DNA taken from FLDS ‘prophet’ in criminal probe
SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) — Texas authorities say they have collected DNA swabs from jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs in connection with a criminal investigation involving spiritual marriages to girls as young as 12.
The samples were collected Thursday from Jeffs, the 52-year-old prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Jerry Strickland, spokesman for the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
A search warrant for the DNA alleges that Jeffs had so-called spiritual marriages with four girls, ages 12 to 15, The Associated Press reported.
The criminal investigation is separate from the ongoing custody case. Timeline
Earlier this week, photographs showing Jeffs with what appeared to be young girls surfaced as part of the custody case court file.
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that social workers overstepped their authority in rounding up more than 460 children from the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado. A hearing in the custody case is scheduled later this afternoon.
Child Protective Services did not present sufficient evidence that children were being abused, the state’s highest court ruled, upholding a lower appeals court. We are not inclined to disturb the court of appeals’ decision, the high court said. On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted.
The 6-3 ruling could clear the way for the children to be returned to their families.
Although it came in the case of 38 mothers who had appealed the removal of their children, attorneys in the case have said the reasoning can be applied to all the children taken in the April raid. Watch the sect’s spokesman demand the children back
It’s unlikely the children will be returned to their homes soon, because it’s unclear which child belongs to which parent. A DNA testing order by the district court is incomplete.
State officials have said the sect, with its polygamist beliefs, groomed young boys on the ranch to be abusers. FLDS members deny any sexual abuse at the ranch and claim that they are being persecuted because of their religion.
The district court said in its ruling that CPS did not demonstrate that all the children on the ranch faced imminent danger, as necessary for their removal.
CPS said it will work to reunite children covered under the ruling with their parents.
Jeffs, the sect’s 52-year-old prophet, is in a Utah prison, serving two consecutive terms of five years to life after being convicted on two charges of being an accomplice to rape in connection with a marriage he performed in 2001. He also faces trial in Arizona on eight charges, including sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy.
