Barlow questioned, but not arrested, by Texas Rangers

ST. GEORGE — The man at the center of the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's Texas compound has been questioned by Texas Rangers.

Clad in their trademark cowboy hats and silver star badges, the law enforcement officers traveled to Utah on Saturday to meet with Dale Barlow, who is trying to convince them they have the wrong man.

"Right now, we're just here to talk to him," Texas Ranger Don Williams said as he walked into the Mohave County probation office here.

About a half-hour later, Barlow left a free man — for now, at least.

"We made it clear to the law enforcement officials that Dale Barlow has not been to Eldorado (in Texas), he has not been to that compound, he had nothing to do with the accusations," Barlow's attorney, Bruce Griffen, told the Deseret News afterward. "They made a mistake."

The Texas Rangers left declining to say if Barlow remains a suspect or would be arrested.

"We can't talk about that," Williams said, getting into a truck.

An arrest warrant is still out for Barlow, accusing him of marrying the 16-year-old girl whose phone call to a domestic violence hotline triggered last week's raid on the YFZ Ranch and resulted in 416 children being taken into protective custody.

A search warrant filed in a San Angelo, Texas, court said the girl made a pair of phone calls on March 29 and 30. Whispering into the phone, she said she was 16, had an 8-month-old baby, was pregnant again and wanted to leave the guarded compound.

The girl said her husband was Dale Barlow and claimed he would "beat and hurt" her whenever he got angry. Attorneys for the FLDS Church have said in court papers that Barlow was not at the ranch, and also said that the girl's phone call was not corroborated, suggesting that it did not justify the massive search of the YFZ Ranch.

An attorney for FLDS leader Warren Jeffs questioned if the girl exists at all.

"I smelled a rat from the beginning," attorney Michael Piccarreta told the Arizona Republic. "I think the Texas authorities need to make a careful analysis of whether they have been part of a ruse."

Jeffs, 52, is facing criminal charges in Arizona, accusing him of performing child-bride marriages. He was convicted last year in Utah of rape as an accomplice, stemming from a marriage he performed between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.