On their knees and sobbing, followers of Warren Jeffs formed a perimeter around the massive temple on the grounds of the YFZ Ranch as law officers prepared to go inside Saturday night.

Avoiding a violent confrontation pleased the authorities, but they described their six days in the compound as frustrating in part because "children were shuffled around houses as we were searching," Texas Ranger Capt. Barry Caver said Thursday.

The temple and its annex were the last buildings entered on the 1,691-acre ranch _ YFZ stands for Yearn for Zion _ because authorities knew they would be entering what the followers of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints considered holy ground, and that could provoke serious resistance. The ranch was built by Jeffs, the sect leader, who is now jailed.

Caver said the followers didn't resort to violence, although peace officers arrested one person who tried to stop them.

"They lined up 57 people around the temple," Caver said. "We didn't see any firearms."

Caver said no shots were fired, disputing an assertion in a court motion filed by the sect's lawyers this week that shots had been fired into the woods near the temple.

It was the first time Caver and Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran had spoken to reporters since the raid began April 3.

Caver said authorities called a locksmith to open the gate to the grounds around the temple but were forced to break the locks on the doors. He said church leaders felt it would be going against their faith to give them a key.

Doran defended his decision to wait four years to enter the compound, saying he had plenty of suspicion but no evidence of wrongdoing.

"We are aware that this group is capable" of sexually abusing young girls, Doran said. But "this is the United States. We are going to respect them. We are not going to violate their civil rights until we get an outcry. I've said that from Day One."

Helping him learn the way of this mysterious sect was a confidential informant he began talking with about four years ago. Doran wouldn't specify where the person lived. But an affidavit released Wednesday said the person was a former member of the sect.

Authorities still have no idea about the identity of the 16-year-old girl who triggered the investigation, even though she may be in custody. Doran said he remains confident they will find her.

"When you're dealing with a culture like this, they're taught from very (early) on that they don't answer questions to the point," Doran said. "And we may very well have her at Child Protective Services. All of that is certainly being sorted out right now."

CPS has temporary custody of 416 children at two locations in San Angelo. There are also 139 adult women with the children.

Caver estimated that 55 to 60 people remain at the compound. Most are adult men but some are elderly women.

The 16-year-old girl had accused Dale Barlow, 50, of beating her and getting her pregnant. He hasn't been arrested in Arizona, where he lives, but Doran said he remains a suspect.

Barlow, a registered sex offender who pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor in Mohave County, Ariz., told the "Deseret Morning News" on Wednesday night that authorities are looking for the wrong man.

"I do not know this girl they keep asking about," Dale Barlow told the Salt Lake City newspaper. "And I have not been to Texas since I was a young man back in 1977."

The court document said the beds were inside the temple and the young girls were forced to have sex with their husbands after getting married in the temple. Caver declined to go into details but said the beds were at the "top" of the temple.

Aerial photographs have shown that the roof of the temple contains skylights that can be opened to the sky or covered with sliding doors.

Investigators also "found disturbed bed linens and a strand of hair that appears to be from a female head," the affidavit said.

Federal authorities have also become involved in the search of the compound.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Texas issued a statement Friday confirming that a federal search warrant was delivered Tuesday. It was sealed, and investigators said they will have no further comment, spokeswoman Kathy Colvin said.

Jeffs, the sect leader, was convicted last fall in Utah, and he is awaiting trial on more charges in Arizona.