A dozen men, including FLDS leader Warren Jeffs, have been indicted in a parallel criminal investigation. They face charges related to underage marriages from sexual assault of a child and bigamy to performing a marriage ceremony prohibited by law and failure to report child abuse.

The phone call that prompted the raid itself is believed to be hoax. A Colorado woman with a history of phony abuse calls has been declared a "person of interest" in the ongoing probe.

CPS' actions in the YFZ raid are expected to be closely scrutinized in the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission said it requested a comprehensive report on the investigation's results and all of the work that went into the case.

"I think CPS did that," commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman said Tuesday. "It's clear that underage marriages were far too common at the ranch. We hope that changes and girls are protected from sexual abuse in the future."

The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform called the report "self-justifying claptrap."

"In effect, Texas CPS has admitted to engaging in child abuse on a massive scale," executive director Richard Wexler said. "And there is no acknowledgement at all of the misleading statements CPS made throughout the children's ordeal."

Texas CPS insists it was investigating abuse.

"For the Department of Family and Protective Services, the Yearning for Zion case is about sexual abuse of girls and children who were taught that underage marriages are a way of life," the report concluded. "It is about parents who condoned illegal underage marriages and adults who failed to protect young girls — it has never been about religion."

Jessop disagrees.

"No one will look back and say what they did was justified," he said.

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com