Original Phone Call WAS a Hoax!

Rozita Swinton was arrested at her home Wednesday evening on charges of false reporting in a local case, but Texas Rangers were present for the arrest, Colorado Springs police said Thursday night.

ABC News reported on its website Thursday that former Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints member Flora Jessop, who operates a rescue mission for teenage girls trying to escape the sect, told Texas authorities she had gotten calls from a girl claiming to be an abused member named Sarah.

A girl with that same name made the original calls for help to a San Angelo, Texas, hotline, sparking the raid in which 416 children were taken into protective custody.

Jessop told ABC News that the Texas Rangers directed her to record the calls and the Texas Rangers traced those calls to Colorado Springs.

From the Denver post, link via Grits for Breakfast, who asks, "So can the kids go home now?

Grits also points out:

The most troubling outstanding claim: A CPS investigator testified one FLDS woman "may" have given birth as young as 13, which of course also means she "may" not have done so. The same CPS investigator, Angie Voss, also testified yesterday that an FLDS woman told her "Sarah" does exist and does have a baby, something all FLDS sources deny, and which we now know is likely not true.

Voss is also the CPS investigator who testified the the girls are told how many babies to have, and that can't be true. She also testified that she didn't know if she had identified any boys and girls 17 and under who had been involved with each other. She's the one who showed up with armed police officers and all sorts of back up, acknowledges that the men of FLDS were civil, polite, and cooperative, she never saw any weapons, but she 'felt intimidated.'

Once more- I am not an LDS/Mormon of any sort. I don't even believe it's a Christian religion. I think Warren Jeffs, the head of this cult and a man currently serving jail time for his part in encouraging the rape of a 14 year old, is disgusting and long may he serve. I think most of the teachings of FLDS are anathema.

But so far what we have is five pregnant girls between the ages of 16 and 19, and the legal age for marriage in the state of Texas is 16, as of 2005. Being pregnant at those ages is not evidence of a crime (unless the 16 year old conceived before she was 16). If there are children being abused to the point of having broken bones or children being forced into marriages at any age, then deal with it the right way, respecting the law and the legal rights of people both to practice their religion and teach it to their children.

And what CPS and the state of Texas are doing to this group is dreadfully abusive and has long range consequences for all parents of any faith at all.

HEre's a jaw-dropper, read it carefully (emphasis added):

Girls at the YFZ Ranch were forced into marriage and gave birth as young as 13, a Child Protective Services investigator testified in perhaps the most groundbreaking moment of a sometimes-dramatic but mainly tedious opening to the state's largest custody hearing.

Although CPS investigations supervisor Angie Voss could confirm only five of the 416 children taken into custody since April 3 are younger than 17 and have either given birth or are pregnant, she told two packed courtrooms that dozens more young women likely conceived before legal age.

LIKELY?! 416 children removed from their homes without any better evidence than what Ms Voss thinks is LIKELY? And based on other reports of her testimony, she doesn't have 'girls' she has one girl who told her she'd heard of another girl who had a baby at 13, but she doesn't have that 13 year old mother, and she doesn't have any other confirmation that she exists.

It's legal (I keep repeating) to be married at 16 in the state of Texas, so I have to wonder if any of these 'five' are actually 17 years old? Otherwise, why not say, "Five girls 16 and younger" or "15 and younger?"
15 and under would really get our attention, wouldn't it, since that's clearly illegal? Do you think they don't mention them because they haven't found any?