Authorities removed more than 400 children from the retreat of the polygamist sect in West Texas and put the kids into state custody.

"This is the biggest single removal in the history of this agency," Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar said.

After the first raid, child welfare officials took under state custody only 18 children, but as raids intensified, more and more kids were taken. Many of them were interviewed. Azar added that there was enough evidence to convince a judge that the children living in the retreat had been abused.

The details of the abuses suffered by the children weren’t discussed although the state officials allegedly uncovered them. Detailed affidavits are expected to be released to the public today. Officials said 133 women voluntarily remained with the children instead of returning to the retreat.

The raids began with a search warrant to investigate into the case of a 16-year-old girl who was married by force with a 50-year-old man. The two had a child when she was 15.

Authorities haven’t found the girl yet, but said it might be possible that she is among the 401 children put under state custody.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) bought approximately 1,900 acres near Eldorado about four years ago. There they build the ranch and called it the YFZ ("Yearning for Zion") Ranch. About 400 members of the church were relocated from their Arizona and Utah compounds to the YFZ Ranch.

Since 2002, when his father died, the community has been led by Warren Jeffs. It’s one of the several religious groups which spread from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after the Mormon Church renounced polygamy in 1890.

Jeffs, the 52-year-old leader and "prophet" of the 10,000-member church, was later convicted for involvement in the rape of a 14-year-old girl in 2001, the year when she wed her cousin in an arranged marriage. In Utah, he was sentenced for to two consecutive sentences of five years to life in prison.

In Arizona, Jeffs also faces charges as an accomplice of incest and sexual conduct with a minor stemming from two arranged marriages similar to that above mentioned. He is now behind bars the Mohave County Jail in Kingman, Ariz., awaiting trial.