Monday, April 14, 2008

Girl in Polygamist Sect Says She Was Beaten

Court documents say the 16-year-old girl whose call triggered the police raid on a polygamist sect's Texas compound said that her husband beat her.

The San Angelo Standard-Times newspaper is citing the court documents as also saying the girl was the seventh wife of a sect member who is named in an arrest warrant on possible abuse charges.

The newspaper says the girl told authorities at a family violence shelter that her husband hit her in the chest and choked her while another woman held her infant child at the sect's Yearn for Zion Ranch.

Court documents on file Tuesday were the basis for Child Protective Services' request that a judge grant it custody of all 401 children removed from the ranch.