(May 21, 2008)--Child Protective Services workers went back to the West Texas compound of a polygamous sect Wednesday after receiving information that there may be more children living there, but they weren’t allowed to enter the secluded property.
CPS spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said Wednesday workers went to make initial inquiries and are now conferring with law enforcement.
Guy Jessop, standing guard at the main gate of a ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, said two CPS workers accompanied by a sheriff's deputy asked whether they could come on to the ranch to look for more children.
Jessop denied them access without a search warrant.
Jessop and FLDS spokesman Rod Parker said they didn't believe there were any children at the 1,700-acre ranch.
CPS seized more than 460 children from the Yearning For Zion ranch last month, believing the children were being forced into underage marriages and sex.
Few people were out on the ranch property later Wednesday when journalists were allowed to enter.
A woman in a lavender prairie dress could be seen gardening in front of one of the sprawling log cabin-style homes while a man was moving cows around the dairy.
The compound's schoolhouse was empty.
Calendars at the school still displayed April, when the raid occurred, and photos of the sect's jailed prophet Warren Jeffs.
Sect members requested 500 to 600 voter registration cards from Schleicher County, something they had not done in the five years since the ranch was established.
Schleicher County has an estimated 2,800 residents, and the ranch property is the county's third-biggest taxpayer.
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