The authorities called in a locksmith to open the gate, but they were unable to move the deadbolts to open the front doors of the temple. They tried to use a “jaws of life” tool, normally used to remove people trapped in cars after accidents, to open the doors. But the doors were too tightly constructed, Captain Caver said.

Finally, a SWAT team was called to apply brute force. As the team broke down the doors, about 57 men from the church stood in a circle around the building to bear witness, Captain Caver said.

The sect members sank to their knees in prayer, some sobbing, and one young man rushed to intervene. He was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a public servant but has been released on bond.

Inside, the three-story temple held hints about possible under-age marriage rites, but no answer to what had happened to the 16-year-old who called the authorities. The authorities found shredded documents, but could not determine when they had been destroyed. The state also found beds on the top floor of the temple, where authorities suspect that older men had sex with under-age girls, court documents released on Wednesday said. In one rumpled bed, authorities found a long strand of hair, the affidavit states.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or F.L.D.S., which bought the ranch in Eldorado, about 45 miles south of here, in 2003, is mostly concentrated in southern Utah and northern Arizona. Law-enforcement officials say the group, which has perhaps 10,000 members, broke from the Mormon Church more than a century ago and has no link today.