Posted on 04/21/2008 4:51:50 AM PDT by Bean Counter
*SNIP*
OFFICIALS SAY Rozita E. Swinton is a "person of interest" in the cult case, and reports of her arrest strongly suggest that it was the 33-year-old Swinton who called a domestic-abuse hotline in Texas, identifying herself as "Sarah Jessop Barlow."
Claiming to be the 16-year-old mother of an 8-month-old infant and already pregnant again, "Sarah" said she had been forced into a "spiritual marriage" at the FLDS compound when she was only 15. Her parents had brought her to the site when she was 13, "Sarah" said in a series of late-March calls to the hotline, and now she was being held captive as the seventh wife of 50-year-old convicted sex offender Dale Barlow, who she said had once beaten her so badly she suffered broken ribs.
The horrifying details related by "Sarah" caused the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to file an affidavit seeking an emergency protection order that sent dozens of law enforcement and child-welfare officials swarming onto the Eldorado compound, where they took custody of 416 FLDS children.
Four days later, the San Angelo Standard-Times obtained the affidavit, which was then posted online at TheSmokingGun.com, and "Sarah" instantly became the world's most famous victim of polygamy.
Even as the brutalized teen's plight was sparking salacious tabloid stories and relentless cable TV coverage, Texas officials were discovering another problem with Sarah Jessop Barlow: She apparently doesn't exist.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
On one hand, the authorities in Texas could hardly ignore the phone calls this woman apparently made. It wasn't just one call, but a series of very believable calls, so you can't blame them for taking firm action.
On the other hand, if this was a hoax, it raises serious legal and Constitutional questions about search and seizure, and could contaminate whatever real case there may be behind all of this.
This mess could take years to resolve in the Courts. No wonder more than 350 attorneys showed up for the initial hearings last week...
Developing...
“Blogger ‘DRJ’ at Patterico.com made the shocking discovery that Swinton (the hoax caller, pretending to be ‘Sarah’) is listed as a pledged delegate for Sen. Barack Obama at next month’s state convention of the Colorado Democratic Party.”
I’m amazed that it wasn’t a Freeper that busted this open, but at least it’s out there now.
The police get tips all the time. Many come from people with axes to grind. Some of them are not true. The police do not know this when they receive the tip and have to investigate them in good faith. If during the investigation they uncover actual evidence of crimes they have to continue the investigation. The accuracy of the original tip is no longer an issue, the evidence found during the search is. If you don’t allow the investigation to continue, there’s no reason for police to respond to tips at all, since at the time of the tip they can never know if its true or not.
If this Swinton is so concerned about polygamy, then maybe she shouldn’t be supporting the son of a polygamist.
as more and more truth comes out like this, it won’t make one whit of difference to those on this board who would see this group hung out to dry and the children all in foster care no matter what... this case was certainly a wake up call to me, when I discovered how many facists were here at Free Republic.. those to whom, due process and the Constitution don’t matter.. if they don’t like you, it doesn’t matter if there’s hard evidence or not.. you have have your children taken from you, and you should be charged with whatever they can trump up. They get their facts from the MSM (just like liberals),and believe that if they don’t like your brand of religion, then let the state step in and take control of your life (just like liberals).
Did she have a problem with the sect or did someone put her up to this?
At this point I'd prefer to not make her an issue in this cases (s). She busted the wall of secrecy.
Does a ‘religion’ get to force underage girls into marriage and motherhood?
That was my question also .... why..? What connection does she have?
True, but that is not what happened according to Barlow's lawyer and he went on the record (on national TV no less) and clearly stated the LEO’s knew he was not there and never was. The lawyer is stating the Texas LEO’s knew this PRIOR to the first warrant.
If the LEO's knowingly presented the judge with false info the good faith requirement is not met and the evidence can be disallowed.
Apparently the Arizona authorities are backing up Barlows’s story. And if Barlow is telling the truth, his lawyer is probably also telling the truth, which means there is a possibility the Texas LEO’s went to the judge for the first warrant and presented info they knew was false.
And that would void the "good faith" requirement. Since the second warrant is based on evidence of the first it could be in jeopardy as well.
I don’t think it is a large number, they are just very vocal.
I think there may be more freepers that are skeptical, but they don’t want to post and be called child molesters or defenders of evil mormons.
I read unconfirmed reports by LDS members in Colorado Springs, CO, that Ms. Swinton is LDS. A member of the East Stake.
A lawyer doing what lawyers are paid to do, lie for their client.
Fascism is very popular in America, well not the name, but certainly the practice.
Swinton is LDS?
Please provide a link of this evidence.
There is a whole lot of ignorance on the issue of child abuse and or neglect. It is not necessary to prove sexual abuse before the state acts. Mere allegations of neglect are all it takes. The state is charged with the responsibility to investigate allegations and it takes very little evidence to require an investigation. Whatever the reason for the initial investigation, if the investigation uncovers neglect or abuse the state must act on them.
In this case there was ample cause before this phone call for the state to have investigated. If there is any controversy over the phone call starting the investigation, it should be why it took such a call when apparently there were so many other signs of problems. In short, why did it take so long?
Second, removal of the children is not permanent and it is followed by many protective measures. The court (at least in my home state of CT) appoints attorney’s for the child and for the parent if they cannot afford one. The court operates under 2 guidelines. First it does what is in the best interest of the child and second it attempts to fix the problem so that it can reunite the family as soon as possible.
The constitutional rights of these people have not been violated. Their is a due process and it is being followed.
From the articles I have read the parents have not identified themselves. This means the children are technically homeless. That alone would be a reason for the state to step in, find the parents and cause them to accept their parental duties.
If it was a cell phone - they could have found out which tower it connected to and figured out the geographical location that way.
If it was a VOIP phone, they could have tracked the IP and determined an approximate location.
Regular old phonelines are of course easiest to track, and they don't move.
That they would move in such a massive way without even double-checking the phone info available is negligent.
And we all know the accused will always tell the truth (which usually involves “I didn’t do it, and if I did, I was out of my mind at the time”).
And so, apparently, is anarchy, at least among those who object to valid warrants and legal searches on Free Republic.
The ends justify the means, eh? What a crock!
Ping
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