Texas officials remove 219 from polygamist ranch

By Ed Stoddard

DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas officials removed more people on Sunday from a ranch belonging to a breakaway Mormon sect linked to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs but have yet to find a young woman whose complaints sparked the raids.

"We have now removed 219 people," said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. He said that the breakdown was 159 boys and girls and 60 adults.

He also said caseworkers were still on the compound conducting their investigations.

"No arrests have been made and we are still trying to find this young woman," Allison Palmer, a local prosecutor from a nearby county handling the case, told Reuters by telephone.

"The young lady made more than one call seeking assistance. She is a young, underage mother with an older husband," she said.

Authorities said that she may be among the people who have already been taken from the compound.

Local media reported that more people had been removed on Sunday from the ranch in a semi-arid area 120 miles northwest of San Antonio.

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