Warren Jeffs, president of the FLDS Church, declared in August 2003 that the blessings of the priesthood had been removed from the community of Short Creek -- the twin border towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah. He suspended religious meetings while continuing to collect tithes, and turned his attention to what he called "lands of refuge": secret communities built away from growing media scrutiny and law enforcement pressure. David S. Allred, through the YFZ Land LLC, purchased the Texas property and told locals it would be a hunting retreat. The deception faltered early when a Hildale man was caught shooting all the white-tail deer on the ranch and fined for hunting without a license. By January 2005, Jeffs had dedicated the foundation of a temple on the grounds. Tax assessments valued the buildings at roughly $3 million, and the sect was fined over $34,000 for environmental violations -- mainly unpermitted concrete-mixing operations.

On March 29, 2008, a domestic violence hotline received a call from someone claiming to be "Sarah," a 16-year-old girl suffering physical and sexual abuse at the ranch. Investigators would later trace the calls to Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs, a 33-year-old unmarried woman with a history of hoax calls posing as victimized girls. But the call set events in motion that could not be undone. On April 3, Texas law enforcement cordoned off the ranch. Troopers and child welfare officials searched the property, including the temple's safes, vaults, and locked rooms, finding evidence that beds in a section of the temple were used for sexual activity with underage girls. By April 8, authorities had removed as many as 533 women and children. A total of 462 children were placed in state custody -- the largest such operation in Texas history.

The legal aftermath stretched across years and multiple states. On May 22, 2008, a Texas appeals court ruled that Judge Barbara Walther had abused her discretion, finding insufficient evidence that all the children were in immediate danger. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the ruling on May 29, ordering the children returned to their families. But the criminal investigations continued. Raymond Jessop received 10 years for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old. Allan Keate was sentenced to 33 years for fathering a child with a 15-year-old. Merril Leroy Jessop drew 75 years. Warren Jeffs himself, after his Utah rape conviction was overturned on a technicality, was extradited to Texas, found guilty of sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault of children, and sentenced to life in prison plus 20 years. In total, 12 men faced charges related to underage marriages.

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services issued its final report in December 2008. The findings were stark: 12 girls had been placed in "spiritual marriages" at ages ranging from 12 to 15, and seven of them had already given birth. Among the 43 girls removed from the ranch between the ages of 12 and 17, more than one in four was in an underage marriage. The case also raised difficult questions about civil liberties. The ACLU argued the mass removal was based on a single unsubstantiated allegation. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff criticized the logic of removing infants based on the possibility they might one day be victimized. A year after the raid, two-thirds of the families had returned to the ranch, though sect leaders had promised to end underage marriages.

In November 2012, the Texas Attorney General's Office moved to seize the property, arguing in a 91-page affidavit that Jeffs had authorized its purchase as "a rural location where the systemic sexual assault of children would be tolerated without interference from law enforcement." By 2012, the property was appraised at nearly $20 million. When the FLDS Church failed to file an appeal by the February 2014 deadline, the state became the legal owner. On April 17, 2014, Texas took physical possession, meeting with the eight remaining adult residents to arrange their departure. By 2019, the ranch had been leased and was being sold to Dallas-based ETG Properties LLC, who converted it into a military and law enforcement training facility. The temple and homes that once housed a secret community now serve an entirely different purpose on the same dusty West Texas landscape.