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Polygamist Sect Families Reunited

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The Associated Press

Published: June 4, 2008

ELDORADO, Texas - Families from a polygamist sect began trickling back to the Yearning For Zion Ranch on Tuesday - exactly two months after child welfare authorities and law enforcement first arrived at its battered metal gate looking for a caller to a domestic abuse hot line.

"We're sure grateful to be home," said Zavenda Young, whose 3-year-old daughter clung to her while her three sons, ages 5 to 9, stood nearby. "They can't believe it, for sure. Even though we drove all night, they hardly slept."

The more than 400 children seized from the west Texas ranch in April had been sent to foster care facilities across the state, so many families faced treks of hundreds of miles.

Willie Jessop, an elder with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, didn't know how many children were back Tuesday or how many more would be returning. He said some families were cautious about bringing children back to the 1,700-acre spread they last saw when police clad in body armor raided the ranch's homes, school and temple, looking for evidence of underage girls pressed into marriage and sex.

"This is the scene of the crime, and the crime is not how they lived. It's how they were taken out of here," Jessop said.

The Texas Supreme Court ruled last week that the state overreached in the massive custody case by taking all children from the ranch when evidence of sexual abuse was limited to a few teenage girls.

Young's husband, Edson Jessop, said his family intends to stay at the ranch even though it's unclear what some of his fellow sect members will do. "We didn't build this place to walk away," he said.

Even as families returned to the ranch in Schleicher County, Sheriff David Doran said he thinks the raid was handled appropriately and he expects some members to face criminal charges.

"This needed to be done. There was an outcry for help. There were crimes being uncovered. There were victims on the property," he said Tuesday, predicting indictments in the next several months.

The criminal investigation is being conducted by the Texas attorney general's office and the Texas Rangers. No charges have been filed.

Parents began picking up their children Monday after a judge, bowing to the high court's ruling, signed an order returning roughly 430 children to their parents.

Child Protective Services officials said 397 had gone home with their parents by Tuesday. The remaining children, except for one girl whose attorney asked that she stay in custody, were likely to be reunited with parents today.

"Everybody is trying really hard to be patient and considerate," Willie Jessop said. "We know more and more are leaving every hour."

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