COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.—Texas authorities say they’re still investigating a Colorado woman in connection with bogus phone calls that may have triggered a raid and removal of hundreds of children living on a polygamist group ranch, contradicting the woman’s lawyer.
The Texas Attorney General’s office says Rozita Swinton of Colorado remains under suspicion in connection with calls to a hot line alleging abuse at the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints’ ranch in West Texas. Authorities later said the hot line calls were fake, and they were traced to a telephone number at an apartment complex where Swinton lives.
“I can’t speak for other people’s characterizations of situations but our inquiry is still ongoing,” Jerry Strickland, a spokesman with the Texas attorney general said Wednesday.
Swinton, 35, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a false-reporting charge for calling an emergency line in Colorado Springs and claiming she was a teenage girl trapped in a basement. Her attorney, David Foley, said he was told during plea negotiations that a Texas inquiry found no “criminal involvement” in the Texas cases.
“It’s a big difference between a criminal activity and making phone calls. I can’t say whether she made any calls,” Foley said outside of court.
The judge gave Swinton a deferred sentence, which means that if she follows court restrictions, the conviction will be erased.
So far, two sect men have been convicted in separate trials of sexual assault of a child following the April 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado. Ten others, including sect leader Warren Jeffs, still face a range of charges. The next criminal trial, that of sect member Michael Emack, is scheduled to start Jan. 25 in Texas.
Texas authorities removed more than 400 children following the raid and placed them in foster care, alleging they were being abused because of underage marriages. State courts two months later found the removals unjustified in all but a handful of cases, and the children were returned to their parents.
Willie Jessop, a sect spokesman and distant cousin to Raymond Jessop, one of the men convicted of sexual assault, said Texas authorities are dragging their feet with their investigation of Swinton.
“It’s evident that they never wanted to prosecute. They knew full well that this caller was not credible,” Jessop said. “They just wanted a caller, an excuse, and ‘we’ll do the raid.’ It didn’t have to be credible before they executed their agenda.”
Strickland said he couldn’t speculate or provide specific details or reasons for the length of the investigation, saying it’s ongoing.
Jessop said they are challenging the search warrants obtained after what are now believed to be false calls to a domestic abuse hotline. The first appeal was filed last week in Raymond Jessop’s case. More are to follow, Willie Jessop said.
In court documents filed in Swinton’s case in Colorado, investigators detailed calls made to Newbridge Family Shelter in San Angelo, Texas, not far from the retreat owned by the renegade Mormon sect. The caller claimed to be a pregnant 16-year-old girl named Sarah Barlow who already had an 8-month-old daughter and was being reassigned a new husband.
Authorities launched the raid after desperate attempts to reach the girl failed. Authorities did not find Sarah Barlow and later discovered the calls originated in Colorado Springs, and began their investigation of Swinton.
The sentence handed down Wednesday requires Swinton to get medical treatment for an unspecified condition. Foley has said she has multiple personality disorder, and she had initially pleaded “not guilty, mental condition impaired.”
Swinton was also sentenced to 45 days in jail but given credit for time spent in a treatment program, so she faces no further jail time.
The judge also limited her to one landline telephone and one cell phone and ordered her to give both numbers to the district attorney’s office. Her doctor must also provide quarterly updates to the court.
In 2007, Swinton pleaded guilty to a false reporting charge for telling police she was a 16-year-old girl who was suicidal after giving birth. The case originated in Douglas County, north of Colorado Springs. Her probation in that case is scheduled to end later this month, Foley said.
