Abuse widespread in polygamist group

SAN ANTONIO (AP/KXAN) - A new report finds nearly two-thirds of the families involved in the April raid of a polygamist sect's West Texas ranch had children who were abused or neglected. The Department of Family and Protective Services  report concludes there was evidence that 12 girls, ages 12 to 15, were "spiritually" married to adult men. Those men are part of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which runs the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado.

The report said seven of those girls had one or more children. Another 262 children were listed as neglected because their parents knew there was sexual abuse in the household but did not move to protect their children. Church spokesman Willie Jessop disputes the findings.

Jessop said the department has made many allegations that it has never been able to back up, in an effort to justify what he calls "their barbaric actions." Most of the children were later returned to their parents. The Texas Supreme Court ruled the state had overstepped in removing all the children when it only had evidence of abuse or neglect involving about a half-dozen girls.

The report is 21-pages long and was released days before the holiday season. Something that the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project said speaks volume about gross misconduct by the agency.

"I think the timing of the release is so that it won't draw much attention from the public," said Jim Harrington, with the Texas Civil rights project. "It's probably the most opportune time to release a report that is basically unfavorable."

Jim Harrington is familiar with the case where child protective services removed 439 children, along with some of their mothers, from their homes in El Dorado in April 2008. It all started with an anonymous call about alleged abuse and sexual assault of underage girls. That call later turned out to be a hoax.

"They try to cover up the spurious tip that they got," said Harrington. "The anonymous tip, they don't talk anything about the lack of credibility to that tip."

Even though the report goes on to conclude that 12 girls were victims of sexual and 262 where neglected, Harrington said it does not justify removal of the children. He believes it was all centered on religion, but the report said "The Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children....has never been about religion."

Harrington said the report lacks the details and should be written by independent investigators that can give unbiased conclusions. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services refused to grant interviews to the media about the report and a spokesperson said everything was in the report.