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Polygamist sect temple searched
06/04/2008 21:55 - (SA)
Fort Worth - Police searched the temple of a polygamist sect's compound in Texas as authorities pressed ahead with an investigation into possible child abuse, US media reported on Sunday.
Tensions appeared to ease after special police units entered the temple late on Saturday without incident, following an hours-long standoff in which temple leaders refused investigators access, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Fearing possible violent resistance, authorities had earlier ordered ambulances to the compound after sect leaders refused to allow a search.
"The temple is a very sensitive area for residents at the ranch," said Allison Palmer, an assistant district attorney for the area, quoted by the Chronicle.
After the standoff ended, ambulances and police cars were seen leaving the sprawling compound in southwestern Texas, the paper said.
State child welfare officials said that they had removed 183 people - including 137 children - from the compound after allegations that a 16-year-old girl there had been sexually abused, Los Angeles Times reported. Large-scale police operation
The unidentified girl reportedly called officials from the compound and said she had given birth to a child months ago, suggesting that the child's father may have violated Texas laws on sex and marriage consent laws.
Her complaints sparked a large-scale police operation over the past three days at the compound owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a breakaway group of the US Mormon church.
While social workers interviewed residents from the compound, authorities continued to search for the teenage girl, her baby, and the 50-year-old man alleged to have sexually abused her, the Times said.
State officials said most of the women and children had been removed from the isolated compound so they could be questioned in a less intimidating atmosphere, not because of fears they were in danger.
The number of girls in state custody remained at 18 after social workers determined they had been abused or were in immediate risk of future abuse. Linked to Warren Jeffs
The ranch - in the town of El Dorado - is linked to Warren Jeffs, an avowed polygamist who is now behind bars.
Jeffs, who was considered to be the sect's prophet, was arrested near Las Vegas in 2006 and sentenced to life in jail for being an accomplice to rape. He also faces federal charges in Arizona and Utah.
Prosecutors said Jeffs instructed the girl to "multiply and replenish the earth and raise children in the priesthood".
- SAPA
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