Relatives outside polygamist sect seek custody

Costs expected to top $30 million
In Austin on Tuesday, state lawmakers began adding up the costs related to the raid and began trying to figure out where to find the $30 million the case is expected to cost over the next year.

Health and Human Services Executive Commissioner Albert Hawkins told the Senate Finance Committee that it will cost about $1.7 million a month to care for the children. The initial raid cost an estimated $5.3 million, and at least $2.2 million will be needed to help the local courts handle legal proceedings for each child.

One lawmaker questioned whether the state could make the adults left behind on the 1,700-acre ranch — valued at $20.5 million — foot the state's bill.

"I would encourage you to aggressively pursue any of those assets to fund this," said Republican Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville.

The FLDS, which teaches that polygamy brings glorification in heaven, is a breakaway of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.

Sect leader Warren Jeffs, who is revered as a prophet, was sentenced to prison in Utah for being an accomplice to rape in arranging a marriage of a 14-year-old follower to her 19-year-old cousin. He awaits trial in Arizona, where he is charged as an accomplice with four counts each of incest and sexual conduct.

Court documents listed 10 children of Jeffs living at the ranch with several mothers. Another mother, 34-year-old Monica Jessop, acknowledged Tuesday in court that all five of her children were fathered by Jeffs.

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