Hopefully not another Waco

[Toad]

MSNBC:

Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Public Safety, said the criminal investigation was still under way and that charges would be filed if investigators determined children were abused.

No charges have been filed a week after the raid?

Forgive me for saying it but does this start to look like a fishing expedition to anyone else?

I do not doubt the possibility of statutory rape in this case; certainly Jeffs ...disciples... are a strange enough crew.

But, again, was their grand jury agreement before the raid? I have not seen that?

[Shuffler]

Well now... from the latest news I have heard...

The person who called originally has not been found. No one in the group pulled from the compound knows anyone by that name. One girl with a name close to that name was grilled for better than 3 hours... nothing.

The women were given the choice of staying at a home for abused women or returning..... all but 5 returned to the compound. The 5 that stayed were going with the youngest of the children.

The women were not allowed to see their children before leaving. The children have been taken away from them.

This is really starting to turn into a classic nazi type operation.

[Jackal1]

Starting to wonder about this whole thing. I'm no fan of LDS polygamists but why did they need Texas Wildlife officers

In case something is contested in the warrant/warrants.
A trumped up  suspicion of a game violation going in will cover this.
Texas game wardens do not require a warrant to enter your home/property for a search. They can use what back up on a search they desire.
It`s used a lot on drug raids.

[Ripsnort]

Which has yet to materialize.


 

COLORADO SPRINGS — A court document says a phone number used to report alleged abuse at a polygamist retreat in Texas had been used previously by a 33-year-old Colorado woman.

It's not yet clear whether authorities suspect Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs made any of the calls that triggered this month's raid of the compound.

An arrest warrant affidavit made public today says a phone number she had used previously was used to call a Texas crisis center before authorities conducted the raid and removed more than 400 children. Swinton's whereabouts are unknown.


http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/23/phone-number-polygamist-case-linked-colo-woman/

[Jackal1]

The document released today shows Swinton had an extensive record in Colorado Springs of posing as a troubled teen and making false claims.

[Angus]

BTW, didn't they DNA test some of the folks?
Anyway, with free will they can #### each other as much as they want, if they just leave the minors out of it....

[lazs2]

angus.. I agree.

lazs

[AWMac]

Kinda strange.

Within a Week they can do DNA tests on a 100 kids to determine who the Fathers are yet it took over a Month to try and find out who the Father was to Anna Nicole Smiths baby.

Seems like 100 kids of a religeous cult doesn't get the media coverage of a unmarried drug addicted has been PlayBoy Bunny / Gold Diggin Model?

Just an observation.

Mac

[Jackal1]

I agree with Angus.
The problem I have with the whole mess is the way things have been conducted. Very shoddy and bordering on criminal in itself.
Holding the entire male population on the property with no charges filed sounds a whole lot like illegal detainment to me. Actually......it sounds more like hostage taking..............or a police state.
It resembles a scenario where a murder or other crime has been committed in a small town.....so the entire town is surrounded and everyone is held until it can be worked out.
If you have charges against someone, file the charges and make the arrest. If not the whole mess is based on BS.
Fishing trips are best done at the lake.

[navajoboy]

why does texas attract the weird religious people?
Next thing you know there will be a group of WW2 aircraft worshipping group of old farts calling texas mecca.

oh wait..
nevermind.

 

[Angus]

News update on this.
Actually looks fishy.
460 under age may have been abused. A new batch of 25 girls were found to have become pregnant before they were 18 (well that happens, but by batches in a religious sort of colony smells like some sort of a norm)
DNA tests are now being used to try and figure out who belongs to who.
Well, if had a say...16 years old daughter that gets involved with some pregnancy cult in Texas as wife#3 of some 50 year old......what could I do? Go in guns blazing? Noi, they would be allowed to shoot me!

[Jackal1]

pregnancy cult in Texas

 
Need a refill?

[AKIron]

why does texas attract the weird religious people?
Next thing you know there will be a group of WW2 aircraft worshipping group of old farts calling texas mecca.

oh wait..
nevermind.

 

Texas may have been perceived as a state with liberty and the freedom to live and let live. I think the reality is changing.

[texasmom]

I think it's disturbing that there's confusion here on the part of the authorities. If (supposedly) they've been watching these guys for years, you'd think they'd have their act together.  What are they doing, just making it up as they go?  Heck, they've not even figured out which kids belong to which parents, yet they're farming those kids out to foster homes without even having definitively shown abuse?  Shame on them for not having order in this whole thing.

[rpm]

OK, here's my take. The call that set everything off was false. The cops had no probable cause to raid the place (see recent SCOTUS ruling). There was bad things happening there that needed to be stopped, but you have freedom of religion, right to privacy and probably a couple more constitutional issues involved. The rightwing government we have in Texas marched in like they were Bush in Iraq using any excuse, true or not.

Anyone here watch "Big Love" on HBO? I can't wait to see how they portray this.