SALT LAKE CITY -- A Texas judge has ordered a 14-year-old girl -- allegedly married at age 12 to a polygamous sect's leader -- back into state custody, but left six other children with their mothers under more stringent Texas oversight.In her ruling, 51st District Judge Barbara Walther cited "uncontroverted evidence" of the teen's marriage in 2006 to Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints founder Warren S. Jeffs, and the refusal of Barbara Jessop, her mother, to provide assurances the girl now would be kept safe.Texas Child Protective Services was to take custody of the girl Tuesday evening at the family's temporary home in Converse, Texas. State officials raided the sect's west Texas compound in April after receiving a call claiming underage girls were marrying adults.Walther left the girl's 11-year-old brother with Barbara Jessop. The state dropped its effort to remove another son, who is 17.State attorney Jeff Schmidt argued Barbara Jessop and her husband, Merril Jessop, condone underage marriage and will do nothing to stop such unions."The way that is going to prevent that is to take the children out of the home," Schmidt said.Barbara Jessop asserted her right against self-incrimination to nearly every question she was asked in court on Monday, he noted, including queries about her children's names and who has provided basic care for them.But Willie Jessop, an elder and spokesman for the FLDS sect, said there is no evidence of underage marriages since 2006 and that the state was merely trying to save face for its overreaching raid on the sect.He said it would have been less devastating to the family if the younger children had been kept together, even in custody."Wouldn't you like them to be there for each other if you couldn't be?" Willie Jessop asked. The judge also ordered Merril Jessop to have no contact with the children and to submit to genetic testing. Merril Jessop, who has not participated in the court hearings, is the bishop at the sect's Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas.Each parent also must pay $180 a month in child support while their daughter remains in state care.Gonzalo Rios, Barbara Jessop's attorney, had asked that both children remain with their mother under additional restrictions. He said his client refused to answer questions because of the state's criminal investigation and was the only parent never offered a "starting point" -- a safety plan designed to keep the family together."She never got anything other than 'We want the children,' " he said, adding that an appeal is likely to the judge's Tuesday ruling."She is going to do everything she can to see this thing through and be reunited with her daughter again," Rios said.CPS asked that the children be returned to state custody alleging their mothers had been uncooperative with caseworkers and refused to limit their contact with fathers or stepfathers who had witnessed or participated in underage marriages.On Tuesday, the other mothers -- and two fathers -- agreed to negotiated deals that allow the women to keep possession of their children while giving the state temporary managing conservatorship.The agreements restate in part a June order that returned 440 FLDS children to their parents after nearly two months in state custody: travel restrictions, providing contact information and allowing caseworkers into their homes. But the parents also agreed to specific demands, including pledges to not allow their minor daughters to marry.One mother, for example, agreed to let her 13-year-old daughter undergo a physical examination that includes a pregnancy test.CPS has argued since April, when authorities raided the YFZ Ranch, that FLDS members condone underage marriages and groom boys to become sexual perpetrators. The Texas Supreme Court later ordered the children's release, citing a lack of evidence that all the children were in imminent danger of abuse.Child welfare officials have since closed cases involving 76 children, including nine who have turned 18. There are 364 cases still pending.(E-mail Brooke Adams at brooke@sltrib.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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