Salt Lake City, USA — The raid of a polygamist sect's Texas ranch cost child welfare authorities $12.4 million in overtime, transportation and shelter costs, according to newly released figures.
Three-quarters of the cost, $9.1 million, came in the first few weeks after the April 3 raid at a West Texas ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. State officials racked up overtime and transportation costs traveling to the remote ranch and housed more than 430 children and more than 100 mothers at sites in San Angelo.
The state spent another $3.3 million after the children were moved to foster care under an order signed by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther. That order was overturned by an appellate and the state Supreme Court less than two months after the raid.
The accounting of expenses following the raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado was reported in a copyrighted story Friday by the Deseret News.
The $12.4 million does not include the costs associated with the remaining cases, said Patrick Crimmins, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. It doesn't include court costs either.