FLDS, November 25

"To date, 12 people associated with the polygamist compound in Eldorado have been indicted as part of the ongoing and continuing criminal investigation," Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.

SLTrib


Meanwhile, Arizona prosecutors claim they have no intention of using any of the documents seized at the YFZ ranch in Warren Jeffs' trial. Jeffs' attorneys don't believe it:

defense attorneys Richard Wright and Michael Piccarreta note that Arizona law enforcement has been in Texas reviewing thousands of documents.

"The state has just disclosed an 'FLDS Evidence Inventory' of items received and reviewed by the state of Arizona from the Texas raids," they wrote. "The inventory itself comprises 23 pages and references thousands of documents and other items, including religious materials that are obviously constitutionally protected and other privileged communications."

They point to federal authorities' acknowledgment of a database for information sharing among several states with criminal probes into the FLDS Church and Jeffs in particular.

"Given the extraordinary extent of these coordinated prosection efforts, the court may understand the defendant's reluctance to accept the state's assurance that those efforts, designed specifically to obtain evidence against him and others, will have no bearing on the current criminal proceedings," Wright and Piccarreta wrote.

The judge said that unless a deal is struck between prosecutors and Jeffs' defense team, he may have to rule on the legality of the search in Texas.

And won't that be interesting. What if he rules that the search was illegal? There go the Bishop's records, which make up the bulk of the reason for going after the 12 men they have managed to indict. Some of those 12 men, if not all, are probably guilty of the charges against them and they may yet go free, after further state expenditures in the millions, because of the shoddy way Texas has handled this mess.

PIcaretta would like to interview anti-FLDS activist, and frankly, nutcase Flora Jessop, since it was her conversations with the hoaxer Rozita Swinton that sparked the raid on YfZ. He wants to list to recordings of those phone calls (weren't we told at some point that the calls were not recorded?). She initially agreed, but then backed out when Picaretta refused to meet a new condition she imposed:

Piccarreta said Jessop refused to proceed unless Mike Watkiss, a reporter with KTVK Channel 3 News in Phoenix, and his cameraman were allowed to record the meeting.

Piccarreta said he had never had such a demand in 34 years of criminal defense work. "That is not the purpose of an interview, to provide entertainment on television," he said.

He said the request also was inappropriate due to a courtroom ban on television cameras in Jeffs' Arizona proceedings.

You know, CPS was outraged and vindictive because Merrianne and her family wanted cameras there to record the way CPS handled returning Merrianne to state custody. So were CPS supporters- and yet in just about every instance I've seen, the same exact people who thought it was outrageous and deserving of punishment for the families victimized by CPS to insist on a camera presence, they are fawning over FLora's dishonesty- she initially agreed to this interview, remember, and only imposed the camera crew restriction at the last moment essentially going back on her word.

I'm a little confused by part of the timeline in the article. According to the article, Piccarretta wants to talk to Jessop about phone calls with a person using 'the phone linked to Swinton,' and these conversations occurred between March 22 and April 16.

However, the next paragraph says

"In calls that began March 29, the caller claimed to be a 16-year-old being abused by her husband at the sect's ranch."

And then we get this:

Jessop has said she received her first similar call on March 30. In numerous calls taped by Jessop, the caller claimed to be a young girl in Colorado City, Ariz., who was being abused by her husband. Jessop alerted authorities on April 4...

So... did the phone calls begin March 22, the 29th, or the 30th? And WHY, when confronted with an allegedly pregnant allegedly 16 year old girl allegedly bigamously married to a man allegedly beating the stuffing out of her (to the point of requiring hospitalization, according to the stories Swinton and Jessop told), did Jessop wait a minimum of FIVE days, and possibly TWELVE before alerting authorities?

Incidentally, the state has nonsuited all but 36 children- and that number includes the children of the doctor, who is only charged with a misdemeanor offense that Planned Parenthood commits every day- that of failure to report that a 16 year old is pregnant.
Only 12 men have been indicted after multiple Grand Jury meetings (a reminder: ONE afternoon a few months ago, a Grand Jury in the same county indicted fifty people on various charges, nothing to do with FLDS).

Here's a bit more on the FLDS teen who won't let Texas officials see her baby:

She gave birth in San Antonio on June 14, two months before her 17th birthday and two weeks after a Texas Supreme Court ruling returned FLDS children to their parents.

Attorney Kelly J. Ellis, who is representing the girl, did not return a telephone call from The Salt Lake Tribune.

John R. Dolezal, attorney for DFPS, said in a Nov. 14 court filing the department believes it is in the teenage mother's "best interest" to "provide her with parenting classes and related assistance in ensuring that she is able to appropriately provide for the care of her child."

So... she was 16 when she conceived. Have we seen any pregnant 13 year olds like CPS said they had? And she was, as they say, great with child when social services had her housed in a Baptist children's home, and they made no effort to keep her in custody, so they really weren't terribly interested in those parenting classes and making sure she was equipped to care for the infant she was about to give birth to.
Once more- here is an example where social services had at least enough of a case to convince most people that they had at least enough reason to hang on to this girl a little bit longer- and they didn't, demonstrating, once again, this really never was about the individual girls and children as human beings.
Willie Jessop says the girl's fear right now is that what CPS really wants is to yank her and her baby back into foster care. And right now, the only reason they have for trying to have anything to do with her at all is that she's 17 years old, unwed in the state's yes, and has an infant. Um, how many other Texas girls do you suppose fit that profile? If this were about minor girls having babies, we'd see CPS doing a lot more work in schools and indicting Planned Parenthood.


FLDS Leaders Surrender at Schleicher County Jail:

Two of Warren Jeffs' top lieutentants surrendered themselves Monday at the Schleicher County Jail after being indicted on November 12, 2008. Merril Jessop, and Wendell Neilson were escorted to the jail by Texas Rangers along with their attorney and FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop. Merril Jessop, 72, is charged with Conducting an Unlawful Marriage Ceremony Involving a Minor, while Wendell Neilson, 68, faces chages for 3 counts of felony Bigamy, 3rd degree felonies. Leroy Steed, 42, also surrendered himself, he is charged with 2 counts of Bigamy and a charge of Sexual Assualt of a Child. Steed was arrested during the YFZ Raid and charged with Tampering or Fabricating Evidence with Intent to Impair, a 3rd degree felony.

The three men all posted bond and were released. Merril Jessop is free on $30,000 surety bond. Wendel Neilson was released on $30,000 surety bond while Leroy Steed posted a $120,000 surety bond.

So here's a list of indictments:

Dr. Lloyd Hammon Barlow - Failure to report Child Abuse, 3 counts

Keith William Dutson, Jr. - Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count

Michael George Emack - Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count

Abram Harker Jeffs - Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count

Lehi Barlow Jeffs - Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count

Warren Steed Jeffs - Sexual Assautl of a Child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count; Aggravated Sexual Assault of a child; 1 count

Raymond Merril Jessop, Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count

Leroy Merril Jessop, Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count; Bigamy, 1 count

Allan Eugene Keate - Sexual Assault of a child, 1 count

Fredrick Merril Jessop - Conducting anlawful Marriage Ceremony of a Minor Child - 1 count

Wendell Loy Nielson - Bigamy, 3 counts

Lehi Johnson Steed - Sexual Assualt of a Child, 1 count; Bigamy, 2 counts; Tampering with Evidence, 1 count

Those interested can compare that to the information on the Bishop's List- noting that these 'sexual assault of a child' indictments are mostly about 16 year old brides- the legalities are one thing, and I don't approve of 'child-brides,' but let's not pretend this is as outrageous as CPS would like to claim. Angie Voss insisted every household on the ranch was involved in underaged marriage, and that every child was at immediate risk because of the religious views held by those at the ranch.

Over four hundred children kidnapped by the state and 26 adult women dishonestly held as children- all those children have been returned except one, and around 35 children have been returned to their parents but CPS is still keeping them on the books with court oversight. 12 men indicted- one of them already in jail for the last couple of years- and an incomplete cost of over 12 millions dollars so far.

This is not one of the great moments of Texas law enforcement or social services. I hope and pray those children and their mothers are recovering from their ordeal.