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CLYDE, Texas—Behind guarded, ornate gates at the end of a rural road, a self-proclaimed prophet warns his followers about the end of time and rails against a dangerous and unclean world outside their West Texas compound.

The women are covered in long skirts and long-sleeve shirts. Many of the children have different mothers and share the same father.

But this isn’t the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints’ ranch, which authorities raided last month in Eldorado after receiving reports that underage girls were being forced to marry much older men.

This is the House of Yahweh: a different, even darker sect that the state has been investigating for years. Authorities in February charged the group’s 73-year-old leader with performing polygamous weddings and forcing about 40 children — some as young as 11 — to work jobs at his 44-acre compound.

“If a bunch of adults want to get together and follow some con man and throw their lives away, that’s their right in this country,” said Callahan County District Attorney Shane Deel.