5 more arrested from west Texas polygamist sect

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIdMpRHjN4hpNKBhfYyAsR4DDo4QD9274KQ80

5 more arrested from west Texas polygamist sect

By APRIL CASTRO – 8 minutes ago

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Five indicted members of a West Texas polygamist sect turned themselves in to authorities Monday to face charges related to allegations of child sexual abuse.

The five men were indicted last week with Warren Jeffs, the already-jailed leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The charges stem from a state investigation into allegations that the sect forced underage girls into marriage and motherhood with much older men.

State authorities raided the FLDS's Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado on April 3, eventually sweeping more than 400 children into foster care until the state Supreme Court said officials had overreached and sent the children home.

Raymond Merrill Jessop, 36, Allan Eugene Keate, 56, Michael George Emack, 57, and Merrill Leroy Jessop, 33, were charged with one count each of sexual assault of a child, a felony punishable by a sentence ranging from five to 99 years or life in prison. Their bond was set at $100,000 each.

Merrill Leroy Jessop also was charged with bigamy, a felony with the same potential penalties as the sexual assault charge.

more at the link

To Jail!

:bounce:

Not, "we are innocent" but "we believe in our innocence." Not, "they don't have any evidence" but "they don't have credible evidence"; credible to whom? And they didn't obtain the supposedly non-credible evidence "legally".

These guys have had lawyers on retainer for years (there's a video floating around somewhere with the previous senior jeffs talking to the "followers" about it). I predict lots of technicalities used to remove evidence and testimony (and witnesses?) and a whole lotta "religious persecution" screamed on behalf of these, er, men.

:kick:

fucking perverts.