HOUSTON -- State troopers sealed off a polygamist compound in a remote stretch of Texas today while child welfare officials investigated a complaint that girls may have been abused, authorities said.

The probe at the YFZ Ranch, a walled-off compound just outside the town of Eldorado that is anchored by a towering white temple, came as welcome news to local officials, who have been complaining for years about the compound. State officials disclosed shortly after noon today that they were going to arrest some of its inhabitants in connection with their investigation, but they did not explain why.