SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) - A spokesman for a polygamist sect in West Texas says the state has returned 139 women who were staying at a shelter with their children back to the Yearning For Zion ranch.

Spokesman Rod Parker says a ranch resident told him Monday that the women were back at the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch.

The women voluntarily followed the 416 children who were seized two weeks ago from the ranch.

The children were seized after a 16-year-old girl called a family violence shelter and said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. State authorities say the children may be victims of physical and sexual abuse.