YFZ Ranch
The Ranch was settled by members of the FLDS Church who left Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona under increasing scrutiny from the media, anti-polygamy activists and law enforcement officials.
[5] Speaking in Sunday church services on August 10, 2003, Warren Jeffs declared that the blessings of the priesthood had been removed from the community of Short Creek (Colorado City and Hildale).
[8] The YFZ Land LLC, through its president, David S. Allred, purchased the ranch in 2003 for $700,000[9] and quickly began development on the property.
Allred stuck with that story even after William Benjamin Johnson, a Hildale man, was alleged to be shooting all the white-tail deer on the ranch and, after an investigation, was fined for hunting without a license.
[11] Later, ranch officials disclosed that the hunting retreat description was inaccurate; the buildings were part of the FLDS Church's residential area.
The sect was fined over $34,000 for environmental violations in connection with buildings on the ranch, mainly due to its failure to obtain the required permits for its concrete-mixing operations.
[15] On March 29, 2008,[16] a local domestic violence shelter hotline took a call from a woman, identifying herself as "Sarah", and claiming to be a 16-year-old victim of physical and sexual abuse at the church's YFZ Ranch.
[16] SWAT teams, tactical vehicles, and police helicopters were deployed to the ranch in anticipation of armed resistance from the church members, but there was none.
[22] Troopers and child welfare officials searched the ranch,[23] including the temple's safes, vaults, locked desk drawers, and beds.
[24] They found evidence leading them to believe that the beds were "in a part of the temple where 'males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity' with underage girls".
[26] CPS spokesman Darrell Azar stated, "There was a systematic process going on to groom these young girls to become brides", and that the children could not be protected from possible future abuse on the ranch.
Interviews with the children "revealed that several underage girls were forced into 'spiritual marriage' with much older men as soon as they reached puberty and were then made pregnant".
[17] The children were held by the Child Protective Services at Fort Concho and the Wells Fargo Pavilion in San Angelo.
[33] A former member of the FLDS Church, Carolyn Jessop, arrived on-site April 6 in hopes of reuniting two of her daughters with their half siblings.
On May 22, 2008, an appeals court issued a writ of mandamus to Judge Walther and found that there was not enough evidence at the original hearing that the children were in immediate danger to justify keeping them in state custody.
On October 2, 2009, Judge Barbara Walther issued a ruling denying a defense motion to suppress the evidence seized from the YFZ Ranch, stating: The court finds that Defendants' offer of proof of deliberate falsehoods contained within the probable cause affidavits to support the two warrants is unsupported by credible evidence.
[46] On January 22, 2010, Michael George Emack pleaded no contest to sexual assault charges and was sentenced to seven years in prison.
[47] On February 5, 2010, Arizona Judge Steven F. Conn approved a stipulation from the previous day between Mohave County prosecutor Matt Smith and Warren Jeffs' defense attorney, Michael Piccarreta, that evidence seized from the YFZ Ranch in Texas would not be used in any manner in Warren Jeffs' two criminal trials in Arizona.
However, the CPS acted on additional evidence gathered while investigating this complaint, and Flora Jessop and some commentators have expressed gratitude to Swinton that her tip, even if false, allowed exposure of alleged child abuses.
[64][65] Louisa Jessop had been classified as 17 by CPS, although her husband had previously provided a birth certificate and driver's license to demonstrate that she was 22.
Child Protective Services lawyers on May 13 told Judge Walther that Louisa and the mother of a boy born April 29 were no longer considered to be minors.
Mental health workers who worked at the shelter testified similarly to state officials, also citing lack of privacy, only military cots for sleeping and poor-quality food, with no communications and threatened arrest if mothers waved to friends.
[79] At the beginning of May, National Review columnist John Derbyshire called the raid the "atrocity of the [previous] month", but said he had seen only one editorial critical of the removals.
FLDS and mental health workers complained about subjecting children to interrogation sessions, invasive physical examinations, pregnancy tests and complete body X-rays.
Newspapers released names of facilities caring for the FLDS children that have requested donations of specific items, help or cash.
[94] After the women regained custody of the children, one half of the families left the Yearning for Zion ranch and moved to another FLDS location.
Carey Cockerell, representing Texas CPS investigators, said on April 30 that they have identified 41 children with past diagnoses of fractured bones.
[98] On December 22, 2008, The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services issued a 21-page final report on the raid entitled "El Dorado Investigation".
"[99] A year after the raid, two thirds of the families were back at the ranch and sect leaders had promised to end underaged marriages.
[113] In 2019, it was reported as having been leased and in the process of being sold to the Dallas-based firm ETG Properties LLC, who were providing it to the military and law enforcement for training use.
