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U.S. NEWS Saturday 11 auguSt 2018

Questions raised about timing of New Mexico compound search

By STEPHEN R. GROVES and body found is his grandson.
MORGAN LEE "If they knew about it, and
Associated Press then that kid died in that
AMALIA, N.M. (AP) — A time frame, when they
property owner questioned knew, somebody has to be
Friday why authorities did held accountable," Badger
not search a squalid New said.
Mexico compound sooner Taos County Sheriff's De-
for a missing boy, saying he partment Steve Fullendorf
told them in late spring that spokesman downplayed
he had met the child's fa- Badger's criticism of the in-
ther at the site and that the vestigation, saying Sheriff
man was wanted in Geor- Jerry Hogrefe did every-
gia for kidnapping his own thing he could possible un-
son. der the law and had to fol-
While touring the ram- low certain restrictions.
shackle living quarters lit- "Mr. Badger doesn't have
tered with ammunition, to adhere to those same
diesel cans, used diapers, restrictions," Hogrefe said. This aerial image shows a tunnel that is part of a remote outpost near Amalia, N.M on Thursday,
household garbage and "He wants to have his 15 Aug. 9, 2018.
Qurans on his property, minutes of fame and that's Associated Press
Jason Badger also said fine."
he believed he saw the Hogrefe has said the FBI the outskirts of tiny Amalia, firearms, including an as- WSB-TV in Atlanta, the boy's
searched-for boy by his fa- put the New Mexico com- New Mexico. sault rifle, authorities said. mother called for "justice"
ther's side in January, wear- pound under surveillance Prosecutors also have ac- Wahhaj's son, Abdul-ghani, on Thursday as she de-
ing a hooded jacket. in recent months and took cused them in court docu- was 3 years old when he scribed how her life had
Badger said in an interview photographs, but he could ments of training children to was abducted from his been taken from her after
that he learned through not initially get a warrant to use firearms in preparation mother in December in her son was abducted by
an online search this spring enter because collected for future school shootings, Jonesboro, near Atlanta, his father. She said that was
that Wahhaj was wanted in did not show the boy or his although no charges have authorities said. He has out of character for him.
the disappearance of son father. been filed in response to been described as hav- She and Siraj Ibn Wahhaj
Abdul-ghani Wahhaj and That changed when a note the accusation that came ing health problems that had been married almost
reported his earlier encoun- was forwarded to Georgia from a new foster parent require constant atten- 14 years, and she said he
ter to law enforcement au- authorities saying children of one of the 11 children tion because of a lack of disappeared after saying
thorities in New Mexico and inside the compound were removed from the com- oxygen and blood flow at he was taking the boy to a
Georgia — and eventually starving, Hogrefe said. pound. birth. park.
to the FBI. The missing boy's grand- Refuse at the compound A warrant said the father "I wasn't able to save my
Authorities did not search father, who leads a well- included live ammunition at some point told his wife son," she said.
the compound for the se- known mosque in New and training rounds with no he wanted to perform an Badger owns the property
verely disabled boy until York, said his adult daugh- real projectiles used to train exorcism on the boy, who where the Siraj Ibn Wah-
last week in a raid that re- ter, who was in the com- people how to load and suffers seizures and requires haj and the others con-
sulted in the arrest of Wah- pound, sent the note to a fire guns. constant attention be- structed the makeshift
haj and four other adults man in Georgia. That man The suspects are being cause of a lack of oxygen compound around a half-
on child neglect charges then notified the grandfa- jailed without bail in New and blood flow at birth. buried camper, walled off
after 11 other children were ther, who said he contact- Mexico and one of them, The elder Wahhaj said he by walls of used tires and
found at the compound. ed police. Lucas Morton, also faces did not know anything adobe topped with broken
A second search on Mon- The five adults, including a charge of harboring a about his son wanting to glass. An underground tun-
day uncovered a child's the imam's two children felon. He is accused of perform an exorcism on nel — big enough to crawl
body that hasn't been and a second adult daugh- refusing to tell authorities the boy. But he said his through — led in and out
positively identified by a ter, have been charged the younger Siraj Wahhaj's son and one of his daugh- of the compound, which
state medical examiner, with child abuse stemming location during the com- ters had become "overly was flanked by an appar-
although Wahhaj's father, from the alleged neglect of pound raid. concerned" with the idea ent target range. Dozens
also named Siraj Wahhaj, the 11 children found living Wahhaj eventually was of people becoming pos- of spent casings were left
said this week that the in filth in the compound on found armed with multiple sessed. In an interview with behind.q