52 children removed from sect's Eldorado-area ranch; man, 50, faces impregnation-of-minor allegation

By Paul A. Anthony San Angelo Standard-Times

Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly The Texas Department of Public Safety has blocked off access to the YFZ Ranch near Eldorado, where troopers are assisting on an investigation with Child Protective Serivices. A complaint was called in early Thursday afternoon.   Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly More than 20 Texas game wardens approached this morning from U.S. Highway 277 South toward the YFZ Ranch compound. A CPS official said they are helping with the investigation.   Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly Two First Baptist Church buses were escorted today by several law enforcement officers out of the FLDS compound near Eldorado. The buses carried dozens of people, mostly girls.   Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly Tela Mange, a Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, briefs the media on the progress of the law enforcement investigation and attempt to serve an arrest warrant at the YFZ Ranch compound in Schleicher County. The Texas Department of Family Protective Services removed 52 girls today from the compound near Eldorado.   Standard-Times photo by Brian Connelly Texas Department of Family Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner briefs the medi on how her department has removed 52 girls today from the FLDS compound in Eldorado. So far, her agency has taken 18 of the girls into custody. A 50-year-old man is accused of marrying and fathering a child with a 16-year-old girl at the polygamist YFZ Ranch in Schleicher County, according to a search and arrest warrant released just before 5 p.m. by Tom Green County district court. The warrant, signed Thursday afternoon by 51st District Judge Barbara Walther, led state authorities to remove 52 children from the ranch, owned and run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "We are dealing with many victims," Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said in a news conference in Eldorado. "There's evidence they have been abused, or are at imminent risk or harm. It is not safe for them to remain on the compound." The girls' ages range from 6 months to 17 years, Meisner said. Eighteen have been placed in the custody of CPS, she said, and case workers are interviewing the children in Eldorado's civic center, where they have been provided food and cots. The warrant authorizes law enforcement to seize records detailing the birth of children to the 16-year-old girl, any records or books listing the marriage of Dale Barlow and the girl and any children born to them, as well as any "medical records, documents or files related to (the girl) and the birth of her child." The Standard-Times does not print the names of juveniles or those listed as victims of alleged sex-related crimes. The FLDS compound has been sealed since late Thursday, after Walther signed the warrant at 5:30 p.m. that day. Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said troopers have not arrested Barlow. According to state law, a girl younger than 16 cannot be married, not even with parental consent. According to the warrant, the girl turned 16 in January and has a baby about 8 months old.

gosanangelo.com Originally published April 4, 2008

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