The 16-year-old girl whose phone call led to the massive raid on a West Texas polygamist compound was repeatedly beaten and sexually abused by her much-older husband, according to state documents released yesterday.
In a March 29 phone call to a local shelter, the girl said she was married to the 49-year-old man at 15 and that she was his seventh wife. She had an eight-month-old baby by him and was pregnant again.
Her husband had a violent temper, she said, and had once beaten her so badly that he broke her ribs. He also had forced himself on her sexually.
She also said she was being held against her will at the Yearn for Zion Ranch, a 1,700-acre compound in Eldorado, Texas, owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a polygamous sect.
Girls at the YFZ Ranch were groomed from birth to accept spiritual marriages as young teenagers to older men, documents released by the state Family and Protective Services show.
Since Friday, the state has taken 416 children from the compound into protective custody after finding a “pervasive pattern” of sexual abuse of minor girls, according to an affidavit slated to be filed in court today.
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The children are in foster care and will be placed in homes over the next few weeks, said Family and Protective Services department spokesman Darrell Azar.
“We found a number of young teenagers who were pregnant and some who had already given birth,” he said. “Our investigation determined there was a widespread practice of conditioning young girls and getting them ready to become the spiritual wives of older men and have sex with them.”
The children are residing temporarily at a nearby facility, with 139 women from the compound, presumed to be their mothers.
In the documents, child welfare authorities said the boys also faced abuse in that they were expected to become sexual predators as adults.
“Similarly, minor boys residing on the YFZ Ranch after they become adults are spiritually married to minor female children and engage in sexual relationships with them resulting in them becoming sexual perpetrators,” the documents state.
Whether the 16-year-old girl who made the call to authorities is among the children has not been determined. The women and children are giving mixed stories to investigators, Mr. Azar said.
“We need to figure out who these children are,” he said, adding the department likely would request court orders for DNA testing as the investigation continues. “Their names change. They have similar names,” he said. “We’re not getting enough information and enough similar information.”
Documents show the 16-year-old girl had a change of heart after her first contact with the shelter, and made another phone call the next day recanting her story.
Her statements were enough for authorities to raid the compound, the largest of its kind for state Child Protective Services.
Authorities arrested two men for interfering with the search. Leroy Johnson Steed, 41, was charged with tampering with physical evidence, according to the state Department of Public Safety. Levi Barlow Jeffs, 19, was charged with interfering with the duties of a public servant.
Authorities declined to say how Mr. Jeffs might be related to sect founder Warren Jeffs, who is in prison for serving as an accomplice in the rape of a 14-year-old girl whom he married to an older man.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
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