Suspect Denies Knowing Polygamy Sect Girl

Texas Rangers along with Arizona probation officials met Saturday with the man accused of abusing the 16-year-old girl whose call for help triggered a massive raid on the West Texas compound of a secretive polygamous sect.

Dale Barlow, 50, Colorado City, Ariz., has denied allegations of physical and sexual assault made in a whispered March 29 telephone call to a Texas domestic violence hot line.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange confirmed the meeting, but offered few details of the interview between Barlow and officers.

"We have not made an arrest in this case and may not necessarily make one today." she said. Texas rangers traveled to meet Barlow near his home in northern Arizona.

A telephone message left at Barlow's home by The Associated Press was not immediately returned.

Barlow has said he doesn't know the girl, who Texas child welfare officials have not yet located.

In her phone call, the girl said she was pregnant with her second child and her husband beat her about the head and chest when angry. She said she was trapped and not allowed to leave the Yearn for Zion Ranch in Eldorado.

The ranch is owned by members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whose members believe practicing polygamy will bring exaltation in heaven.

The faith's members have traditionally made their homes along the Arizona-Utah border, but in 2003, purchased the 1,700 acre former game preserve about 40 miles south of San Angelo.

Barlow spent 45 days in the Mohave County, Ariz., jail last year after pleading no contest to a charge of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He is a registered sex offender on probation and can't leave the state without permission. Bill Loader, his probation officer, has said he saw Barlow in Arizona a day after the Texas raid.

Child welfare officials seized 416 children, most of them girls, in the raid on the compound, saying the youngsters were in danger of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.

---

Read Hari Sreenivasan's blog post from San Angelo.

---

FLDS families have been under suspicion for decades for their religion-driven lifestyle and are taught to fear authorities and withhold information to protect their families.

Hearings to sort out the custody issues for the children are scheduled for Monday and Thursday.

The Texas legal community is responding to the challenge of recruiting as many as 350 court-appointed lawyers for the children in advance of Thursday's hearing. Texas State Bar President Gib Walton said the group has already conducted free legal training for volunteer lawyers so that each child can have representation.

"This type of mobilization is unprecedented, there's no doubt about it," Walton said. "We're very proud of the way that Texas lawyers have rallied to the situation," he added.

In addition to lawyers for the children, some of the women staying at the makeshift shelters are also getting free legal help from Legal Services attorneys, he said.

Logistics are another problem. Walton said the group may charter buses for lawyers who cannot get flights or hotels in the San Angelo area.

Meanwhile, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard sent an attorney and an investigator experienced in FLDS prosecutions to assist Texas officials in the YFZ ranch probe, Goddard spokeswoman Andrea Esquer said.

Also Saturday, Utah polygamy advocates in the Salt Lake City area were working on care packages for those held at Fort Concho. About 500 stuffed animals, toiletries, diapers and other personal items had been collected, said Mary Batchelor, a co-founder of Principle Voices. The items will be shipped to Texas next week, she said.

Some 500 children from Utah polygamous families had also written letters to the FLDS children.

"The children wanted to express their feelings and let these kids know that they are not alone," she said.