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Woman Arrested On False Reporting Charges (May be involved in FDLS Sect phone calls)
ABC News 7 Denver ^ | 04 18 08 | 7NEWS

Posted on 04/17/2008 10:12:04 PM PDT by Howdy there

DENVER -- A Colorado Springs woman was arrested on charges of false reporting to authorities and is being investigated for her alleged involvement in the call that tipped authorities off to possible abuse at a Texas polygamist compound.

Police said they arrested 33-year-old Rozita Swinton at her home on Wednesday.

The Texas Rangers were in Colorado Springs Wednesday as part of their investigation involving the compound in Texas. They left and have not filed any charges on Swinton, said Colorado Springs police spokesman Lt. Skip Arms.

Arms said he could not discuss any aspects of the Texas case. The affidavit for the Colorado Springs case has been sealed so details cannot be released, he said.

Call7 Investigators reported this is not be the first time Swinton has been arrested on charges of making false reports to authorities. According to KRDO, the charge against Swinton was made in connection to calls received by police in February indicating she was 13 years old and trapped in a basement.

Watch 7NEWS at 10 p.m. for a live report.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: fdlssectpolygamy; flds; jeffs; swinton
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To: It's me

Excellent question. Here’s one answer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boys_of_Polygamy


101 posted on 04/17/2008 11:49:57 PM PDT by Mr. Silverback (It's not conservative to accept an inept Commander-in-Chief in a time of war. Back Mac.)
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To: Howdy there
Why are the men never mentioned? They are the ones committing the crimes. Have they already been removed and locked up?
102 posted on 04/17/2008 11:51:36 PM PDT by Ditter
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To: Mr. Silverback
Do you have some evidence that the charges are trumped up, other than the fact that the charges were issued by a government agency?

It is not my duty to provide such evidence. Americans are supposed to be assumed innocent. Search warrants are not supposed to be issued on hearsay. Private property must not be breached without a damn good reason, and that reason must be proven with some semblance of evidence before the fact.

103 posted on 04/17/2008 11:58:21 PM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just Socialism in a business suit.)
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To: roamer_1
This just gets more interesting.

____________________________________________________________ Local Woman's Fake Call May Have Led to Polygamist Raid

Updated: April 17, 2008 10:00 PM

Local Woman’s Fake Call May Have Led to Polygamist Raid

COLORADO SPRINGS - A call from a 16-year old girl, claiming sexual abuse at the Texas Polygamist Compound may have been a prank call from a Colorado Springs woman. 33-year old Rozita Swinton was arrested Wednesday Night by Colorado Springs Police.

According to sources close to the investigation, the F.B.I. began tracing calls from a person named "Sarah" to a Teenage Rescue Mission for girls trying to escape the sect. "Sarah" is the same person who made the call which lead to the raid. Authorities now believe Swinton was behind those fake calls, where 416 children were removed from the compound.

"She does have some history with Colorado Springs Police of making prior false calls to police," says Lt. Skip Arms. Court Affidavits have been sealed in her recent arrest, but NEWSCHANNEL 13 has learned that it relates to a false call back in February from a girl named "Jennifer" claiming she was being held hostage in a basement off Candon Drive. Colorado Springs Police spent most of the day searching more than a dozen homes for a person in distress.

Neighbor Travis Ledger tells NEWSCHANNEL 13 that Swinton was quiet, but sometimes would bring up police. "If the cops came by here she'd ask why or this and that." He thinks she may have been calling police for attention. "Maybe she's looking for another reason to call police and stir up more stuff."

104 posted on 04/18/2008 12:03:09 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: Howdy there

Sounds exactly like the kind of cooked up phony BS the Klinton administration tried to foist off on the American public to justify their lethal Nazi SS Einsatzgruppen extermination raid on the Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas in order for Hitlery to clean her claws and justify the existence and use of of heavily armed jackbooted government thugs with “extra-constitutional authority” with free fire/shoot to kill orders on the only group in America that can be safely assaulted, attacked, and even killed with the approval of fellow left-wing atheistic fascists and gutless Republican cowards: white, heterosexual, independent Christians and their families.

Except for the blood, death, and carnage, it seems the federal government and Texas state authorities are eager to conduct Clinton era type raids upon innocent American civilians and allow the same jackbooted thugs in body armor and carrying automatic weapons to disregard Constitutional rights and storm unarmed and innocent Christians while not dispatching the same kind of massive, heavily armed federal agents against heavily armed gangs of illegal alien drug traffickers, some of whom are armed with military grade weaponry, operating openly in the US and using our non-existent borders, courtesy of the President, as a superhighway to import illegal drugs and shoot and even murder our US Border Patrol agents. Add to that overt violence espousing Muslim terror cells and mosques who peddle jihad and violence against the infidel while enjoying complete immunity from the jackboots of state and federal SWAT teams, federal marshals, and Texas Rangers.

Peaceful, non-mainstream Christian sects this sick and twisted government and its diseased feminized, homosexualized, atheistic federal bureaucracy eagerly throws every weapon and resource against while not treading one GD inch on the most vile and violent threats to American public safety out of cowardice and fear of being labelled racists or bigots. As far as individual human dignity, Constitutional rights, the rule of law, and common sense goes, we might as well still be in the Klinton administration for all the insanely biased, out of proportion, draconian tactics federal and state governments visit only upon select groups of people while ignoring true threats and far greater dangers. Sickening is what this vile idiocy is and I am damned tired of seeing the defenseless and innocent being persecuted while the filthy, violent scum of the earth go free.


105 posted on 04/18/2008 12:15:33 AM PDT by Imperial Warrior
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To: Sir_Ed

Don’t make light of this Ed. Some of the men at Eldorado may not face prosecution due to falsified grounds to obtain evidence. Is that a favor to the kids that have been abused? I hardly think so.


106 posted on 04/18/2008 12:15:33 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (McCain is rock solid on SCOTUS judicial appointments. He voted for Ginsberg, Kennedy and Souter.)
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To: Mr. Silverback

It’s going to be fun watching a bunch of Freepers pretend that because this moron told a lie all was well at the ranch, no child abuse, no brain washing, every teenage girl secretly wants to marry some fifty year old guy and share him with several other wives, yada, yada, yada...

*****

Something is going on there remember all those boys who were vanished from the kingdom this was a few years ago it really took the government a long time to check this out!

In the past five years, over 400 teenage boys have been excommunicated from the polygamous community. They’re known as the Lost Boys. Jay explains that the reason they run the young men out of town is so there will be more wives for the older men in the community.

“The Lost Boys are boys and young men who were expelled under the direction of Warren Jeffs. I know of no other society in America in which there’s more of a Taliban-like atmosphere,” says Dr. Dan Fischer, who left the church 12 years ago and is now running a foundation to help the Lost Boys. “These children are abused. They are kept out of school, they are worked on difficult construction jobs, hard labor ... We believe there to be some 750 to 800 of these boys. There must be a loud message sent that this must stop.”

When Sam was 12, he was working 10 hours a day hanging drywall and was not allowed to play basketball. “Basketball involves pride,” he explains. “You cannot have pride.”

Sam was kicked out for kissing a girl when he fell in love at 18. “That was the end. I was living in a camper, going day to day. I didn’t know what I was going to be eating for dinner. All this because I kissed somebody,” he says.

Inside the Cult
Dr. Phil delves further inside a controversial polygamous community where girls as young as 14 are reportedly forced to marry older men who have multiple wives, and young boys are forced to leave town.
http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/527


107 posted on 04/18/2008 12:16:25 AM PDT by restornu
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To: It's me
My questions is: What about all the teenage boys? Do they have to wait until they are fifty to marry an underage girl?
I didn't look it up, but IIRC, the statutory rape case that "the Prophet" was busted on last year involved a 19-year-old guy and an under-age girl, forced into a "marriage" she didn't want. Apparantly you just have to wait for the second and third wives...
108 posted on 04/18/2008 12:17:53 AM PDT by ER Doc
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To: dragnet2

One more time, I was merely speculating. I clearly stated that my hypothesis was a long shot, but I guess you missed that part. It is not up to me to figure out what was happening here.

As for the kids in the compund, from what I have heard they have no internet access and no cell phones, no contact with the outside world. How they would even have the phone number to a crisis line is beyond me.

From what these news reports are suggesting, the woman has some mental health issues, and it’s unlikely she had any contact with the FLDS at all.

What I want to know is why the authorities in Texas didn’t figure out where the calls originated before they rushed in to the compund and clamped everything down.


109 posted on 04/18/2008 12:17:54 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. (Psalms 82:6))
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To: Imperial Warrior
Peaceful, non-mainstream Christian sects this sick and twisted government and its diseased feminized, homosexualized, atheistic federal bureaucracy eagerly throws every weapon and resource against while not treading one GD inch on the most vile and violent threats to American public safety out of cowardice and fear of being labelled racists or bigots.

The questions surrounding this situation aside, that is a wonderfully cogent synopsis of the state of affairs today and how political correctness is killing us in just one of many ways.

110 posted on 04/18/2008 12:18:51 AM PDT by wardaddy (I just bought my daughter a Mini-Cooper, man....that thing is a blast......I need one.)
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To: restornu

That’s good and relevant information for perspective.


111 posted on 04/18/2008 12:19:47 AM PDT by familyop (Neanderthal)
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To: Howdy there

Im starting my own church... please send your money and any good lookin women to the World Woofie Church. God Bless


112 posted on 04/18/2008 12:21:57 AM PDT by woofie
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To: Imperial Warrior

Statutory rapists aren’t exactly defenseless or innocent.

Children WERE being harmed here.

But the rest of your points are well-taken.


113 posted on 04/18/2008 12:22:48 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. (Psalms 82:6))
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To: Hildy

Hildy, we really don’t know what was taking place yet. Despite a number of Freepers who seem to think they know precisely who was doing what, and what penalty should be meeted out, the authorities don’t seem to be anywhere near as up to speed as some of us ‘think’ they are.

Since you seem to know so much about this case, could you please tell me the names of all the men who are guilty of crimes at Eldorado, and what each of them is verified to have done?

I don’t think anyone here is defending illegal activity, unless it’s those who defend falsified warrants, and fraudulent tips.

I don’t condone illegal activity at the farm. And I am quite concerned that some people are going to get off now, because the evidence was gathered on a false tip, and unjustified warrants.

Just like the Freepers bashing anyone in sight, the cops acted hastily and that may jeopardize prosections.

Won’t that be grand!


114 posted on 04/18/2008 12:24:09 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (McCain is rock solid on SCOTUS judicial appointments. He voted for Ginsberg, Kennedy and Souter.)
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To: Choose Ye This Day
That's it.

If this was so serious, why would law enforcement not quickly have determined the call was made from another state, by someone claiming to he held against their will, in a state where they were not even located?

115 posted on 04/18/2008 12:26:00 AM PDT by dragnet2
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To: UCANSEE2

You are right with regard to the current case, because she wasn’t charged in conjunction with it. I do wonder if the decisions was based on the idea that prosecuting her would jeopardize the case in Texas. I doubt defense attornies are going to set the bar as high as the Rangers did.

It does appear now that someone filed a false report, and the warrants may not have been well grounded.

If this does jeopardize some of the prosecutions, that’s going to be a terrible thing.


116 posted on 04/18/2008 12:28:25 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (McCain is rock solid on SCOTUS judicial appointments. He voted for Ginsberg, Kennedy and Souter.)
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To: ER Doc

I’m surprised folks aren’t more informed about how these cults work. There’s been so many exposes. The only young men who are allowed to marry, indeed stay in the cult at all, are the sons of the dukes and lords. It’s a feudal system. With at least four women for every male you have to get rid of 75% of the male offspring. Most say they are run off but I would imagine there are a lot of hidden graves somewhere. Maybe some enterprising reporter will get round to looking up the infant mortality records someday. But then, there probably aren’t any.


117 posted on 04/18/2008 12:29:32 AM PDT by gost2
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To: mylife

Sound like they took her into custody for questioning, then didn’t charge her in this case. It does look like they may have charged her in conjunction with the other calls, just not in conjunction with this case.


118 posted on 04/18/2008 12:29:49 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (McCain is rock solid on SCOTUS judicial appointments. He voted for Ginsberg, Kennedy and Souter.)
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To: Mr. Silverback
Well, wait a minute. Everybody wants to talk about trumped up charges, and raids on these perfectly nice people who were just minding their own business[...]

It is not my assertion that these are perfectly nice people minding their own business. It is my assertion that even perfectly awful people have rights before the law. The law against illegal search and seizure is codified in the Constitution itself.

[...] but the testimony of Jessop, lost boys and the other FLDS shennanigans are EVIDENCE that something is going on here. Whether it's evidence that is proof, or evidence you find compelling doesn't change the fact that it's EVIDENCE that the FLDS cult abuses women and children.

It is he said / she said, basically hearsay evidence without corroborating proofs.

A friend's uncle had a drug dealer living across the street. Everyone knew he was dealing, the place became a flop house, the local robberies were way up, and everyone was complaining to the cops. But they could do NOTHING without evidence.

As I was on vacation, and spent a weekend in the city, I rigged a camera and computer to gather the necessary evidence. With two weeks of monitoring, he was able to present the police with sufficient evidence, and the bust went down quite promptly thereafter.

The SAME threshold, excepting differences in state law, applies here.

But I will say this and I will stand by it even if all these people are acquitted: Given the FLDS's recent past, believing them is at least as silly as believing a government agency at face value.

I don't care if they are believable or not. It is not their job, nor should it be, that they act in a believable fashion. The law does not get to break down doors and tear away children from families on the basis of whether the family is believable or not.

119 posted on 04/18/2008 12:30:54 AM PDT by roamer_1 (Globalism is just Socialism in a business suit.)
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To: Howdy there

A modern day Tituba..


120 posted on 04/18/2008 12:31:48 AM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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