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Deal on reuniting polygamist families delayed
A deal to return home more than 400 children taken from a polygamist ranch in Texas was delayed on Friday after a judge refused to approve the agreement, saying all parties had not agreed to terms of the pact.
- Agencies
- Published: 10:00 May 31, 2008
San Antonio: A deal to return home more than 400 children taken from a polygamist ranch in Texas was delayed on Friday after a judge refused to approve the agreement, saying all parties had not agreed to terms of the pact.
State District Judge Barbara Walther in San Angelo adjourned a hearing without signing an order presented to the court earlier in the day that would have returned the children to their families as early as this weekend.
The children were removed from the ranch in remote west Texas by state officials last month after allegations of abuse.
Walther told the court all parties must agree on terms of the deal over the weekend following objections lodged by some parties. She said she would reconsider the matter on Monday.
Her actions left the members of the breakaway Mormon sect distraught.
Texas officials on Friday obtained a DNA sample from the leader of the Mormon sect, Warren Jeffs.
Jeffs is in Arizona serving a prison sentence of 10 years to life for being an accomplice to rape by forcing a 14-year-old to marry her cousin.
"In the search warrant you will see that evidence was collected that Jeffs married four young girls," said Jerry Strickland of the Texas Attorney General's Office. "Two 12-year-olds, a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old. All of these marriages took place at the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas."
The search warrant alleges that Jeffs, 52, was at the ranch on several occasions when young girls there are believed to have become pregnant.
Texas child welfare officials have charged that under Jeffs' direction and leadership, leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints trained young girls to become "spiritual brides" of older men.
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