ARIZONA
The Salt Lake Tribune
By Jim Dalrymple II
The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Jan 22 2013
A woman who was finally able to leave an FLDS-controlled polygamous community escaped thanks to beefed up law enforcement in the area, according to the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, which pleaded Tuesday for more funding.
In a news conference, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced that Ruby Jessop had managed to leave Colorado City earlier this month. According to a news release, Jessop was held against her will for more than 10 years after being forced to marry her second-cousin, Haven Barlow, in 2001. Ruby, now 26, has been granted temporary custody of her six children, according to the release.
He said a criminal probe of the FLDS and the Marshal’s Office, which serves as a small police force in the twin polygamous towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, is currently under way. He declined to provide details.
“What they do is say, ‘Everybody watch her so she won’t run away.’ Then she can’t leave,” Horne said of women like Ruby. “Women who wanted to escape have been forcibly held by the marshals against their will.”
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.