Child welfare worker describes FLDS ranch as 'scary environment'

Voss also said she began to realize there were more children at the ranch than authorities initially believed. In the morning on April 4, officials decided to bus many of the children to a civic center four miles away in Eldorado. At that time, she said the situation at the ranch was becoming really tense.

"I heard a report that a tank was coming on the property. Things were getting more scary to me. It was a situation of a very huge magnitude with so many law enforcement officers around," she testified. The case workers wanted to interview the children in an environment that didn't seem "so scary and dangerous."

Voss then went on to describe a crowd of mothers standing with their children who were uncooperative and did not wish to leave. It was then, Voss said, that Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran held up a cell phone and through the speaker, "Merril Jessop told the ladies they needed to cooperate and they just stopped" resisting.

When the state's attorney asked Voss how many in the crowd changed modes from being resistant to cooperative, she said it was about 30 or so. Jessop is the leader and bishop at the ranch.

As the children were being bused to the civic center, authorities began to conduct house-to-house searches looking for additional children. That continued until nightfall. When asked why the search was halted, Voss said it was decided it wasn't safe.

"It had been reported that there were men in trees with night vision, that there were men videotaping me and the children, and it appeared there were men posted at every entrance. It's hard to describe," she said, pausing. "It was a feeling of being very unsafe."

Voss said in questioning the initial girls at the school, investigators learned "that there were Sarahs at the ranch and some of these girls they were talking about were underage with children."

When the state asked how many "Sarahs" were identified, Voss said there were five and three of those could have been the Sarah they were seeking.

"We learned that a few of the girls know of the Sarah we were looking for and that she'd been seen last week and she had a baby," Voss said.

The supervisor's testimony was abruptly interrupted Thursday afternoon after several attorneys representing children and their mothers objected, claiming the information she was relaying could be construed as hearsay.

The state argued for allowing the testimony, saying it falls under a hearsay exception rule that allows certain statements to be accepted in court. It was at that point that Judge Barbara Walther granted a short recess to allow attorneys on both sides to huddle, designate a spokesperson, and articulate one large argument.