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.
2 is probably the most likely. We clearly have a lot of people who hate government with a passion. If I’ve read taxes are theft once, I’ve read it a thousand times here.
You make a good point, but consider this: The FLDS considers childbearing by these young women to be their most important function. So, if you believe the girl is doing God's work, and that she's your sacred wife, do you put her in a hovel to raise your child? Of course not. Plus, a nice, clean, impressive school and such might be the difference between one state inspection visit and many state inspection visits.
But I could be wrong. I'm just surprised that so many Freeper s have been acting like the government must be wrong on this because they're the government.
“Not to argue with you, but I saw some footage inside their facility on the news today. It looked like a well funded private boarding school with comfortable bedrooms, computer workstations, communal dining and recreation areas. It was all clean and well lighted. If the allegations do prove to be false, there’s going to be a lot of ‘splainin to do by the authorities.”
I saw footage on Larry King, where one of the drugged women gave a tour. Warren Jeff’s portrait was on every wall. He will likely be in prison for life, for his convictions in Utah, for forcing and arranging underage “marriages.”
The then faces charges in Arizona, perhaps Nevada.
The woman giving the tour looked brainwashed and drugged.
Your little boarding school is an indoctrination center, wherein underage females are taught to submit to the whims of the “prophet” when he gives them to some older man, to become his “spiritual bride.”
Not to mention the underage girls that are pregnant at Eldorado. How did they get that way? Is that a government fix?
Texas child protection services is in the business of getting the children out of this type environment.
The older women are complicit, in the illegal activity. They claim God speaks through convicted Jeffs, and he instructs them the marriages and polygamy are “God’s will.”
IOW higher authority than civil laws.
We'll you can rest assured, if this story about the 33 year old is true, and it turns out she is "Sara" or had made these false report calls to law enforcement...If so this will put everything into question and will reduce the credibility of the entire investigation and any future prosecution.
Um...got a link? I understand they have at least five pregnant girls under 16.
Now, if you're saying that the 33 year old's call wasn't probable cause, you're wrong. Probable cause is "a reasonable belief that a person has commited a crime." The police had that as long as they thought the calls were from a real person.
OK, thanks for nothing.
The raid sucks, but the raid is one day. Abuse by pedophiles tends to last a lot longer than a day.
Uh, I hope you're speaking for yourself here, as I could care less one way or the other. I just look at the facts presented. Just the facts ma'am.
Hey, don’t jump all over the dude, he was just trying to discuss the evidence in a reasonable fashion.
The FLDS are a bunch of sick, twisted zealots that are detroying a generation of children with their sexual perversions, in the name of their religion. I say this as a Mormon.
The authorities should have done *something* to stop the abuse long ago. They have, however, been pretty inept and heavyhanded in how they responded to these dubious phone calls.
But those kids deserve better than life in that compound.
Yeah, our current level of taxation is outrageous, but by definition, tax is not theft. That goes double in a democracy.
How hard is it for authorities to track where the cell phone call originated from? Shouldn’t that have happened by now? Are they 100% sure the calls came from inside the compound? Or did they come from Colorado Springs?
This is very confusing.
No worries. I don't connect these nuts with your faith. They're sort of like the "Christians" who used to set off bombs in Northern Ireland.
Yeah, even if she made the phone calls, this is pretty twisted.
Based on what? A 33 year old impersonating a 13 year old, in another state, with prior crimes of calling in false reports, and in this one, alleging she was being held against her will or harmed?
This person apparently did commit a crime, by calling in a false police report, and it appears now she has been arrested.
If this is all indeed true, this will likely implode the credibility of this entire investigation or future prosecution. Just my opinion.
I will wait and see. I believe, and am willing to wager, that there will be a huge settlement in this case.
Don’t the police have to act on tips and evidence presented to them? They can only find out during the course of an investigation if the tip or the evidence is valid. But if someone calls them (or a crisis hotline) and claims to be a victim of abuse and rape, don’t the authorities have to assume that the person is telling the truth and that a crime has been/is being perpetrated? Thus, they HAVE to investigate. Right?
If the cops do nothing, and later on in turns out that the call was legitimate, and the victim is truly harmed, the authorities can have their butts sued off for being negligent in their duties. Can’t they?
I have no answers here. I think the authorities did some major overkill in how they handled this, but they had to do SOMETHING to find out if it might be true.
If they believed she was the real deal, it was probable cause, just like a cop has probable cause if he sees you buying a baggy of oregano.
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