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.
Law enforcement can go right around Caller ID. They do it all the time. Phone companies work very closely with law enforcement.
Okay, thanks for that. This may be why the Rangers went up there. I don’t know.
Okay, thanks. Good to know.
It does beg the question, why did they raid the farm? If they could get the number, why didn’t they verify the location before requesting a warrant. I don’t think the judge will overlook asking that question.
They went up there to question her. Bet they had lots questions too. I’d pay 5 bucks to see her rap sheet and find out what her motive was.
In addition, if this is playing out like I think it is, heads are going to roll, and this could get pretty ugly.
First call happened on 3/29, the next on 3/30.
The raid didn’t occur for 5 more days, on 4/3.
In 5 days, the authorities could have found out from the phone company where the call came from.
For clarification, “Sarah” did NOT directly call the police or the sheriff’s department. She called some abuse hotline. I don’t know if that automatically triggers a 911-type response.
That is indeed the rub. the police have an incumbent duty to prove the veracity of the claim. It is obvious there was little due diligence.
I think you’re right. We learned from the McMartin case that big cases have to be handled properly from the first day. You can’t screw up and put the toothpaste back in the tube.
It would have been a well advised idea that a very strong legal team be consulted before taking these actions. Even judges and district attornies should have been in on the plan.
I would also have liked the CPS who supposedly ‘really cares’ about the children, to have advised a better plan than to essentially arrest all the children, rather than the fathers.
The kids could have been allowed to stay on the farm and to play during the day. They could have continued lessons and other activies so the trauma would have been disipated.
What has taken place has been tantamount to abuse in it’s own right IMO.
Was she connected to a male at the Texas location? Did he cut her off? A lovers spat? Pay back? Money involved? Did she have something against these people or this church, or what ever they call it? Or was she just a fruitcake who wanted attention?
HAH! LMAO, ROTFLMAO! BWAAAAAHAAAAAAA “choke, cough” BWAAHAHAAA.
They say she has mental problems, but that would cover a pretty good slice of the liberals in our nation today IMO. She may be a do-gooder on a mission for all we know.
I don’t like the idea of some bitter ex fabricating things to ‘get even’ with someone. It is interesting that the man who was supposedly the 16 year old’s husband, supposedly hasn’t been to the farm in years. Could this mean she had a vendetta with him going back a long time? (or could he be lying about the length of time it’s been since he was there)
More to come...
We'll see. This should all come out. Not looking good for Texas authorities right now, considering this new evidence in regards to this Colorado connection.
There has always been hate between religious groups...This may play into it somehow.
They only thing I'd bet on at this point, is law enforcement in charge of this investigation in Texas, is probably reeling right about now.
Thanks. Yep, it’s popcorn time. I sure don’t like to make light of this, but about all we can do is sit back and see how it plays out. Sure hope we’re wrong.
I’m no lawyer, but it seems to me there was plenty of testimony and reason for probable cause without the call.
There was either child abuse or there wasn’t. If there are a lot of 13-16 year old girls with kids, who believe they are married, then there is clearly child abuse.
A judge should be able to get to the bottom of this pretty easily. But based on past investigations into the Fundamentalist mormons, my money’s on abuse. And if the gov’t should be criticized for anything, it’s waiting 5-7 years after they moved to Texas to act.
Why wouldn’t the environment be clean and tidy? All those “women” with nothing to do all day but clean, cook, and reproduce.
I’m becoming more and more disillusioned with FR. If there’s one job the government ought to do it’s protect children. Lord knows they’ve done a lousy job on sex offenders and child services departments. I want them to do more, not less.
There’s nothing so heartbreaking as the thought of an abused child who doesn’t even know there’s a different kind of world out there. With all these repeat sex offender cases in the last few years, I’ve even thought this should be part of the presidential campaign-—who will do more to keep these creeps away from our children?
BUMP
Blood atonement
Former FLDS Church member Robert Richter reported to the Phoenix New Times that Warren Jeffs has repeatedly alluded to the nineteenth century Mormon teaching of “blood atonement” in church sermons. Under the doctrine of blood atonement, certain serious sins can only be atoned for by the sinner’s death. Richter also claims that he was asked to design a thermostat for a high-temperature furnace that would be capable of destroying DNA evidence if such “atonements” were to take place.[52]
Birth defects
The Colorado City/Hildale area has the world’s highest incidence of fumarase deficiency,[53] an extremely rare genetic condition which causes severe mental retardation. Geneticists attribute this to the prevalence of cousin marriage between descendants of two of the town’s founders, Joseph Smith Jessup and John Yeates Barlow; one local historian reports that 75–80 percent of the double-communities’ roughly 10,000 inhabitants are descended from one or both of these men
not sure
she runs a shelter and peddles a book for a living
she claims all girls married young yet she not married till 18
the more this story runs the more money she gets from donations and book sales
is she a liar is she stretching the truth for her benefit is she 100% truthful
not sure
I would say that the answer to all your questions is yes.
the answer is no
one of the few things that has been proved in a court the leader is in jail for marring a 19 year old male to a 14 year old girl.
so it can be proved not all the young girls married old men
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