U.S. Rep. Kay Granger formally asked Congress on Wednesday to investigate the business ties between the federal government and a polygamist sect that is the focus of one of the largest child custody cases in the nation's history.

In a letter to the House Armed Services Committee, Granger, R-Fort Worth, said more should be known about NewEra Manufacturing. The business, owned and operated by leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has received more than $1.2 million in military contracts.

The sect, also known as FLDS, has been under investigation at its 1,691-acre compound near Eldorado, 45 miles south of San Angelo, since authorities received a call from a 16-year-old girl who said she had been sexually and physically abused by her 50-year-old "spiritual" husband. During a raid that began April 3, state authorities took 416 children into custody

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