The raid on a Texas polygamist compound is the biggest such event in more than 50 years, says an author.
Stephen Singular told Canada AM on Monday that the last comparable raid happened in Arizona in 1953.
"(Gov.) Howard Pyle decided to raid the community in Colorado City, Arizona to -- as he said -- rout out the nest of polygamists," said the writer of "When Men Become Gods: Warren Jeffs, his cult of fear, and the women who fought back."
But the raid backfired, because media images showed families being torn apart and women crying, Singular said.
"As a result, the governor did not get re-elected. The public turned against him and felt he was tampering with a community where he really didn't belong -- the religious community," he said.
For the next 50 years, Arizona and Utah law enforcement officials didn't do much, Singular said.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), is a sect that broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church after the latter renounced polygamy in 1890.
Warren Jeffs took over the sect when his father Rulon died in 2002. He reportedly ruled with an iron first.
The FLDS bought its Texas ranch in 2004. People started to move to the ranch, located about 70 kilometres south of the West Texas city of San Angelo, from Colorado Springs.
About 2004, a 14-year-old girl made a complaint that Jeffs had forced her into a marriage with a much-older cousin. After two years on the lam, Jeffs was arrested in 2006 and convicted last year of being an accomplice to rape. A Utah court sentenced him to five years to life in prison.
Singular said the situation in Texas is similar because a 16-year-old contacted police to complain of abuse.
Friday's raid
This triggered the raid that began Friday. Authorities have removed 220 women and girls from the compound so far. Eighteen girls have been placed into foster care.
However, they aren't sure if the complainant, who allegedly had a baby at 15, is among those removed.
Authorities are looking for evidence the girl married Dale Barlow, 50. Texas law doesn't allow the marriage of girls younger than 16, even with parental consent.
Barlow received a jail sentence last year after pleading no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. A judge ordered him to register as a sex offender for three years while on probation.
He is reportedly in Arizona.
Jeffs is currently in a Kingman, Ariz. jail awaiting trial on four counts each of incest and sexual conduct with a minor. The charges stem from arranged marriages between teenage girls and older male relatives.
Singular said he subtitled his book to acknowledge the fact that it's women making the complaints to force authorities to act.
"This has long gone on inside some of these communities," he said. "The interesting thing is it's always been the women who have come forward, or the girls in some cases, and pushed the prosecution or pushed the police to do something."
The women made it clear the issue wasn't religion, he said. "This isn't about polygamy among consenting adults. This is about child abuse, sexual assault, rape et cetera," Singular said.
With files from The Associated Press
