Posted on 04/23/2008 1:01:12 PM PDT by Howdy there
A court document says one phone number used to report alleged abuse at a polygamist retreat in Texas had been used previously by a 33-year-old Colorado woman.
It's not yet clear whether authorities suspect Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs made any of the calls that triggered this month's raid of the compound.
An arrest warrant affidavit made public Wednesday says a phone number she had used previously was used for a call to a Texas crisis center before authorities conducted the raid and removed more than 400 children. Swinton's whereabouts are unknown.
Authorities have said a 16-year-old girl called a crisis center claiming she was abused at the compound. Authorities have not found that girl but say they have found evidence other children were abused.
It is frightening that a court can remove a child from the natural parent and give that child to someone else, absent any proven harm to the child.If we adopt the 'best interest of the child' philosophy, it won't be long before any rich couple will be able to claim a poor couple's child. This almost happened in the Baby Jessica case.
Note that the judge claimed the mother was unfit because of the 'admitted felony act', not because she proclaimed herself a lesbian.
If her testimony was without merit, the judge would have to discount her claims of committing felony acts. So it appears the judge believed her claim of felony commission, and then discounted or disbelieved her other claims.
If any of you are happy with this, just wait until a judge who finds YOUR personal beliefs or activities offensive gets to take YOUR child from you.
I post this to note that I have been arguing on the side of parents for a long time, long before I had ever heard of the FLDS group. Maybe my long history or arguing against taking children from parents because of the parent's beliefs has made me less interested in the specifics of the FLDS case.
The calls made by Swinton were made on a tracable phone.
Actually, the CNN article states that some calls were made on a phone traceable to Swinton's apartment, and the original call that triggered the raid was made on a prepaid cell phone that was also "used in other cases linked to Swinton". So it appears that Ms. Swinton, like many people has two phones -- one located in her apartment, and therefore 'traceable' and the other a pre-paid cell phone. Not traceable, but it does report its phone number during a call just like any other phone. So it appears from what CNN is reporting that sometimes Ms. Swinton used her landline phone and sometimes she used her prepaid cell phone.
This article didn't say "untraceable", it said "no available records".
And it explicitly states "IT [the cell phone used to make at least some of the "Sarah" calls] HAS BEEN USED in other cases LINKED TO SWINTON".
The cell phone which is tied to the Sarah calls, according to the affidavit, was ALSO USED in previous cases involving Swinton.
So if there is a real Sarah, it appears the phone she used previously was used to make phone calls related to cases that Swinton was involved in. That ties Sarah and Swinton together, at least in this claim.
It makes little difference that some Texas LEO said it was an untraceable prepaid phone. This affidavit suggests that they have since been able to determine SOME information about this phone, and that this phone is tied to both the Sarah calls, and other cases involving Swinton.
The report could be wrong, the affidavit could have been mistaken.
But that's what the words in the article say. It is WRONG to state that the words to NOT say what they say. Disagree with what they say, but that's what they say.
I should have pinged everybody I referenced to that post, I apologize for that.
Not true. The mother has not protected the child from abuse, and is likely to allow the male/father back into the home, so the child is almost invariably removed from both parents.
But separating a breast-feeding mother and infant is a SERIOUS step. Breast-feeding provides children with protection from disease, and better nutrition. It helps the mother/child bond. Without feeding, the mother will have to take significant steps to maintain her milk supply, and if the child is gone too long they may lose interest in breast milk and never go back.
I am not aware that any breast-feeding mother was separated from her newborn infant. If you are sure of this, please advise. If the mother is committed to breast-feeding, she can pump the milk and have it delivered to the infant. Mothers of babies in NICU, mothers of preemies, working moms, they do this all the time. When the DNA testing of the adults is done, perhaps we'll know then if the mothers are wet nurses, or biological mothers, of the nursing infants (if there are any nursing infants).
You know, it may be that calling a help line and making up a story isn’t a crime. I would think it is, but if the help line wasn’t a government line or attached to police (and I think this one was a private help line) there may be some question whether such a call would lead to criminal charges or not.
Just speculating.
“No available records” probably means no record of the phone numbers called.
On my Virgin Mobile phone, I can look up on the internet and see the last two months of calls I have made. But other phones, especially these prepaid ones, don’t keep records of what numbers are called.
But they may still have the phone’s ID on record, and that would allow them to tie the phone to calls made in different cases.
The article I was quoting from CNN specifically said that SOME calls were on this prepaid phone with no records, and others were made on a DIFFERENT phone that was traceable.
That just means that if Swinton made both sets of calls, she did some with a prepaid phone, and some with a different phone. That certainly is within the realm of possibility.
Old cell phones are refurbished and given to battered women’s shelters and other help agencies to provide women at risk a way to make emergency calls. On the pre-paids, I’m not sure the number is always changed...
I was posting here for a while, and then they decided my columns here had to be excerpted. I posted a couple like that, and those links no longer work because the paper broke all their links.
I thought we were discussing the emergency filing by some lawyers asking the court to keep the nursing mothers with their infants — because those infants were about to be removed from their mothers.
If you were discussing something else, I apologize.
If you are merely making a distinction in the age of the children who are breast-feeding, it is generally recommended to continue breast feeding at least through 2 years of age, while of course bringing in solid food starting in the first year.
We did that for our 2nd child, the 1st child we broke off near the end of the 1st year because of a serious breast infection that required the use of antibiotics that were not tested for infants.
That was difficult because it required a fast weaning — but we still phased out over a couple of days. I remember the pain my wife was in until her body got used to the idea that there was no more need for milk. I’m guessing my wife remembers that more than I do.
That is certainly a possibility.
On the other hand, that would be a pretty amazing coincidence, right?
Swinton makes calls in a case where she is charged with false accusations. In that case, a prepaid phone is used.
A couple of months later, “Sarah” makes calls alleging abuse using that same phone call. The next day, Swinton makes calls about Sarah using a different phone and claiming to be Sarah’s twin sister (which might explain her use of a second phone, thinking that would prove there were two girls making the calls).
Yes, it could happen, but that would be one of thos “WOW” moments. So I stand by my assertion that the MOST PLAUSIBLE explanation is that Swinton, or someone working with her, used that prepaid phone to make calls in BOTH cases, which includes at least some of the “Sarah” calls.
Since this is in an affidavit, I guess we’ll know more in a few days. I’m certainly not asserting we know this for a fact yet.
I am Southern Baptist. My main interest in this story is the far reaching actions by state and local officials and how they have overblown everything out of proportion. They created a spectacle instead of an investigation.
Children can and do wean themselves directly to the cup if they are offered an opportunity. Mine did, each around a year of age. Once they stopped, they showed no further interest and I suffered no discomfort. Of course, that was >30 years ago.
Yes, we will know more in a few days.
Actually, this is incidental to the underage sex and polygamy cases in my opinion, which are being investigated now?
And, have you read about the fumarase deficiency problems? That is just staggering.
Now that was easy and a good idea. Let the posters themselves “context” :’)
Huh...I thought you were a she
Got us all figured out huh?
I just ordered the video from Barnes & Noble. Thanks for the link. The Trailer was compelling, but you can get the video for about 1/2 the cost from Barnes & Noble.
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