Christian or Biblical Polygamy

Source: Houston Chronicle

…

“To just do an all out raid and suddenly take kids out of their homes and into foster communities, it does more damage than it can justify on a phone call and an anonymous phone call,” she said. “So you really need to think (a raid) through and maybe take longer to invest that.”

Shurtleff is on record for initially supporting the raid.

He contends Texas authorities had to raid the compound because of the isolated way the FLDS live. Law enforcement “couldn’t just go in and knock on the door and check in on one allegation of assault,” Shurtleff said. “What I did criticize them publicly for is taking all 500 kids without any specifics. To take each of those children, and then when they said they were going go to forward, we don’t have evidence of specific abuse? I’m not going to come in and take away all the families, all the kids. I’m going to deal with their case alone.”

Shurtleff has used his first two terms in office to investigate and prosecute crimes associated with polygamy, such as incest, child sexual abuse and welfare fraud. Hill agrees with only prosecuting crimes associated with polygamy, too, but for very different reasons.

Shurtleff said its unreasonable to prosecute thousands of families under the state’s bigamy statute and place children under state care.

“It’s based on the reality that we don’t have the resources, and I think Texas provides an example. We have thousands of polygamists in Utah and probably 10,000 kids,” Shurtleff said. “They were having a hard time (with hundreds). If we were to go out and start arresting every couple, every adult consenting to polygamy, then we would have to build thousands of jail beds. How are we possibly going to take those kids into custody? The costs are astronomical. The resources aren’t there.”
…

Shurtleff said the Texas raid has made it more difficult for his office to get abused polygamist women to report crimes, and he’s had to reassure polygamist communities that he isn’t prosecuting their religion.

“I think now we’ve convinced them again, ‘That’s Texas. We don’t do that here. We’ll take it a case at a time.’ Ultimately, we have to convince them they have to fear their abuser more than they do us,” he said. “We’re here to serve them, not to judge them.”

For Hill’s part, she said polygamists would never have to fear being prosecuted for their religion. She contends that the state’s bigamy statute is unconstitutional in the wake of the 2003 Supreme Court ruling Lawrence v. Texas.

Full Story

RICO is such a wonderful tool for the beast system. Marci Hamilton has some rather interesting ideas on how to “Protect Children from Abuse and Neglect.” The Catholic church should be squirming at this too.  Let’s take a look.

Source: FindLaw

…

I. Amend the RICO laws

Organizations that encourage and foster child sex abuse need to be made accountable. Federal authorities have not had the legal tools to pursue organizations that foster and further child sex abuse and neglect. The criminal and civil RICO laws, taken together, are best suited to this end, because they combine punishment with deterrence and with financial accountability for organizations.

Criminal RICO should be amended to ensure that it encompasses organizations fostering and furthering child sex abuse and neglect.

First, amend 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c) to include the following bolded language:

It shall be unlawful for any person, or enterprise engaging in, promoting, or facilitating childhood sexual abuse or neglect, employed by or associated with any enterprise engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce, to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in the conduct of such enterprise’s affairs through a pattern of racketeering activity or collection of unlawful debt.

Second, amend 18 U.S.C. 1961(1)(a), the definition of “Racketeering Activity,” to include the bolded language:

(1)“racketeering activity” means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, engaging in, promoting or facilitating childhood sexual abuse or neglect, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year;

Civil RICO should be amended to deter organizations from harboring or encouraging child abuse or neglect, hiding child abuse or neglect, or recklessly disregarding child abuse or neglect. I suggest the following amendments (new language in bold):

The first sentence of Section 1964(c) of the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § § 1961- 1965 should be amended to include the bolded language:

‘Any person injured in his business, property, or in his person if a victim of childhood sexual abuse or neglect by reason of a violation of section 1962 of this chapter may sue therefore in any appropriate United States district court and shall recover threefold the damages he sustains and the cost of the suit, including a reasonable attorney’s fee, except that no person may rely upon any conduct that would have been actionable as fraud in the purchase or sale of securities to establish a violation of section 1962.’

II. Encourage the States to Eliminate the Statutes of Limitations for Child Sex Abuse So that More Organizations and Perpetrators Are Publicly Identified and Made to Pay for the Harm that They Have Caused

Child abuse and neglect have cost the United States billions – from physical and mental health care costs, to opportunity costs from underperformance and the inability of victims to fulfill their full potential. It is inevitable that some of these costs will have to be absorbed by public social services, but that does not mean that organizations should not be held liable for their part.

When organizations foster child abuse and neglect, they should be made to pay for the harm that they have imposed on the victims and the costs they have imposed on all taxpayers. The most efficient means of pursuing this goal is to create greater opportunities for victims to go to court.

Right now, the vast majority of states have statutes of limitations on child abuse that are so short that victims are not able to come forward before the courthouse doors have been locked shut. As I argue at more length in my book Justice Denied; What America Must Do to Protect Its Children, the federal government should create incentives for the states to eliminate the statutes of limitations to create such opportunities. Only then will more of the organizations and perpetrators responsible for the abuse be publicly named and only then will they be forced to pay for the harm they have caused, both through penal fines and through civil lawsuits.

III. Revoke Nonprofit Tax-Exempt Status for Organizations that Foster or Further Child Abuse or Neglect and Prohibit Federal Agencies from Doing Business with Organizations Furthering or Fostering Child Abuse or Neglect

The tax law governing tax-exempt status needs to be clarified to plainly deter child abuse and neglect. The following is suggested legislative language regarding the tax-exempt status of nonprofits that foster or further child abuse or neglect:

Revocation of tax-exempt status for organizations furthering child abuse or neglect. Tax-exempt status for a charitable organization under the Internal Revenue Code shall be revoked by the Internal Revenue Service from any organization if it is found by a court of law in a civil or criminal case that the organization:

(a) Fostered the abuse of children,

OR

(b) Took steps to conceal the abuse of children,

OR

(c) Failed to report knowledge of child abuse or neglect to the relevant law enforcement authorities.

Finally, federal agencies should not be permitted to do business with any organization that furthers or fosters child sex abuse or neglect.

Dallas Morning News

…Five men from a West Texas polygamist sect wanted on charges ranging from sexual assault of a child to bigamy turned themselves in today, Attorney General Greg Abbott announced.

The men are being held at the Schleicher County jail. Those charged with felonies are being held in lieu of $100,000 bail each. Those men face sentences ranging from five years to life in prison.

Three of the men — Merril “Leroy” Jessop, 33; Raymond Jessop, 36; and Allan Keate, 56 — face charges of sexual assault of a child and are purported to be “spiritual husbands” of young women who testified before the Schleicher County grand jury last week. A fourth man, Michael Emack, 57, also faces charges of sexual assault of a child. The fifth man, Dr. Lloyd Barlow, 38, faces three misdemeanor counts of failing to report child abuse. He’s purported to be the chief physician at the sect’s compound outside Eldorado and is thought to have had information about young mothers there.
…

Source: Kingman Daily Miner

Attorney General Terry Goddard gave testimony at a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on polygamy related crimes.

In Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Goddard discussed his office’s work to combat abuse and fraud in the communities of Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, during the past five years.

From the outset, Goddard said he wanted to make sure the committee understood he wasn’t talking about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Second, the work being done by my office in Colorado City is not about religion, culture or lifestyle,” Goddard said. “Rather, it is about protecting women and children from domestic abuse and sexual violence; combating fraud and public corruption; enforcing civil rights laws; upholding peace officer standards; and ensuring that the rule of law is applied equally and comprehensively throughout our land.”

Source: Abilene Reporter-News

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he believes the YFZ Ranch would never have sprung up outside Eldorado if the federal government had formed a task force 10 years ago to help states handle crimes suspected of polygamist sect members.

In testimony Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Abbott painted a picture of a mobile Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints with members and resources slipping easily across state and international borders to escape crackdowns.

The task force proposal explored during the hearing would give prosecutors more tools to deal with challenging investigations, he said.

“What we have found is that the FLDS group is very difficult to penetrate,” Abbott, whose office is acting as special prosecutor in Texas FLDS cases, said after leaving the hearing. “They have a veil of secrecy they operate under.”

Federal involvement could have led to draining the sect’s financial means to buy hundreds of acres in remote Schleicher County and to build a secretive compound, Abbott said after leaving the hearing.

The hearing, “Crimes Associated with Polygamy: The Need for a Coordinated State and Federal Response,” began at 9 a.m. with a few raps of the gavel. Members of the breakaway Mormon sect watched closely from the audience but were not among witnesses on the three panels.

U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., requested the hearing and was the sole witness on the first panel. A member of the mainstream Mormon church, the Senate majority leader framed a soft-spoken plea for a task force and his supporting legislation around the theory that FLDS members carry out organized crime.

Tax evasion, racketeering, mail fraud, child abuse and illegally transporting children across state lines for underage marriages were mentioned as suspected offenses during the hearing.

Many times, converts tend to exhibit much more ‘zeal’ for their religion than those who have been raised in it.

Source: Salt Lake Tribune

Hatch’s opening statement lasted all of 40 seconds. He never uttered the word polygamy, didn’t denounce polygamous sects, didn’t call for federal charges, as did the other senators present. Instead, Hatch, a Mormon, said the hearing should focus on helping the “innocent women and children who are involved in this issue.”

Polygamy might be a cut and dry issue in many parts of the country, but Hatch’s carefully chosen words show that in Utah it’s a little more complex.

The hearing was organized by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Mormon convert, to promote his recently introduced legislation calling for a coordinated federal and state task force to prosecute crimes by polygamous groups, including the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Utah, Arizona and Texas have targeted the FLDS for sexual crimes involving minors.

Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff supports Reid’s calls for a task force. U.S. Attorney for Utah Brett Tolman does not. Both are Hatch’s friends.

Source: Deseret News

Texas police have been standing guard outside the home of the Texas judge who ordered the removal of all the FLDS children from the YFZ Ranch.

The heightened security was ordered after authorities from Utah and Arizona warned them to be on the lookout for FLDS “enforcers,” the Deseret News has learned.

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.

From: The Olympian

…
By Wednesday evening, no arrests had been made, and state and county law enforcement officials said they had no timetable for completing them. Officials close to the investigation said the names weren’t being released because the suspects are considered a flight risk - and some of the men haven’t been seen in Texas since this spring’s raid on the compound.

“They could literally be anywhere,” said Sam Brower, a Utah private investigator who has worked on polygamy cases. “They have unlimited resources, and thousands of people willing to help them hide.”

State law enforcement officials acknowledged that the search could lead them to the polygamist group’s headquarters on the Utah-Arizona border, or even outside of the country. Polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs - the only one of the men identified by authorities when the indictments were released Tuesday - was on the run for more than a year before he was apprehended in 2006.
…