First, a series of cell phone calls are supposedly made by a teenaged girl inside the FLDS ranch. Police apparently do not make any attempt to trace the origin of the call or even verify the cell phone account (both actions being easilly possible using cell phone call detail records). At least the police have not indicated that they made any such attempts to verify the calls.

The girl references a holiday which FLDS adherents do not observe (Easter).

The girl identifies as the father of her child a man who’s name just happens to be in the public record as an FLDS member because of a prior child sex abuse conviction. However, this man does not reside in the Texas FLDS ranch , has never visited the Texas FLDS ranch and can quite convincingly verify his whereabouts for the last 18 months via his parole officer. Apparently the Texas authorities never bother to research the girl’s claim as to the identity of the father of her children, and in fact when they do finally talk to the man in Utah, a week after the raid, they plainly do not have enough evidence to even hold him for questioning.

And oh yes: 14 days after the raid, the girl who made the phone calls has not been found.

On the basis of this “evidence”, the Texas authorities are able to obtain search warrants which are not simply limited to entering the FLDS property for the purpose of identifying and interviewing the girl who made the phone calls, but in fact allow them to search the entire property, confiscate all kinds of documentation, and remove all children from the property regardless of whether they show any obvious external signs of abuse, when virtually all of those children indicate repeatedly that they wish to remain with their parents.

Something about this stinks.

Abuse of children is a very serious issue. Abuse of the U.S. Constitution is even more serious.