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Team coverage Texas authorities have collected DNA swabs from jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs for an ongoing criminal investigation.
A spokesman for the Texas Attorney General's office, Jerry Strickland, says the samples were taken Thursday at an Arizona jail where Jeffs awaits trial on abuse charges.
A search warrant for the DNA alleges that Jeffs had so-called "spiritual" marriages with four girls, ages 12 to 15.
This, perhaps, relates to a photo that was released in court recently showing Jeffs and what looks to be a young girl kissing.
One picture shows the FLDS leader posing with a 12-year-old girl, kissing her in one of the photos.
Another photo shows him kissing another young girl.
One photo is dated a month before the FLDS leader was arrested and was still on the FBI's Most Wanted List.
According to the affidavit, at least one girl conceived a child at age 15, and one marriage to a 14-year-old allegedly happened in Utah in January of 2004.
The criminal investigation is separate from the custody case in which the Supreme Court ruled child welfare authorities acted too broadly in rounding up all the children from a ranch in west Texas.
E-mail: athomas@ksl.com
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
