I never thought the road from San Angelo to Austin would become weathered from my tires, but I’m afraid to report it is. I knew this morning I had been in San Angelo too long when the lady at the starbucks knew me by name, the grandpa with his grandkid remembered me and when I walked out, I said hi to the newspaper man’s son. That ended up being the most exciting adventure of the day.
The rest of the day consisted of another several hours of hearings with very little accomplished.
However, an interesting incident did happen at Friday’s hearing. While Dan Jessop was at the 14 day hearing for his son who was born in Austin 2 weeks ago, CPS brought out pictures of Warren Jeffs with two of his child brides. They submitted these pics as evidence that Dan’s home is not a safe environment, since his sister was one of the brides. The pictures showed this 14 year old girl standing with Jeffs and in another picture she was kissing him. What shocked me the most from this is immediately following the hearing, court workers came out with copies of the pictures and knocked on all of our live trucks to deliver them. They GAVE us pics of an underage girl, in CPS custody for our news reports. The lady even told me to show the pic on Nancy Grace when I was on again. Considering we are not allowed to show pictures of children in CPS custody, I was a little surprised to be handed photos of a girl the state is alleging to be a victim of child sex abuse.
I thought it was a little strange, you?
4 responses so far ↓
Trent // May 28th 2008 at 7:11 pm
Totally bizarre. Keep watching the sky — might get a UFO sighting soon. Keep up the great reports. Helluva story indeed.
Bretton // May 29th 2008 at 9:12 pm
Your covered of the story was touching. I think alot of poeple will agree it’s all a little bit strange.
Still, there is a question that still needs some explanation. Why hasn’t our Texas Attorney General Office filed any charges against the men or women of the sect for polygamy. The last time I checked it was still illegal in Texas.
This sect is using religion as a shield to hide their illegal activities. The media has shown us the lenghts the women will go to obstruct justice to protect the men of this sect. Sexual indecency with a child, polygamy, child abuse and obstruction of justice are just what we know about, what other illegal activities does this sect use religion as a shield to hide behind.
As for the silence from our Governor, he’s conveniently hiding behind the Texas State Constitution’s clause separating ” Church and State”.
Jenny, keep up the great reporting. Thanks
Sarah // Jun 6th 2008 at 2:03 pm
Nothing CPS does surprises me anymore. My friend had her children kidnapped by CPS almost a year ago. She has been jumping through hoops to get her kids back and they keep adding stipulations each time they go to court. There were many errors on the original papers drafted by CPS; and, she hasn’t been able to defend these errors. What happened to the FLDS children is happening all across the nation, even the world, on a regular basis. I am glad someone is finally taking notice of the abuse of power by CPS. CPS caseworkers, attorneys, and the DA approach parents outside of court and coerce them into signing the papers at the Adversary Hearing. Once they sign, the parents have a hard time defending themselves against the allegations. Children are more likely to be abused or killed in foster care than at home. Two of my friend’s children have been abused in foster care (that we know of). As shown in the FLDS case, all it takes is someone with a vendetta against you to start the nightmare. CPS is long overdue for a complete overhaul. FYI: Total expenditures for TX Dept. of Family & Protective Services in 2007 was $1,236,301,186.58. Of this, Grants-In-Aid for Foster children was $380,539,083.58. (source - Texas State Comptroller website link: https://fmx.cpa.state.tx.us/businessobjects/enterprise115/desktoplaunch/InfoView/logon/logon.do) This money could be used on programs focused on preserving the families, not destroying them.
Jenny Hoff // Jun 7th 2008 at 6:05 am
I appreciate all of the comments! As for the Attorney General’s office…they could very well file charges at any point. Their criminal investigation continues. As for CPS, that’s a whole nother bag of worms… in this case, I think many agree it could have been handled better.
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