Polygamists erred when they messed with Texas

By Ed Stoddard

ELDORADO, Texas (Reuters) - When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-sized mistake when it picked this state to move to.

Texas responded by raising the age at which children can legally get married with parental consent, and law enforcement agencies immediately put the sect in its crosshairs.

The result was raids this month that left 463 minors in state hands or foster care. With judges saying they will hear abuse cases individually, the sect's practices are sure of thorough legal scrutiny.

"They made a big mistake when they came here," said Harvey Hilderbran, who represents this part of Texas in the state legislature. "We didn't invite those folks to Texas but by God we expect them to obey our law."

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), founded in the 1930s after the mainstream Mormon church renounced polygamy in 1890, believes a man has a God-sanctioned right to marry several women.

It has long-established communities in remote parts of Arizona, Utah and Canada, and is believed to number a few thousand members.

Authorities in Arizona and Utah have accused it of coercing young girls into marrying much older men. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, was convicted in Utah last year as an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin.

"With action being taken in Arizona and Utah, it seems like they decided to branch out," said Benjamin Bistline, a historian who has written about the sect in Arizona. "They didn't realize they were making a mistake going to Texas."

Members of the group came to a scrubby ranch in rural west Texas in 2004. They live in a secretive compound from which outsiders are excluded. The women wear long, pioneer-style dresses and appear to live off the land.

Anti-polygamist activists came to Eldorado, the small town near the ranch, and the sect immediately came into the crosshairs of local authorities.

"There was suspicion, speculation and concern and we knew they were the most obedient followers of Warren Jeffs and people were alarmed," Hilderbran said. He sponsored a bill, which became law in 2005, raising the age at which children in the state could marry with parental consent to 16 from 14.

After the raid, Child Protective Services (CPS), the Texas department responsible for such matters, said it identified 20 minors and young adult women with children who had become pregnant between the ages of 13 and 16. The age of sexual consent in Texas is 17.

It also said it found evidence that boys may have been sexually abused.

Polygamy is illegal in the United States but men in the sect marry one woman legally and then have several "spiritual unions." In Texas, a number of young teenage girls were "spiritually married" to older men, Texas CPS said.

Phone calls and e-mailed questions to the sect's spokesman were not returned.