, she said.

Willie Jessop said ranch residents would allow authorities to investigate any legitimate claims of abuse. "If they have an honest complaint, we'll be honest, but we were lied to," he said, noting that authorities have never produced the teenage girl whose allegations of abuse led the state to remove all children from the ranch in April.

Jessop said he does not know whether there are children at the 1,700-acre property, which includes 19 separate residential buildings. If there are, they would have arrived with parents who came to comfort relatives in the wake of the April raid, he said.


Warren Jeffs Sentenced to 10 Years to Life
http://www.newsoxy.com/tech/warren_jeffs_sentenced_to_10_years_to_life/article10176.htm

Excerpt

Warren Jeffs, who was considered a prophet by his church of breakaway Mormons, was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison on Tuesday for being an accomplice to rape by forcing a 14-year-old to marry her cousin.

A Utah court said Jeffs' sentence was subordinate to review by the state board of pardons, which will ultimately determine how much time he serves.

Jeffs, 51, was convicted in September of two counts of rape as an accomplice in the 2001 arranged marriage of a 14-year-old follower and her 19-year-old cousin.