Girls had to accept sexual activity with adult men · 2008-04-09 19:26
Court documents filed over a raided polygamist sect allege sexual abuse was rife and young girls were forced into marriage with much older men.
The documents were released yesterday about the Yearning for Zion Ranch, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).
Investigators found there was a "widespread pattern and practice"_ in which young girls were conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men on the ranch, the documents stated.
The girls were said to be "spiritually married" to the men as soon as they reached puberty and were required to produce children.
The papers also gave details about the phone calls which triggered Thursday's raid, The Sun informs.
The call made by a 16-year-old girl at the West Texas ranch, said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her.
A spokesman for the Child Protective Services said officials have now removed all 416 children from the ranch and have won custody of all of them.
Court documents said a number of teenage girls at the 1,700 acre compound were pregnant and that all the children were removed on the grounds that they were in danger of "emotional, physical, and or sexual abuse."
Another 139 women left on their own.
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