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Polygamist Ranch Still Being Investigated
Texas authorities are still investigating the Yearning for Zion Ranch
The children have been returned to their parents, but Texas authorities say that the investigation of the Yearning for Zion church is not over.
The Texas Attorney General's office as well as the Texas Department of Safety have now taken over the case.
Initially 440 children had been taken from the ranch, despite protests by nearly the same number of lawyers working for the children's mothers. The State of Texas was very concerned about arresting the church members in the first place, even going so far as to suggest a secret plan to move in, hoping to avoid a violent confrontation. Texas authorities estimate the cost of the operation in the early days as being $2.3 million and involving 1,000 people.
Today a judge in Arizona also dropped 4 incest charges against church leader Warren Jeffs.
n his ruling filed late Wednesday, Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven Conn dismissed four incest charges against Jeffs at the request of the defence. The charges stemmed from the arranged marriage of two girls younger than 18 and their older male relatives, one of whom was in his 50s. Conn ruled that Arizona's incest law only applies if both participants in the sexual activity are older than 18, and that the law does not apply to half cousins.Warren Jeffs remains jailed in Kingman, Arizon and faces four counts that are similar to the dismissed charges.
