Texas authorities said on Friday that they were investigating a potential child-abuse case at a ranch operated by followers of a breakaway Mormon sect linked to jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs.

No arrests had been made as of late Friday afternoon but officials said 52 girls have been removed from the secretive sect's compound.

"We took 52 children out, they were all girls between the ages of six months and 17 years," said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.

"Eighteen of the 52 have been legally removed into state custody," he added.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said no suspect had been taken into custody but a search and arrest warrant had been issued.

The ranch is about 120 miles northwest of San Antonio and is a compound for a renegade Mormon sect called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which is under the sway of Jeffs, a self-proclaimed prophet.

In November, Jeffs was sentenced in a Utah court to 10 years to life in prison as an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old first cousin. Jeffs is awaiting trial on similar charges for arranged marriages in Arizona.

Local media reports said the Texas compound had been sealed off by investigators.

Crimmins earlier said he could not comment on the nature of the investigation but said "generally speaking, an abuse and neglect investigation is triggered when there is a complaint to the agency."

The mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the Mormon faith is officially known, renounced the practice of polygamy more than a century ago and is at pains to distance itself from breakaway factions that bless multiple marriages, often involving adolescent girls.

I plan on setting one of these up in about 20 years...hell of a retirement.

Waco, anyone?

are you interested in partnering a startup with me? or are you just reminding us of Waco?

Waco wasn't religious and i'm not sure there was a lot of fucking going on.

my cult will not be religious, won't care about what's going on in the world, won't take advantage of underage children, and will have a lot of fucking going on.

On February 28, 1993, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) attempted to execute a search warrant at the Branch Davidian ranch at Mount Carmel, a property located nine miles (14 km) east-northeast of Waco, Texas. An exchange of gunfire resulted in the deaths of four agents and six Davidians. A subsequent 51-day siege by the Federal Bureau of Investigation ended on April 19 when fire destroyed the compound. Seventy-six people, including 21 children and two pregnant women, along with Davidian leader Vernon Wayne Howell, better known as David Koresh, died in the fire. This has come to be known as the Waco Siege or the Waco Massacre.

I plan on setting one of these up in about 20 years...hell of a retirement.

yah, it wasn't religious. they hated the government. ok, so i'm sure that there was a lot of fucking...but i meant it wasn't polygomy or 12 year olds marrying 19 year old cousins. well i don't think there was either. i'm familiar with the story. anyway, would you like to join my cult, mecca?

[quote=""]I plan on setting one of these up in about 20 years...hell of a retirement.

I hope your future daughter joins.

Hay, aren't you that guy that bitches about everything and blows everything out of proportion?

The post barely pertains to you and if you had spent a fraction of a moment thinking about it you would have seen that. Enough with the lame retorts already, and quit e-harassing me.

Hay, aren't you that guy that bitches about everything and blows everything out of proportion?

The post barely pertains to you and if you had spent a fraction of a moment thinking about it you would have seen that. Enough with the lame retorts already, and quit e-harassing me.

hehehe...

Sorry you didn't see the humor in the post.

It was a funny response to a funny post...tis all.

perhaps you're not familiar enough:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Koresh

I couldnt find a back pedaling gif

We have to understand the complex roots that lead these people to commit polygamy, folks.