Texas Seizes FLDS Ranch in West Texas Six Years After Child Removal

Texas state and local authorities seized the 1,700-acre Yearning For Zion Ranch outside Eldorado this week, six years after Texas officials removed hundreds of children from their polygamist parents, according to a 2014 report by the Texas Tribune.

The Texas Department of Public Safety said the few remaining residents living on the property had agreed to leave. The state’s seizure warrant said the property was forfeited because it had been used in criminal activity. The Schleicher County Sheriff’s Office and the Texas Department of Public Safety met with current residents on Wednesday, April 16, and provided copies of the court orders.

The events at the ranch began on April 3, 2008, when Texas Child Protective Services caseworkers entered the ranch to question Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) members about reports that teenage girls were married to adult men. The Tribune reported that the call that led investigators to the ranch was a hoax. Even so, CPS removed 439 children as a precaution. Protecting children at risk of harm stood at the center of the case (Proverbs 31:8-9).

According to the Tribune, ten of the 11 church members prosecuted, including leader Warren Jeffs, were convicted on child sexual assault charges. The Texas Attorney General’s Office filed for seizure of the property in 2012. The 51st District Court entered a default judgment after the FLDS did not contest the action.

A later report, published by the Associated Press and the Deseret News, focused on clothing rather than the legal case. It said images of girls and women in 19th-century, pioneer-style garb spread across the media after what the report called the recent raid of the church. The Deseret News account describes the women from the Texas compound as wearing ankle-length dresses, appearing without makeup, and having uniform hair. The Tribune’s account, by contrast, described the 2014 action as a seizure in which residents had agreed to leave.

The report said the puff-sleeved, pastel dresses combine original 19th-century wear with 1950s clothing that the church adopted when it took a conservative turn, according to anthropologist Janet Bennion, who studies polygamist women. The dresses are meant to show modesty and conformity. They extend to the ankles and wrists and are often worn over garments or pants. John Llewellyn, a polygamy expert and retired Salt Lake County sheriff’s lieutenant, is also identified in the report.