Sect leaders at a polygamist compound in West Texas refused to let authorities search a temple for a teenage girl whose report of abuse led to a raid and authorities said they were preparing “for the worst.”
If no agreement is reached with sect leaders, authorities will forcibly remove the sect’s followers “as peaceably as possible,” Allison Palmer, a prosecutor in Tom Green County, told the San Angelo Standard-Times on Saturday.
Medical workers are being sent “in case this were to a go in a way that no one wants,” Palmer said.
Law enforcers are “preparing for the worst,” she said.
“Within the religion that we have encountered, their place of worship is very special to them,” Palmer said. “It appears to be of great concern to them if a person from outside their congregation even attempts to step inside their place of worship.”
A search warrant authorized troopers to enter the retreat, run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They are looking for evidence of a marriage between the girl and a 50-year-old man.
Court documents say the girl had a baby eight months ago, when she was 15.
State welfare officials on Friday removed 52 girls from the compound. Marleigh Meisner, a spokeswoman for Child Protective Services, said another 131 residents were removed overnight. By Saturday afternoon, 137 children and 46 women were being housed and interviewed at local community centers.
“They seem to be doing fine,” Meisner said.
Investigators remained inside the compound looking for additional children, she said.
The whereabouts of the 16-year-old mother who sparked the investigation are unknown, Meisner said. State troopers who raided the religious retreat were looking for the girl, her baby girl and 50-year-old Dale Barlow.
Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry.
Officials in Texas declined to comment on Saturday on whether they had found Barlow, citing a gag order, but the man’s probation officer told the Salt Lake Tribune that he was in Arizona.
“He said the authorities had called him [in Colorado City, Arizona] and some girl had accused him of assaulting her and he didn’t even know who she was,” said Bill Loader, a probation officer in Arizona.
Barlow was sentenced to jail time last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation.
His lawyer in that case, Bruce Griffen, said he had not spoken to Barlow in a year.
The search warrant instructed officers to look for marriage records or other evidence linking her to the man and the baby. The warrant authorized the seizure of computer drives, CDs, DVDs or photos.
Those inside the retreat did not respond to requests for comment.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints broke away from the Mormon church after the latter disavowed polygamy more than a century ago.
The compound sits down a narrow paved road and behind a hill that shields it almost entirely from view in town. Only the 24m-high, gleaming white temple can be seen on the horizon. Authorities blocked access to the gate, keeping onlookers miles away.
The 688-hectare property had been an exotic game ranch. It is surrounded by dusty, wind-swept land where sheep are raised and mohair produced.
Eldorado is a two-stoplight town of fewer than 2,000 people and located about 320km northwest of San Antonio.
It consists of a cluster of government buildings, a couple churches and a few blocks of houses.
State officials said they did not know how many people lived at the retreat, although local officials estimated about 150 two years ago.
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