‘TROUBLING’

Adults Arrested at New Mexico Kids Ritual Compound to Be Released on Bail

One child died in allegedly sordid conditions.

The adults accused of keeping 11 children in squalid conditions at a New Mexico compound are set to be released pending trial. The court has heard accusations that the five defendants trained children in firearms use, that one child died at his father’s hand during a religious ritual, and 11 others were found malnourished on the property. But the judge was unconvinced of allegations that the children were being trained for an anti-government mission. Judge Sarah Backus set a $20,000 bond for each defendant and ordered that the two men and three women wear ankle monitors and have weekly contact with their lawyers. “The state alleges there was a big plan afoot but the state has not shown to my satisfaction by clear and convincing evidence what in fact that plan was,” Backus said. The judge added, however, that the allegations she’d heard were “troubling.”