by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 7, 2008) Police rescued more than 200 women and children from a secretive polygamist cult in West Texas after a 16 year old girl complained of physical abuse at the hands of her 50 year old husband.
The alleged abuse occurred at the 1,700 acre West Texas retreat built by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who is currently awaiting trial on four counts each of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages between teenage girls and their older male relatives.
The cult, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), is well known for its practice of polygamy which often involves marrying underage girls to older men.
A search warrant authorized state troopers to enter the Yearning for Zion ranch, located just outside the small Texas town of Eldorado on Friday night to search for the girl and evidence of a marriage. According to the warrant, the girl had a baby eight months ago, when she was just 15. Under Texas law, girls younger than 16 cannot marry, even with parental approval.
The warrant authorized the seizure of computer drives, CDs, DVDs or photos and any evidence that would link the girl to her alleged husband, Dale Barlow, and their baby. Although investigators are still looking for the 16 year old girl, they have spoken to Barlow, who claims he doesn’t know her.
Barlow was sentenced to jail last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for three years while he is on probation.
Throughout the weekend, women wearing long pastels dresses were seen boarding busses provided by the First Baptist Church of Eldorado on Friday and Saturday and were taken to a local church and civic center where they were interviewed by authorities.
Thus far, the state believes eighteen of the girls “had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse,” and have been taken into state custody, according to a spokesperson for Child Protective Services. About 40 of those removed from the compound were boys.
“We’re trying to find out if they’re safe,” a spokesperson said. “We need to know if they have been abused or neglected.”
The abusive practices of the polygamist cult came to light recently with a book published by an escapee, Carolyn Jessop. In the book, Escape, Jessop provides a horrifying glimpse into the abuse suffered by girls and women in the cult.
“I feel like the public needs to realize that some of these polygamous relationships are held together based on cycles of abuse,” the 39 year old Jessop told the Salt Lake Tribune last fall.
“And the reason women stay in that kind of abuse is because they don’t believe they are worthy of anything better than that. You live your whole life in fear, tyranny and poverty.”
Jessop, who now lives in Utah with seven of her eight children said she was only 18 when her father announced that she was to be married to Merril Jessop, then 50, an influential businessman. Two days later, she became his fourth wife.
FLDS members believe these marriages are arranged through divine inspiration sent to their “prophet” and so she dutifully submitted. “For me to reject my marriage was to reject God’s will in my life,” she writes in her book.
The relationship was a nightmare. She described her husband, who ran the Eldorado ranch where the recent police rescue took place, as an “egocentric bully”’ and “narcissist” who dictated every aspect of his wives’ lives, enjoyed pitting them against one another and was emotionally abusive.
For instance, he would tell Jessop a cold sore was the result of her “speaking lies” and blamed a son’s cancer on her “rebellion.”
His favorite wife, Barbara, ruled the other wives and their 30-odd children with tantrums, fits and physical abuse. “There was a lot of fighting for power, dominance and control,” Jessop said.
However, Jessop quickly learned that keeping her husband sexually satisfied earned her influence and safety for her children.
In 1998, when an opportunity came to move away, she took it, and moved to Caliente, Nevada where she took over the management of one of her husband’s motels. It was here that she met a man, identified only by his first name, James, who gave her life-changing advice about domestic violence.
On April 21, 2003, when her husband was out of town, Jessop loaded her children into a van and drove away. A brother met her and escorted them to Salt Lake City where she spent five weeks in a woman’s shelter in order to get state-assisted housing. After recovering from a bout of post-traumatic stress disorder, she went on to win custody of her children and has devoted her life to revealing the awful secrets of the FLDS.
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