Search warrant details what officers found at FLDS ranch

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

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 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," the ranger wrote. The officer 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 for years, told the sheriff "the temple ... contains an area where there is a bed where males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of 17," according to the search warrant.

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, she 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 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, such as computer drives, DVDs, videos, video cameras and cell phones.