(CNN) — Texas authorities are investigating “the safety of children” at a ranch occupied by about 400 followers of polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs, officials said Friday.
Authorities have sealed off the 1,900-acre ranch near Eldorado and no one is allowed to enter or leave, officials with Child Protective Services and the Department of Public Safety said.
The people living at the ranch are cooperating, authorities said.
Escorted by police, social workers entered the compound in south central Texas at 8 p.m. Thursday after receiving “a referral,” said Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner.
Several law enforcement agencies are assisting with the investigation, said Tela Mange, of the Texas Department of Public Safety. “The people at the ranch have been cooperative and they are providing the investigators with everyone they want to talk to,” she said.
Jeffs’ Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) bought 1,900 acres near Eldorado four years ago and built the ranch, which they call the YFZ Ranch. It is now home to as many as 400 members who relocated from their Arizona and Utah compounds.
Jeffs, the 52-year-old leader and “prophet” of the 10,000-member church, was convicted in Utah last year on two counts of being an accomplice to rape, charges related to a marriage he performed in 2001. He still faces trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy.
When CNN crews have visited the ranch, it was guarded by armed men equipped with night vision gear and other high-tech surveillance tools to prevent intruders.
When CNN flew over the ranch in a small plane last year, the crew saw a massive temple, the three-story housing units where Jeffs’ chosen followers live, the water tower, the school and community center, the dairy and cheese factory and a massive concrete mill. More…
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mullah cimoc say this to showing ameriki just the satanic.
like the village it vietnam: we must to destroying it just to be save it.
hypocrite beast claim to be the free but just the serve devil.
benjamin frankling be so ashame if to see this destroy family, only love lesbian and to killing abortion so many him ameriki baby just to poking the head for suck dry it brain meat. this ameriki him love. but then claim to protecting it children.