Judge frees children of polygamists

ELDORADO, Texas, June 2 (UPI) -- A Texas judge signed an order Monday for the immediate release of hundreds of children seized during a raid on a ranch owned by a polygamist sect.

District Judge Barbara Walther took the action after attorneys for the state of Texas and the children and their parents agreed to the terms of an accord hammered out Sunday, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The accord prohibits sect parents from leaving the state of Texas with their children or traveling more than 100 miles from the ranch without giving authorities 48 hours notice.

Under the agreement, parents must allow themselves to be photographed picking up their children, provide identification and be fingerprinted.

In addition, the parents have promised not to interfere with the state's continuing investigation into alleged child abuse and neglect at the YFZ ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.