ஆபாச கிறிஸ்துவ சர்ச்சிலிருந்து 183 பெண்கள், சிறுமிகள் காப்பாற்றப்பட்டார்கள்

ஆபாச கிறிஸ்துவ சர்ச்சிலிருந்து 183 பெண்கள் காப்பாற்றப்பட்டார்கள்

Texas removes 183 women and girls from sect ranch
Sat Apr 5, 2008 11:49pm EDT

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas officials investigating a potential child abuse case said on Saturday 183 girls and women had been removed from a ranch that is home to a breakaway Mormon sect linked to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

Texas Child Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the 183 consisted of 137 girls and 46 women, but she could not discuss why they were taken from the ranch or whether they had left voluntarily.

Only 18 members of the group had been placed in the legal custody of the state agency, she said by telephone.

Local media reports said sect leaders had earlier refused to let authorities search the compound but local prosecutor Allison Palmer told Reuters the situation has been "defused".

"The residents have very strong feelings about their place of worship. But the authorities have managed to work through that with them in a peaceful manner it seems," Palmer told Reuters by telephone.

He said police were still conducting a search of the premises.

Investigators were looking for a young woman whose complaint sparked the raid in the first place though Palmer said there was a chance that she might be among the scores who had been removed from the compound and had not yet been identified.

Texas authorities descended on the ranch this week in response to allegations that a 50-year-old man there had married and fathered a child with an underage girl.

An official at the sheriff's department in the nearby town on Eldorado told Reuters that police were working at the compound around the clock in shifts and that everything had been "smooth." Continued...