Rangers talk to man in polygamist probe
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - April 12, 2008 Dale Barlow, 50, of 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.
Tela Mange, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public
Safety, offered few details of the interview between Barlow and
Texas Rangers.
"We have not made an arrest in this case and may not
necessarily make one today," she said.
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, whom Texas child
welfare officials have not yet located.
In her phone call, the girl said that she was pregnant with her
second child and that 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.
Friend Walker, chief of the Mohave County probation office, said
the Saturday meeting with Barlow lasted about 90 minutes. Barlow
has complied with all the terms of his probation and has never
sought permission to leave Arizona, Walker said.
"He has not ever been given a travel permit to go to Texas,"
Walker said.
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.
Some 139 women from the ranch left voluntarily to be with the
children, who are now housed in San Angelo's historic Fort Concho
and at the nearby Wells Fargo Pavilion. Officials have said they
are having difficulty identifying some of the children.
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.
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Associated Press writers Tony Winton in San Angelo and Bob
Christie in Phoenix contributed to this report.
