State rep says he unwittingly helped sect buy Texas ranch

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A man who helped the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints acquire West Texas land for its sprawling ranch is now the state legislator representing an area adjacent to the compound.Texas State Rep. Drew Darby said he extricated himself from the organization buying the ranch -- the Yearning For Zion Land, LLC , or YFZ -- when he realized he had been misled into thinking the group was buying the Schleicher County property for a corporate retreat."It became apparent what their motives were," said Darby, a Republican San Angelo real estate lawyer and title company owner, "and so I certainly got out of that picture."One day a few years back, Darby said, the real estate agent who worked on the property sale came in and asked Darby to organize a company to use to buy a tract in Schleicher County.Darby formed YFZ Land in 2003. He was elected to the state house in Austin in 2006.He said he worked solely with David Allred, who was the son-in-law and business representative of Warren Jeffs, the sect's leader. Jeffs was convicted last year of being an accessory to the rape of a teenage girl.Darby described Allred as "a man of very few words, very well-mannered, just all business."The lawmaker said he met no other members of the Mormon splinter sect, which practices a form of plural marriage and is not associated with the mainstream Mormon Church. Darby was listed as the registering agent for YFZ Land in documents filed Oct. 27, 2003, with the Texas Secretary of State's Office.That meant documents for any lawsuit filed against YFZ Land or other legal documents for the company would have landed on Darby's doorstep, Darby said.Allred, then of Washington, Utah, had management responsibilities.Later that year, YFZ Land bought the 1,700 acres -- which became the future home of the polygamists' ranch about 40 miles south of San Angelo. In a raid that began April 3, officials investigating allegations of sexual abuse of a teenaged girl removed 416 children from the compound; 139 women left the ranch as well, in many cases to stay with their children.Dan Gandy of Touchdown Real Estate in San Angelo handled the deal, Darby said.Gandy declined to comment Friday.YFZ Land was said to be buying property for a corporate retreat, Darby said."I would just receive reports from people in Schleicher County, saying, 'Hey, there's a lot of people coming here, building a lot'," he said. "And I'd say, 'Well, it's going to be a corporate retreat'."Then the story emerged that YFZ Ranch was home to the sect, and on July 12, 2004, Darby resigned as registered agent, according to a letter he provided.The next day, YFZ Land named Ernest Jessop the registered agent, according to documents from the Texas Secretary of State's Office.Then a member of the sect, Jessop reportedly managed the early construction on the ranch and later was excommunicated.(Contact Trish Choate of the Standard Times in San Angelo, Texas, at choatet(at)shns.com