COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—An alert safe house counselor in Colorado Springs helped police connect the dots between a series of false reports from young women claiming they had been abused to Rozita Swinton, according to a police affidavit.
Swinton, 33, is suspected of making false abuse claims in Colorado—and used a telephone number that was later used to report alleged abuse at a polygamist retreat in west Texas, according to the affidavit made public Wednesday.
It’s not yet clear whether authorities suspect Swinton, of Colorado Springs, made the calls that triggered an April 3 raid of the compound. The affidavit says that several calls alleging abuse there were made using several phone numbers, including the number linked to Swinton.
The more than 400 children found at the retreat in Eldorado, Texas, are now in state custody. Texas officials and lawyers have said that even if the call that prompted the raid turned out to be a hoax it would not affect their custody case because the state acted in good faith.
Jennifer Pierce, a counselor at a Colorado Springs domestic violence agency, began receiving calls in October from someone claiming to be a distressed teen who had been sexually abused, according to the affidavit.
The teen, who called herself “Dana Anderson,” reported—falsely, it would turn out—being sexually abused by a pastor at the prominent New Life Church and by her father.
Pierce contacted police in late October and helped arrange a three-way conversation involving police and Anderson. She continued to take phone calls from Anderson for weeks.
In March, Pierce told police that Anderson told her she had another personality named “Rozita.” It was that information, and a phone number the caller was using, that allowed police to link Swinton both to a February call to Colorado Springs police alleging abuse and to calls made to a safe house in Texas.
Swinton was arrested April 16 and later released on a misdemeanor charge of false reporting in the February case, which has no known ties to the raid in west Texas. She’s accused of posing as a teenager named “Jennifer” and falsely claiming in a 911 call that her father had locked her in her basement for days, the affidavit said.
Pierce worked for Colorado Springs’ TESSA program—a city agency charged with preventing domestic violence whose acronym stands for Trust, Education, Safety, Support, Action.
Telephone calls to listings for a Jennifer Pierce in the Colorado Springs area weren’t immediately returned late Wednesday. A message left at the agency for Pierce also wasn’t immediately returned.
Swinton’s whereabouts were unknown and she did not immediately return a phone message. It wasn’t known whether she had an attorney.
Swinton pleaded guilty to misdemeanor false reporting in a 2005 case out of Castle Rock, Colo.; a one-year sentence was deferred. She had claimed in phone calls to be a 16-year-old named Jessica who was suicidal after giving birth; there was no baby.
The warrant links Swinton to the calls made throughout October from “Dana Anderson.” The caller claimed to be a young woman being abused by her pastor at Colorado Springs’ New Life Church, and later as a 13-year-old student at Liberty High School who said she was being drugged and sexually abused by her father.
In mid-April, Texas Rangers called Colorado Springs police regarding their investigation into the Eldorado polygamist retreat, Yearning for Zion Ranch.
The calls that triggered the raid of the ranch were purportedly made by a 16-year-old girl who said her 50-year-old husband beat and raped her. Texas authorities have not found that girl but say they have found evidence other children were abused.
Texas Ranger Brooks Long asked Colorado Springs police about two telephone numbers, both with Colorado Springs area codes, that were used to make calls to a Texas crisis center. One of the phone numbers, the document says, “was possibly related to the reporting party for the YFZ Ranch incident,” and was one of the numbers police had connected to Swinton.
The document says the calls were made sometime since October but was not more specific. The raid was triggered by three calls made March 29 and 30 to the Newbridge Family Shelter in Texas.
Texas authorities also are investigating a separate batch of calls made to a crisis center in Washington state.
Authorities have called Swinton a “person of interest” in the Texas case. Two Texas Rangers were with Colorado officials when they searched Swinton’s home.
Texas authorities said the search turned up several items suggesting a connection between Swinton and calls regarding the Eldorado retreat and other Texas and Arizona compounds owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect. The items weren’t identified.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange on Wednesday said only that the Texas Rangers’ investigation is continuing.
The calls that triggered the raid were made by someone using the name named Sarah Barlow, according to Long.
Texas’ child welfare agency says its investigation into the ranch, including interviews with children, has found evidence of abuse. They allege that the sect encourages adolescent girls to marry older men and have children, and that boys are groomed to become future perpetrators. Sect members deny the allegations.
Documents related to Swinton’s arrest had been sealed by a judge at the request of Texas authorities. The arrest warrant affidavit was released Wednesday after The Associated Press filed a motion to unseal the records Monday.
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Associated Press Writers Michelle Roberts in San Angelo, Texas, and Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
