About 3 years ago Texas authorities raided the YFZ ranch and took over 500 children (infants through 17 year olds). The raid was based on a single phone call from a girl claiming to be a 16 year old held against her will at the ranch. Investigators later admitted they knew that the call was placed from Colorado, not from YFZ or anywhere in Texas.

The ranch is a group of Mormons, most of whom live a polygynous lifestyle. Court rulings found the raid to be unwarranted, illegal, and eventually ordered all children returned to their parents. Five people ended up being prosecuted for sex with underage girls (who they were supposedly married to). Only one of the girls would testify against her husband, the others said that they were happy in their marriage and had sex with their husbands willingly.

I interviewed a number of people connected with this thing. Warren Jeffs, their leader when the raid happened, is creepy and IMHO probably should be locked up. The guy whose wife testified against him was kinda creepy too. The rest of the people at the ranch are extremely nice, intelligent, hard-working folks who just want to live their lives. Just about everyone in every family I talked to was far happier in their family, marriage, and daily life than other average Americans. There are no kids born and raised out of wedlock or by single-parents. Investigating for potential child abuse was as warranted at YFZ as in any neighborhood or apartment building in the U.S. Removing over 500 children without cause was not.