Polygamists: Authorities Prepare For the Worst in Texas

Special bond formed at children's shelter
6/3/2008 6:31 PM
By: Kendra Mendez


Paintings are the only things the children left behind.
What most of us know about the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints comes from the images we see on the news or what we read in the paper.

Gena VanOsselar and her co-workers at the Austin Children's Shelter got an experience most people will never get.

"There's no question that some bonds were formed; it was really hard to say goodbye," VanOsselar said.

Volunteers at the local shelter perhaps got the best glimpse into the lives many are curious about.

"We had read that they had a fear of technology, so we took down our computer lab, and the first night one of the mothers pulled out her iPod and asked where she could dock it," VanOsselar said. "It surprised us because we didn't expect them to be so technology savvy," she said.

Sixteen children and mothers spent about six weeks at the shelter where they slept in cribs lined in rows.

Kathleen Weager worked with many of the young children.

"They're such very gentle people, very gentle children and very focused," Weager said.

During their stay, with their mothers' permission, the children even got to experience some new things.

"The second week, I asked the mom if it would be okay if we did some painting and they said okay, and so I brought out some water colors and the children loved the water colors," Weager said.


The shelter brought in a pianist so the women and children could hold church services.
Their paintings are the only things they left behind. The shelter staff tried everything to help them feel as normal and as comfortable as they could, even brining in a pianist so they could hold their religious services.

They also learned that their diet is mostly organic, but they're no strangers to fast food. Workers said they loved Wendy's chicken sandwiches.

"Ultimately we all learned that what's important is what we have in common more than our differences," VanOsselaer said.

Even though their stay was short, VanOsselaer said it's the impact on both lives that's important never to forget:

"Anything that we read about them is now counter-balanced with our experience of coming to know them and forming a relationship with them."

How do FLDS know whom they're going to marry?
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/09/2008 12:41:00 AM MDT


The FLDS do not court or date. Typically, a girl and/or her parents decide she is mature enough to marry and submit her name to the prophet.
That timing varies from family to family; some girls have said they believed they were ready for marriage before their parents did and vice versa.
The prophet arranges marriages, which are seen as inspired by God - although some members say they were asked by past church presidents if they had received their own inspiration about whom to marry. It is sign of faithfulness to accept a match made by the prophet.
Members say women may defer marriage or reject a match but social and religious pressure make that rare.
A marriage ceremony may occur within minutes or days of a match being made. Ceremonies are private, involving the couple, often their parents, high-ranking church leaders and the prophet.
The prophet may designate someone to conduct the ceremony.
The couple then "court," which may take days to months, before consummating the marriage.
- Brooke Adams

Polygamous sect figure meets with Utah Attorney General reps
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 06/13/2008 11:43:27 AM MDT


In what may be a historic turning point, an FLDS church spokesman spent four hours Thursday with representatives of the Utah Attorney General's Office - a meeting both sides described as a small, first step toward more open communication.
Willie Jessop, spokesman for the polygamous sect, met with Kirk Torgensen, chief deputy, and several other staff members.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who traveled to Nevada on Wednesday to discuss the FLDS and other polygamy issues with counterparts from three states, did not attend the gathering. Jessop said he hopes for a future meeting with him.
"We've always seen him quick to the table when it's against the FLDS," Jessop said, who requested the meeting. "So our question is, what will Mark Shurtleff do?"
It was the first formal conversation between a representative of the polygamous Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Attorney General's Office since Warren S. Jeffs took over as leader of the church in 2002.
"We hope this meeting will begin to open doors," Jessop said, who came alone because of "uncertainty about how we'd be treated."
Torgensen did not return a telephone call Thursday night. Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, did not attend but also said the meeting was a positive first step.
"There are a lot of bridges to be built," he said. "We've talked and now we discover whether we can trust what the other person has said."
The sect has historically been based in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. It began building the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, in 2004.
The meeting covered a range of issues, most related to the removal of about 450 children from the YFZ Ranch in April.
Among topics discussed: a list created by the Washington County Sheriff's Office and shared with Texas officials, describing nearly two dozen FLDS members as potentially dangerous.
Jessop said he made a formal complaint to Torgensen about the profile list and asked for help setting the record straight about those named on it.
"We're the kind of people for whom an apology goes a long way," he said.
Jessop said he was asked whether FLDS would participate in the state's Safety Net Committee, which facilitates interaction between polygamous groups and government services. But "that's impossible when you've got profiling going on and you've got government officials trying to smear us," he said.
The FLDS have had only limited participation in the committee to date and Murphy challenged Jessop to increase the sect's presence in the group.
"If he feels people in his community are being unfairly treated, it is the perfect issue to bring up in the Safety Net," Murphy said.
Jessop said he also was asked about a marriage statement issued by the FLDS church 10 days ago, in which the sect pledged to not violate marriage age laws in any state where members reside. The Attorney General's Office wanted clarification on whether it would also abide by bigamy laws.
"We're hoping the FLDS church is going to stop underage marriages, which is the No. 1 issue we've had," Murphy said. The Attorney General's Office also has wanted clarification from Jessop about his role in representing the FLDS church. "We still need to hear who he is and how much authority he has to carry out whatever he says," Murphy said.
Jeffs has been sentenced to serve up to life in prison for his Utah convictions as an accomplice to rape, for a marriage he conducted. He is now in jail in Arizona, awaiting trial on similar charges.

The state of Texas expects to shell out four point five million dollars, to pay for the legal fees involved with the FLDS raid in April. Now, that amount will only cover one third of the total costs of the raid. The entire raid is estimated to top $14 million. Most of the money was spent on court proceedings after more than 400 children were taken from the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado. A state District Judge in San Angelo originally gave children protective services custody of the kids. However, Texas Supreme Court recently ruled to return the children back to their parents.

FLDS Update: CPS Workers Talk About Investigation
Reported by: Kristen Clark
Thursday, Jun 12, 2008 @07:46am CST

It's been a week now since more than 400 YFZ ranch children left foster care across the state to be returned to their parents who are members of the polygamist Fundamentalist Mormon Church.

Even though the children are no longer in state custody, for Child Protective Services workers in San Angelo the investigation into child abuse continues.

Because of the ongoing investigation - Supervisor Angie Voss could not comment on the specifics of the case, but she and other investigators say they still believe the original decision to remove the children from the YFZ ranch was the right one.

Angie Voss, CPS Supervisor, " A combination of things happened within the first two hours that caused me great concern for the children. I don't know how to describe it if you weren't there - the atmosphere and the feeling of it. It's not a place for children."

For the past two months CPS investigators in San Angelo have been sorting thru the massive amount of evidence- what was once a conference room has now been turned into a taskforce center. Dozens of computers help investigators compile the information.....Photos of various FLDS members are on the walls with notes about dates of birth and possible marriage dates.

Paul Dyer a Special Investigator with the department, says not being able to talk about the case is difficult.

Paul Dyer, Special Investigator, CPS," Thru investigation we know things that no one knows and we just wish they did and at some point they will, but it's hard...Beyond our large workroom where we are all working, fact is not known and then you have people that are giving opinion and there's a big difference between opinion and fact."

Since the first week in April when they first entered the ranch, investigators have been working late nights and long weekends. Tina Martinez says having the support of her family has made it easier for her to spend so much time on this case...

Tina Martinez, CPS Investigator, "My family knows I would not give up time with my children if I had an inkling that we weren't doing the right thing, and that there is so much that we need to do. They know I wouldn't give up that time with them."

Paul Dyer, "My immediate family and friends know that I wouldn't

be committed to this if it didn't warrant it. If it wasn't something real and something very important. Thru 27 years as a detective at the Police Department this has been the hardest investigation I've ever been involved in bar none."

State law required a hearing to be held 14 days from when investigators first went in.... but since it took 5 days to get all the children off the ranch, that left investigators with a little more than a week to interview and gather evidence on the more than 400 children.

Angie Voss, "I wish I could testify now to what I know now, because so much more has come to light that has validated everything that we thought. And one thing I do remember saying when I was on the stand is that I think we've hit the tip of the iceberg and I'm certain of that now."

Even though a court order allowed the children to return to the ranch....Voss insists the investigation has not ended...

Angie Voss, "We continue to find more information that makes us feel even more strongly about the cause and the initial call and the initial reasons that we went onto the ranch and we are still in here fighting."

Polygamy couture: Sect's clothing line selling well on Web
By Eric Wilson Published: July 3, 2008



Do we have to call it polygamy chic?

The polygamist sect that drew the world's attention in April when hundreds of children were seized in a raid at its Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas, has begun to sell children's versions of the conservative prairie dresses worn by its members through a Web site, fldsdress.com, creating something of a fashion sensation.

Maggie Jessop, a member of the sect, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told The Salt Lake Tribune this week that the community had been flooded with interest since it began selling online several children's styles, which adhere to the church's standards for clothing that is neat and comely but not costly.

"We have to make a living the same as everyone does," Jessop said.

Considering the uniform look of the church members who appeared in Texas courts to regain custody of their children, the site offers a surprising variety of children's styles - overalls, underwear, jeans, onesies and baby dresses sold with or without bloomers, available in pink, peach, yellow, green, blue, lavender and lilac.

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A basic dress sells for $48.07 and a nightgown costs $31.81, but they recall the timeless quality and charitable notions of handmade crafts sold through 19th-century women's exchanges.

The venture may have come not a moment too soon. There has not been a soul in the fashion world who has not queasily wondered which designers will cite the women of the Yearning for Zion ranch as an inspiration for their next collections.

Designers have been tempted to mine cultures with an insensitive and not entirely comprehending eye in the past. For example, Donna Karan and Yves Saint Laurent have borrowed liberally from peoples Aboriginal to Maasai, and Jean Paul Gaultier once based a menswear collection on traditional Hasidic attire.

The Easter egg palette and box-pleat, huge princess-sleeve styles of the polygamist wives may still prove irresistible. But who does their hair?

Mothers in polygamous sect selling FLDS fashions online
182 commentsby Jaimee Rose - Jul. 2, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Polygamy's pop-culture moment now extends to the closet. FLDS women are offering their handmade, old-fashioned children's clothing for sale online - long underwear, slips and all.

At FLDSDress.com, pastel-pink dresses and denim overalls mirror the clothing that intrigued the nation when authorities raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Texas in April, taking children into custody while investigating charges of underage marriage and child abuse.

There are $65 "teen princess" dresses that stretch from ankle to wrist, long pajamas and matching robes, all sewn by the mothers themselves, even some in Arizona's own polygamist enclave of Colorado City.


Sales of the clothing will help the Texas FLDS women pay rent and support their families. Now displaced from their homes at the ranch, most of them are still in the midst of a child-abuse investigation, and lawyers have advised them to establish their own households.

Mothers originally created the site so Texas officials could get FLDS-approved clothing for the children while they were in state custody. Turns out other people were interested, too.

"We're used to our clothing not being popular," said Maggie Jessop, 44, an FLDS member who helps coordinate the sewing efforts. "(But) we've had many, many people say that they would like to have their children be more modest and have expressed interest in our modest lifestyle."

"There were a lot of people that asked, 'Where can I purchase those clothes?' " said Cynthia Martinez, spokeswoman for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, which represents 48 of the mothers.

Paul Murphy, spokesman for the Utah Attorney General's Office, finds the FLDS women's fashion offerings quite smart.

"It's very clever," he said. "With all the issues that are going on, most of the media attention has been about the way they dress and the way they wear their hair.

"I give them credit for going where the interest is."

FLDSDress.com has dispatched packages to California, Iowa, New York, Washington, and even Arizona, Maggie Jessop said, and not just the FLDS-heavy Colorado City area, either.

The FLDS wardrobe puzzled and captivated America as events unfolded in Texas. The poufed hairstyles, long dresses and buttoned-up shirts are mandated by jailed FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, who disallows patterned fabric and the color red. The FLDS members wear the clothing as a symbol of their faith.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is part of a group that split from the Mormon Church in 1890 over the practice of polygamy. Those who have fled the polygamist sect have long accused it of conducting underage marriages and other abuse.

Jeffs was convicted in September of being an accomplice to rape, charges stemming from his role in marrying a girl to her first cousin. In April, reports of pregnant teenagers and underage marriages sent Texas authorities swarming the YFZ Ranch. They pulled 449 children away from the arms of their parents, and mournful mothers appeared on morning talk shows, pleading for their children. Their efforts turned public sympathy in favor of the polygamists, and the FLDS capitalized on that with many fundraising Web sites.

Just three days after the children were separated from their mothers, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's office logged 449 comments that opposed the separation and just 32 in support, according to a report in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Polygamy itself is a hot talking topic across the nation these days. The HBO series Big Love provides a fictionalized version of life as a plural wife. Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl is set to star in the movie version of former FLDS member Carolyn Jessop's memoir, Escape, and Carolyn is working on the script with screenwriters now. She fled the sect and her plural marriage in 2003. Her story about leaving Colorado City topped bestseller lists during the Texas raid.

Carolyn sewed costumes for Big Love, and since the Texas raids, has been approached by others who want such clothes to wear as costumes on Halloween.

"They even want me to help them comb a wig up (in the FLDS style), Carolyn said. "That's the other thing those guys ought to be doing, selling wigs with the face frame (hairstyle) already done."

The FLDS women don't mind if their wardrobe inspires a Halloween trend.

"If some people want to act weird, that's their problem, not ours," Maggie said. And a beauty lesson could be arranged, she added.

FLDS women have a long history behind the sewing machine. For years, they staffed a clothing factory in Colorado City and sewed things like uniforms in addition to handcrafting all the clothing worn by their families.

Clothing sold on their Web site is cut out at the sewing factory on the ranch in Texas and then sent in pieces to the mothers across the state for completion.


Carolyn Jessop applauds the women for finding a way to support themselves and tiptoe toward independence.

"When 100 percent of their (financial) support is coming from the (FLDS) church, that makes them 100 percent dependent on the church," she said. "If they realize they have a skill that is marketable ... they might realize they could do it outside of the church."

Familiar with FLDS financial practices, Carolyn is concerned that the funds the women earn with their clothing sales won't end up in the mothers' pockets.

According to an FLDS spokesman, the women are paid per item sewn, and if they draw in more revenue than is needed to cover expenses, it is shared with other families.

"If people who purchase (the clothing) would at least request that they make the check out to the woman who made the garment," Carolyn said, "then this could be a really positive

AUSTIN - Five indicted men from a polygamist sect in West Texas have surrendered to authorities, Attorney General Greg Abbott announced today.

The five were among six sect members indicted last week by a grand jury in the West Texas town of Eldorado with offenses relating to the sect's practice of marrying minor girls to adult men.

Four of the men and Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, who also was indicted, were charged with felony sexual assault of a child.

Another man was charged with failing to report child abuse.

Previously, only Jeffs, who is jailed in Arizona awaiting trial on similar charges, had been identified by the attorney general's office.

Jeffs was convicted of similar offenses in Utah last year.

Abbott said the investigation is continuing and could result in additional charges.

The Texas criminal charges followed a three-month investigation that began with Texas Child Protective Services raiding the group's West Texas ranch in April to remove more than 400 children because of suspected child abuse.

The children eventually were returned to their parents following a Texas Supreme Court ruling, but they remain under court protection and monitoring by the state.