Texas officials seek DNA from sect infant

(CNN) -- Texas child welfare officials have asked a judge to order a teenage member of a polygamous sect to let them take DNA from her infant so they can determine the father's identity, according to court documents filed in the case.

The teenager, who is younger than 18, is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She is believed to have had the baby in June, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services attorneys said in the documents, filed earlier this month.

Child welfare authorities also believe the teenager was married at 14 to an adult male, department attorney John Dolezal writes in the motion.

"In order to determine the identity of the sexual perpetrator who engaged in sexual intercourse with [the girl] while she was a minor, which act consequently led to this pregnancy, the department is required to perform genetic testing on the child so as to determine who that individual is," the motion said.

CNN is not naming the teenager, as authorities allege she is a victim of sexual abuse.

A hearing on the matter was conducted Tuesday. Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for DFPS, said the teenager showed up without the baby. An agreement was reached by both sides during the hearing, Crimmins said, but the judge ordered that the agreement not be made public.

The department has attempted to resolve the issue with the teenager but had not been successful, the motion said.

The FLDS was thrust into the spotlight in April, when child welfare workers removed more than 400 children from the sect's Yearning for Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, citing allegations of physical and sexual abuse.

Following a court battle, the Texas Supreme Court ordered the children returned, saying there was no evidence they faced imminent danger of abuse on the ranch.

Critics of the FLDS say the sect forces girls into marriage with men. To date, 12 FLDS members have been indicted on charges including sexual assault of a minor, conducting unlawful marriages involving a minor and bigamy as part of an ongoing investigation, according to Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott's office.

They include Warren Jeffs, the FLDS leader and "prophet." Jeffs was already facing charges of sexual assault of a child in Texas, which carries a sentence of up to life upon conviction, when he was indicted earlier this month on a first-degree felony count of aggravated sexual assault.

He is also facing a sentence of up to life in Utah, where he was convicted on accomplice to rape charges for his role in the marriage of a sect member to a 14-year-old. He is awaiting trial in Arizona, where he faces similar charges.

The FLDS is a 10,000-member offshoot of the mainstream Mormon church. It openly practices polygamy on the ranch, as well as in two towns straddling the Utah-Arizona border.

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