Search: Were beds in temple used for teen sex?

SAN ANGELO, Texas — A Texas Ranger serving a search warrant at a polygamist ranch says there are beds inside the FLDS Church's only temple.

And those beds, according to newly relased documents that support the reasons for a police raid on the compound owned by the sect, are in a part of the temple where "males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity" with underage girls.

New portions of a second search warrant, which was issued Sunday, were unsealed Wednesday and provided the first glimpse of some of what law enforcement officers have encountered since raiding the church's 1,700-acre ranch.

Inside the large limestone temple, ranger Leslie Brooks Long said she observed several locked safes, locked desk drawers, locked vaults, multiple computers and beds.

"On one of the beds within the temple, (I) observed that the bed linens were disturbed as if the bed had been used," she wrote. The officer said she also noticed a strand of hair believed to come from the head of a female, the court document states.

An unidentified former FLDS Church member, who has been advising Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran over the past several years, told the sheriff about the beds.

The warrant specifically identifies several girls and women who were interviewed at the ranch by child welfare workers during the first two days of the search. The examples either identified underage girls who were pregnant or "spiritually married" to older men, or young adult women who had children when they were underage.

Anyone under 17 is prohibited from marrying in Texas without parental approval.

During an interview Friday with a child who appeared to be 16, the girl was asked how old she was. The girl's husband, who is approximately 33 and was nearby during the interview, looked at his wife and said, "You are 18," the affidavit states. The girl, who has a 10-month-old baby, then replied that she was 18.

Long said she discovered a document indicating one man had more than 20 wives — "all of whom resided in the same residence."

It was this information, together with other details, that prompted a judge to issue a second search warrant authorizing authorities to search for any and all records regarding the births of children to mothers under 17, parental information; photographs, especially family portraits; family Bibles or books showing marriages and birth information; fingerprints and hair and blood samples of men and women; plus any device capable of storing images.