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.
Way too much speculatin going on built on absolutely nothing from what I can see (I read the article) ....
It's also looking increasingly likely that there's no Mr. Sara. The guy that matches the description--same name, same age, member of the FLDS--that "Sara" gave the crisis hotline, the guy lives in Arizona, and his AZ parole officers say it's impossible he could have been in Texas.
Yeah, even if she made the phone calls, this is pretty twisted.
***
If that girl never had cell phone who was that laborer who was working on the property he must have dial for her.
Many of us who have a cell phone fine it hard to use, I have a pre paid and only used it a few times.
So who was the laborer that let this girl use the Phone?
Can’t they question him?
There must be a record of the company they hired to do work!
As unsettling as this case is......I have to agree with you. A dear friend of mine who was running for a seat on the local school board was competing with a woman who worked for the Dept of Human Services. One morning at 3am.......the cops burst into my friend's home... took her 3 year old daughter and arrested her husband on suspicion of child abuse (sexual). The cops had received an "anonymous tip".
It took her 3 months to get the child back after having to agree to a laundry list of pre-req's like supervised visitation, parental counseling, etc.
During the course of all this...she began having problems with her phone......and found it had a black box attached. The police and phone company had no record of it being installed.... but it just so happened that my friend's contender for the school board seat....happened to be married to a bigwig at the phone company.
My point is .....abusing one's position of authority is never acceptable.... and it destroys lives. This situation happened 20 years ago... and the girl still has nightmares due to the trauma of having been ripped from her family.
Nope, she was arrested in Colorado, by Colorado authorities. And this would make sense since it appears she committed the crime (the calls) from Colorado.
In addition, she appears to have priors offenses for the same type crimes, of calling in false police reports. She appears as though she might just be a common nut cake.
Thanks for those comments. As bad as what was taking place at the farm, there are other types of abuse, and ripping kids out of the arms of their parents ranks right up there.
Why weren’t the men arrested and the kids and moms left on the farm? I’ll never understand that one.
I agree. I do think a follow-up is important here, anotherwords the Rangers were right to check this out. Her phone records should be checked closely too.
Again, it would appear the Rangers would not have jurisdiction here, since the crime were committed in Colorado. That is why she was arrested in Colorado.
But here’s the rub....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?
The original call occurred days or a week ago I believe. They should have discovered within hours the caller alleging to be held against her will in Texas, was actually calling from Colorado.
If she called Texas to commit a crime, she would be guilty of a crime in Texas. The Rangers could certainly bring charges. She was perpetrating a fraud on the state of Texas, if...
I do agree that Colorado has her dead to rights on the charges they made, if they are true, but I don’t think the Rangers are out of jurisdiction.
I could be wrong, but this is the way I see it. Not trying to be arguementative, just trying to express my view of it.
Thanks.
Well, that’s a good question. Perhaps the caller had Caller ID blocked. I’ve forgotten if it shows out of state when the calls are blocked though.
I believe she was arrested for calling in a false police report. This occurred in Colorado. I could be wrong, but it would seem this is why the Rangers left, and she was arrested by locals in Colorado.
I'm not sure I do either. This whole thing was poorly orchestrated, IMHO.
Trust me, if you call the police from another state, or even long distance, or local for that matter, and report rape, murder, kidnap etc, they can locate your number and location within probably 30 minutes, or less. It's done all the time.
About all I can say is it’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. I do think the defense teams have been gifted with some poor execution by autorities. We’ll see. Perhaps there are some extenuating circumstances that will exhonerate the authorities. It’s no more fair of me to condemn the authorities without all the story coming out, than it is for me to trash everyone at the farm before all that evidence is aired.
I am in agreement there. Didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Texas would have to file and await extradition to prosecute. Colorado was the proper agency at this time, no doubt about that.
That is precisely true, and right on the money, as is your story of governmental abuses.
Some would make those of us who believe as such to be hard hearted and unfeeling. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I have a tremendous sympathy for the downtrodden and the victimized, all the more so when involving children, as I am sure is your case as well.
But that sympathy, by the nature of the law, must certainly fall short of the law itself, lest abuses such as those you related become even more commonplace.
Thanks for your reply.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.