Merrianne Jessop to be returned, UPDATED, Texas has no clothes.

How can Texas maintain they "saw abuse" at the ranch when they didn't given any names in the second warrant (update, specifically, the affidavit of Ruby Gutierrez) UPDATED, per the Salt Lake Tribune, the hearing to place Merrianne will come in May.

In a filing in a San Angelo, Texas, court, CPS lawyers are now seeking to have the girl removed from foster care and placed with a relative. In a filing obtained by the Deseret News on Thursday, CPS said that it still has a goal of reuniting the girl with her mother, Barbara Jessop, but asks to continue as temporary 'sole managing conservator of the child.'

CPS conducted a home study on the woman, 51, who is a second cousin once removed, and moved to Texas from Utah.

'She indicated that since she had provided placement for other children involved in the YFZ Ranch case and was able to cooperate with CPS, she felt that she would be able to assist in the care of (the girl),' CPS caseworker Ashley Kennedy wrote in a report filed with the court."

This is the state of Texas hanging on by it's fingernails. Clearly a good deal is going on behind the scenes that we don't see.

Getting back to that second warrant (affidavit of Ruby Gutierrez), empty of names. Teresa Steed was the only child that could have been listed as abused and listed in some way, in the warrant affidavit, that gave Texas continuing cause. I suspect strongly that the unsealing of the warrant affidavit is related to the release of Teresa. Imagine a conversation in which it is stated that Texas had no cause to have Ms. Steed under suit in the first place. Texas claims "She's PREGNANT, that's our CAUSE" and lawyers for Ms. Steed and the FLDS say "Show me where you saw that, if you have her under suit as a result of discovering her in the second search, then it was none of your business, if you have her identified in the second sealed warrant and it's affidavit, well, then, you got us."

Teresa Steed is not identified in any way shape or form in the second warrant affidavit, and for that matter, no one is. Some kid(s) (number and names unknown) are malnourished. Some kid(s) are poorly educated. Some kid(s) believe it's OK to marry young. Some kid(s) are pregnant.

No one is named. No one is described. There isn't even an attempt to do so.

What we have here is a failure to see anything, and being at YFZ for no reason. There is no Sarah. There is no Dale Barlow (at least in Texas), there is nothing seen at all while Texas wanders about YFZ looking for evidence. Texas panics further and starts busting down doors and breaking things and running off with computers, books, Bibles and Books of Mormon to save their butts.

At this point, if they can't find anything they are exposed. Well, now they are exposed.

Merrianne Jessop was not malnourished, pregnant or illiterate. She is either married in fact, or betrothed to Warren Jeffs and Warren was in jail, far from YFZ.

They have NOTHING.

There is a rumor that they are trying to place a child not legally a citizen of the country at the time of the raid, under suit. That would be the child Teresa Steed was pregnant with at the time of the raid. That's truly strange.

Unless there is a birth certificate somewhere (entirely possible) in the United States, it may very well be that Teresa Steed's child, is not even a citizen of this country. Or at least, that's possible.

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Teresa Steed Non Suited

This, is really bad for Texas, not Teresa.

And I suppose that means the Psych exam has been done, or won't be. Either way it doesn't matter. More later.

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UPDATED: CPS runs back to inflating numbers about FLDS "Abuse."

UPDATED: It is my belief, based on discussion with Patrick Crimmins, that this report was essentially ready, over a month ago. It's release was delayed to have the most minimal negative impact (to CPS) possible. No questions are possible, dump the report and run. (Further updates below)

Employing a tactic we are oh so familiar with, Texas goes back to inflating the numbers and releasing their smears before a long weekend. This hits the news today, designed to dominate the news cycle about the FLDS over the Christmas weekend. It's a drive by.

SAN ANTONIO (AP/KSL News) - "Texas child welfare authorities conclude in a new report that nearly two-thirds of the families living at a polygamist group's ranch had children who were abused or neglected."

Of course we need to define how, about which apparently Texas is more specific than it used to be.

"The Department of Family and Protective Services released the report to The Associated Press on Tuesday, saying 12 girls, ages 12 to 15, are believed to have been abused. Another 274 children were listed as neglected because the agency says the parents knew there was abuse in the household but did not move their children away."

This is the oh so familiar tactic employed earlier this year where there were "41 of the 463 children" with broken bones. This later turned out to be a below normal bone breakage rate. Darrell Azar told Fox News;

"53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 were living on the ranch in Eldorado. Of that group, 31 already have children or are pregnant."

UPDATED:

The Dallas Morning News - "Mr. Crimmins acknowledged Tuesday, 'We were not able to link any of the broken bones to physical abuse.' "

Now there are 12 girls "believed to have been abused" yet only one man has been charged with impregnating an underage girl seen at YFZ that day. There are only 12 men indicted, and not all for polygyny or bigamy or child abuse. Furthermore, Texas could not even keep an accurate count of the children, lost track of two at one point and nearly killed another through neglect and dehydration. We're to rely on the numbers from these liars and incompetents?

Furthermore, what qualifies as abuse? They say "two thirds of the families" had abused kids most of whom were abused by contact with abusive examples. Contrast that with their own belief that 62% of girls are abused in the population as a whole by age of 18. 31% of the boys, they believe have been abused (Hat Tip Joseph Farah WND). They find only 12 girls? This represents less than 10% of the girls if in fact they can be believed on that number. This is an abuse rate fantastically lower than the population at large. With what we know now, that there were about 430 kids at YFZ, figuring half to be girls that's actually about a 5% rate of "girl abuse." So what do they do? They conflate the number with bystanders to create a 2/3rds abuse rate, to show that the abuse rate was large. Statistically, if you overlap the abuse rate randomly of 215 girls, with about 107 or so boys, there would be a much larger rate of abuse. About a third of the "abused boys" would statistically be distributed among families with no sexually abused girls, so it would be about an abuse rate of 72-73% overall. That means even a 2/3rd's abuse rate is lower than the population at large, even accepting their bystander theory of abuse by osmosis. Apparently, CPS sees abuse everywhere and maybe it is. When they pawed through every sock drawer though of the FLDS, they could only find 12 girls. This is not an indictment of the FLDS and it's practices and gives rise to asking a question. Reporting on the same news release;

The Houston Chronicle - "The Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life," officials state in the final investigative report on the April raid. "It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls — it has never been about religion."

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services "Officials" claim it was not about religion. After Harvey Hilderbran introduced and got passed a law specifically to "get" the FLDS and crowed about it, and after raiding a private group that has a much lower incidence of child abuse than the population at large, that wasn't contributing to welfare roles, what else is there?

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The Latest Texas Lie.

To be fair, they might finally get one right, but their track record doesn't give me much hope. The Houston Chronicle (hat tip "I Perceive")

"'Based on the information in the attachments, CASA feels that (the girl) would be at risk for continued sexual abuse,' the CASA report states."

This disgusting quote is based on fallacy of complex question. A question exemplified by the classic "When did you stop beating your wife?" The most truthful answer, if you never have beaten your wife, is: "I haven't."

"Continued Sexual Abuse?" There is no documentation whatsoever that there has ever been SEXUAL CONTACT with Teresa Jeffs by ANYONE. More →

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I was being too NICE. CPS WILL force children to testify.

And they're continuing to assail the reputation of FLDS members, particularly Willie Jessop.

The Deseret News - "A court-appointed lawyer for a 16-year-old girl taken in the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch in Texas is seeking a restraining order against a high-profile member of the polygamous sect.

"The restraining order accuses FLDS member Willie Jessop of trying to coerce the girl into avoiding a subpoena to testify at next week's grand jury proceedings."

Right away we have two assaults. One is on a child who does not want to testify and doesn't agree with what it is they want her to testify about. The other on Willies character, much like the lies that were told last week about the FLDS Mafia that had no basis. Clearly airing those accusations was a set up of this action ("I'm AFRAID of EVIL WILLIE JESSOP, keep him away from my poor client.")

"'Based on my dealings with Willie Jessop, I believe that he exercises a great deal of control over (the girl), and I am certain that he is interested in protecting the church's interests and the interests of certain influential male members as opposed to (the girl's) legal interests,' court-appointed attorney Natalie Malonis wrote in an affidavit filed in a San Angelo court."

It must be Evil Willie's influence because;

"In a letter to Judge Barbara Walther, the girl denied being a sex abuse victim, said she was not pregnant and accused her attorney of acting against her wishes.

'I have tried to work with her since, and have tried to cooperate with her,' the girl wrote. 'I have told her the truth, but she continues to make derogatory statements about my religion and my family.'"

It can't be because her client wants her to go away and leave her alone, it has to be Evil Willie. This is sheer and outright panic behavior going into the Grand Jury proceeding. It's also evidence of coercion every bit as heinous if not more so than the coercion Evil Willie is supposed to be exercising.

"Malonis blames Jessop and filed the restraining order on Friday, including an affidavit from a private investigator working for lawyers suing the FLDS Church. Sam Brower also accused Jessop of intimidating him in the past."

Sam Brower is an anti FLDS activist. He has a vested interested in portraying Willie Jessop in an unattractive fashion.

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Grand Jury to get in gear by Wednesday

It may be that no minors testify, only those women who WERE minors at the time of conception.

"A Schleicher County clerk confirmed the grand jury has been called in but would not say why or when it would meet. But The Salt Lake Tribune has learned the hearing will be under way by Wednesday and is related to the investigation of residents of the Yearning for Zion Ranch, all members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The grand jury met June 2 but didn't take up any FLDS-related matters."

The formation of a Grand Jury shows how WEAK the evidence Texas has, is. More →

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6 Months Pregnant

So far I have not heard anything about the birth of a child to the last remaining supposedly pregnant FLDS supposedly underage girl. What comes out of the Texas CPS in terms of information is grossly flawed most of the time, and that is putting it politely.

At the point this picture of popular actress Halle Berry is taken she is 6 months pregnant. Is she just eating too much or does she have a bump? We all knew at this point that she was pregnant.

If you look at Ms. Berry's breast, it seems larger than her child. Halle is wearing clothing considered not so chaste by the FLDS.

By contrast, here are 6 girls and or young women of the FLDS.

Is the girl on the far left pregnant? Is the girl second from the right pregnant? I mention this because we are rapidly approaching the day that the raid is 6 months old. We still have confusing reports of how many girls were seen pregnant. I have published what I believe to be evidence that the one girl that is now supposedly still pregnant, was not far enough along to show, and in fact this is the only girl that CPS can now point to as BEING pregnant at the time of the raid.

Enough is enough. The second warrant is invalid. It is based on "Seeing" pregnant underage girls at YFZ and we now know there is only one possible girl for this description. Reports in the press say this one girl (it HAS to be her) was so indefinitely pregnant that she had to be asked to take a pregnancy test, which she refused.

How then does Texas have ANY cause for ANY of the actions it now continues to pursue? Do we wait until the end of of July and ask what a 5 month pregnant woman or girls looks like in a "Prairie Dress?" The truth is Texas didn't SEE ANYTHING. They're not erring on the side of caution unless that caution is for their own hides. They've just busted down the door of the YFZ, they've just finished defiling their "Temple" and they've got nothing so they came up with this laughable concept that they could "See" pregnant underage girls and could also "See" the fact that they had become pregnant IN Texas (we already know there were visitors there from Arizona and Canada that day) and had done so with an "illegal" partner.

Had the girl been from Utah, she could have been as young as 14, and 8 months pregnant and her child's father an ADULT and no crime would have been committed.

So I'm laying on the horn a bit about this but it's the only remaining shred of a premise that Texas clings to for claiming they have cause to continue to investigate. The press continues NOT to ask these questions loudly. They should be. They aren't. Yet here we are approaching the 3 month anniversary of the raid, and ONE of the girls in the FLDS picture above, could in fact be more pregnant than the picture of Halle Berry at her 6 month mark. They could be not pregnant at all.

Should I remind you all of the commercial based on that awkward moment "I'm not pregnant?" Does Texas now say "Thank you?" More →

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Utah fails to tell Texas of PRIMARY FLDS "Enforcer"

It's DOUG. (Doug Piranha) He has been known, on occasion, to use SARCASM and SATIRE.

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Now Texas is afraid of the Big Bad FLDS Wolf

Ok, the "broken bones" story did not work, the "sexual abuse of male children" did not work, and when the state is losing, generally, they spread....rumors. The FLDS is a mafia type organization with heavies. Well, Willie Jessop does look a little chunky to me. The Deseret News.

"Every officer guarding Judge Barbara Walther's San Angelo house was provided dossiers and photos of 16 FLDS men and women whom Utah police deemed a threat. However, e-mails obtained by the Deseret News from the Washington County Sheriff's Office warned Texas authorities to be suspicious of everybody, not just those on the list.

'There are many individuals who are willing to give up their life for the cause and you can never underestimate what a religious fanatic is capable of,' according to the e-mails, which were obtained through Texas' public records law.

Police were also keeping close tabs on witnesses, as the 'enforcers' might try to 'intimidate kids and other witnesses, watch foster homes where kids may be placed, bribe witnesses, appear at court hearings, and make attempts to contact FLDS kids,' according to an e-mail from an investigator with the Tom Green County District Attorney's Office."

Now we really are reaching. Why would "enforcers" have to intimidate witnesses. It's not like a crime has been discovered and needs to be covered up. Texas has not yet been able, after TWO MONTHS, to NAME a CRIME. They've had unprecedented access to YFZ evidence and records but they have no idea what the evidence indicates because they don't know of A CRIME.

If the FLDS had enforcers, they'd be just as challenged to intimidate witnesses because they have no idea WHO to intimidate. You can no more coach testimony or intimidate a witness or come up with reasonable alternatives to the state's version of events when you don't know what the state is planning to charge. There are no witnesses, there are no victims, there is no crime.

Frankly if I wanted to construe some of the remarks I've been getting in emails the way Texas does, I'd need protection too.

Here's the list of FLDS enforcers from the Deseret News. So far I know of none of them breaking into homes or churches or wielding guns. Honestly, they're winning, and winning BIG, why would they mess things up now?

William Roy Jessop
• AKA "Willie the Thug" or "King Willie"
• The most serious threat affiliated with the FLDS religion.
• Reportedly has a passion for violence, weapons (legal and illegal) and explosives.
• Accused of intimidating witnesses at Warren Jeffs' trial in 2007.
• "If anything remotely resembling violence or intimidation occurs, you can be fairly certain that William had a hand in it."
• Has acted as a spokesman for the FLDS Church after the raid on the YFZ Ranch.
• Lives in Hildale, Utah.

Ruth Cooke
• A "wild card" who is "blindly devoted to Warren and the FLDS religion."
• "We reviewed countless letters she had sent to Warren that confirmed her unstable behavior, as she talked of disturbing visions she had received and breaking down the prison walls in the name of the prophet."
• "She is just the kind of person who may be capable of doing something crazy, but justified in her head."

Lindsay Hammon Barlow
• Several witnesses describe him as Warren Jeffs' "muscle."
• Barlow was "clearly in charge of the group's security."
• During Warren Jeffs' trial, Barlow "attempted to seat individuals who could intimidate the witnesses in their direct line of sight."
• Lives in Hildale, Utah.

William E. Jessop
• "Respected as a bishop in the FLDS religion."
• "He is a very powerful man in the community, but I have never received any information that would indicate that he is involved in anything of a violent nature."
• "Could be involved in the decision-making processes due to his position of power."
• Lives in Hildale, Utah.

Lyle Steed Jeffs
• Brother to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.
• Acted as wedding security during illegal marriages conducted in Nevada.
• "Minimal information to suggest that Lyle would be considered a threat to commit acts of violence or witness intimidation."

David S. Allred
• Involved in the financial areas of the FLDS Church.
• "Fairly high in the FLDS pecking order."
• "I do not have any specific information that would label David as a threat, nor do I have any that would discount him as a threat."

Nephi Steed Jeffs
• Brother and personal assistant to FLDS leader Warren Jeffs.
• "To the best of my knowledge, he is not involved in any FLDS security and has no known history of violence or intimidation."

Wendell Loy Nielson
• One of the presiding elders in the FLDS religion.
• "He is not likely at this time to be involved directly in any acts of violence or intimidation, but may still be involved in their development, planning and approval stages."

Rodney Hans Holm
• Convicted of unlawful sex with a minor in Utah in 2006
• "Known to have significant disdain for law enforcement."
• "Rodney also was under the close watch of our court security staff during the trial, as he appeared at times to be attempting to intimidate witnesses from his seat."

Rulon Daniel Barlow
• "Rulon seemed to be extremely focused on the routines of our court staff and repeatedly seemed to be staring down the prosecuting attorneys and their witnesses."

Dee Yeates Jessop
• "Appears to be another intimidating enforcer for the FLDS religion."
• Was more interested in intimidating witnesses with "menacing" stares during Warren Jeffs' trial than the trial itself.
• "He has been described as a fanatic, who is blindly devoted to Warren Jeffs."

Samuel Rapylee Bateman
• "Showed an unnatural interest in the security procedures and routines of our staff during the trial."

Donovan J. Stubbs
• "Seemed to be taking mental notes of the security staff present."
• "Donovan carried himself well and seemed to be respected by the other members of the FLDS group. When he spoke, others listened."

Guy Curtis Bauer
• "Seemed to "make it a point to be noticed by the prosecution's victim and witnesses whenever possible."
• "Seemed to be there for the purpose of intimidation.

Guy E. Nielson
• "Appeared to make several discreet attempts at intimidating the victim and members of her (Alissa Wall's) family."

Nathan Mead Jessop
• "Multiple witnesses confirm Nathan Jessop is a member of the FLDS security team."
• One of three men who came to a woman's home and informed her she was no longer a worthy member of the community, a task generally reserved for Warren Jeffs' security staff.

This list is about as lame as the one Billy Crystal gives in "Analyze This." More →

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