Temple raid goes well as sect probe ends

ELDORADO, Texas, April 11 (UPI) -- Law officers say they have wrapped up a weeklong probe of a Texas polygamist sect after a raid on the group's sacred temple was carried out without violence.

Dropping to their knees, praying and weeping, nearly 60 men had surrounded the temple at their ranch near Eldorado, Texas, but offered no violent resistance. The temple was where under-age girls allegedly were forced to have sex with older,"spiritual" husbands.

"We knew that the temple was going to be the most sensitive issue and building on the property," Texas Rangers Capt. Barry Caver told CNN. "We opted to do that last -- we felt like if there was going to be any resistance it would be then."

Caver said he had been warned the male members would draw a line at giving access to the temple. But all went relatively smoothly, he said.

Two people were arrested and 416 children were taken into state custody during the investigation at the YFZ (Yearning For Zion) Ranch, which is run by imprisoned founder Warren Steed Jeffs' Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The investigation began after a 16-year-old girl reportedly told social workers about being beaten, choked and sexually assaulted by a 49-year-old man who had fathered her child after their"spiritual marriage" last year.