Rosita Swinton

Source: Deseret News

A judge has ordered an anti-polygamy activist to give a deposition about conversations she had with the woman suspected of making hoax phone calls that sparked the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s YFZ Ranch.

FLDS leader Warren Jeffs’ defense attorneys are seeking to question Flora Jessop about conversations she had with Rozita Swinton. They’re seeking to block any evidence from the Texas raid from Jeffs’ pending trial in Arizona on sex crimes charges.

In an order issued in Kingman, Ariz., on Tuesday, Mohave County Superior Court Judge Steven F. Conn said that despite Arizona prosecutors’ insistence that they won’t use any YFZ evidence in Jeffs’ upcoming trial, the court is not convinced the issue would never have to be addressed.

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Technorati Tags: Flora Jessop, Rosita Swinton

Source: ksl.com

A woman linked to telephone calls that may have triggered a raid on a Texas polygamist group is due back in a Colorado Springs court next month after a hearing in an unrelated case was continued.

Thirty-three-year-old Rozita Swinton appeared in a courtroom gallery area Wednesday morning, holding a green blanket on her lap and whistling, as a judge reset her hearing for Dec. 19.

Prosecutors said they had not yet received reports from a psychological evaluation of the woman.

Swinton has been identified as a person of interest in calls to a Texas crisis line that may have sparked an April raid at a compound owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Authorities say the calls were made from a phone number linked to Swinton.

Source: kten.com

A Colorado woman linked to calls that may have triggered a raid on a Texas polygamist group is entering an in-patient treatment program.

She’s pleaded “not guilty, mental condition impaired” in an unrelated case.

A court filing in Colorado says Rozita Swinton will enter the program next month.

Her attorney didn’t immediately comment.

Swinton has been identified as a person of interest in calls to a Texas crisis line that may have sparked the April raid.

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Technorati Tags: Rosita Swinton, FLDS

Source: Deseret News |

A probation violation hearing for a woman suspected of making the hoax call that sparked the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s YFZ Ranch in Texas has been continued.

Court minutes indicate the hearing for Rozita Swinton, 33, was continued until Jan. 12, 2009 — a week after a trial is scheduled in Colorado Springs on a misdemeanor charge of filing a false police report.

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Ahh yes, the poor misunderstood Rosita Swinton…she’s going to prolong the inevitable as long as possible.
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Source: ksl.com

The woman who may have prompted a raid on the FLDS Ranch in Texas won’t go to trial until next year.

The Deseret News reports 33-year-old Rozita Swinton waived her right to a speedy trial at a Colorado Springs court hearing yesterday. Her trial is now set for January 2009.

Swinton is accused of making a phony abuse call to Colorado Springs police and pretending to be a drugged and sexually abused 13-year-old chained in a basement.

Texas authorities suspect Swinton also made the call that sparked the April raid on the YFZ Ranch, claiming to be a 16-year-old pregnant girl in an abusive polygamous marriage.

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Rosita Swinton testifying “against” the FLDS? I can’t even imagine how that comes into play.

Source: Houston Chronicle

A Colorado Springs woman considered a person of interest in an investigation of phone calls that may have sparked a raid on a Texas polygamist group is on a list of possible witnesses to testify against the church.

KUSA-TV and the Deseret News cite court documents listing Rozita Swinton as a witness in Texas’ case against the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Swinton faces misdemeanor charges in Colorado for allegedly making false abuse reports in another case. Authorities say a phone number linked to Swinton was used to call a Texas crisis center that may have led to the raid where more than 460 children were removed from a polygamist compound in April. The children were later returned to their parents.

An Oct. 1 hearing is scheduled challenging the search warrant on the church.

Read the full article at: Newsweek.com

When Flora Jessop answered her phone on the morning of March 30, a female caller spoke in a meek and frightened whisper. She said her name was Sarah, a child bride trapped on a polygamist compound in Texas. She had apparently sought out Jessop because of the woman’s work with abused kids as executive director of the Child Protection Project. Sarah claimed she had been assaulted by the older man she was assigned to marry and was often locked in a room with boarded windows. She described details, like names of elders, that only someone in the sect would likely know.

Around the same time, Sarah was also calling a shelter in San Angelo, Texas. After counselors there forwarded her abuse reports to law enforcement, authorities responded with a massive April 3 raid on the property where Sarah claimed to be held, the Yearning for Zion ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) in Eldorado, Texas. In the course of the operation, officials said they discovered such a troubling pattern of sexual and physical abuse that they forcibly removed more than 400 kids. (All of them have since been returned to their families by court order; last week sect leader Warren Jeffs and four of his followers were charged with sexually abusing underage girls.) But Sarah was never found.

The reason, according to law enforcement: Sarah was not the blond, blue-eyed teen bride she claimed to be, but rather a 33-year-old African-American woman living in Colorado Springs, Colo., named Rozita Swinton. It’s not the first time Swinton has been accused of duping authorities. She’s been arrested for false reporting in two separate cases in Colorado, allegedly setting off frantic manhunts by repeatedly impersonating abuse victims. But even as she now faces possible charges in Texas, Swinton remains an elusive and enigmatic figure. As one woman who cared for her believes, Swinton might well be a victim of sexual abuse who fractured into multiple personalities to cope with the trauma. Others who’ve known her view her as a masterful manipulator with an insatiable appetite for attention. In a brief conversation with NEWSWEEK, Swinton only added to the mystery. “There are so many lies about me that have been published,” she said without elaborating.

The daughter of a convicted murderer, Swinton had a turbulent upbringing in Nashville. By the age of 14, she had run away from home so many times that she became a ward of the state. In her senior year in high school, Rozita accused her father, Clarence Swinton, of sexually abusing her—an allegation she would repeat throughout her life. Though he was never charged with abuse, a restraining order against him—which cites Rozita’s allegations—was issued in 1992. In a recent conversation with NEWSWEEK, Clarence described Rozita as “the world’s greatest con artist,” and denied her accusations. “If there is any victim, it is me,” he said. (Rozita didn’t address the abuse allegations with NEWSWEEK, and her attorneys did not return repeated calls for comment.)

When Swinton was 19, she went to live with Mary Nelson, a social worker who gave shelter to foster kids. Writing under the pseudonym Kate Rosemary, Nelson authored two books that mention Swinton. In “After Disclosure,” Nelson wrote that the girl “had been tragically abused” and “had been diagnosed as having developed multiple personalities, each of which experienced part of her abuse.” When news of Swinton’s arrest broke, a newsletter put out by Nelson’s publisher featured a story meant to defend Swinton. Citing a “source very close to her,” the article claimed that “Rozita has flashbacks to a time when she was an abused child and teenager, and to times when she had been locked up and kept hostage.” (Nelson, who is exceedingly private, declined to comment.)

After leaving Nelson’s home, Swinton headed west, eventually settling in Colorado Springs in the mid-1990s. She became a Mormon and worked in the insurance industry, first as an agent and later in the claims department at State Farm.

Soon, Swinton came to the attention of authorities. Around 1997, she filed the first of some 15 police reports claiming that her father or some other man was sexually assaulting her (Clarence denies he ever visited Colorado). But “we could never corroborate information because she would never do any follow-up,” says Det. Terry Thrumston of the Colorado Springs Police Department.
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Via: Deseret News

…an arrest warrant has been dropped for a woman considered a “person of interest” in the phone call that launched the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s YFZ Ranch.

Rozita Swinton, 33, appeared in court on Tuesday — a day after an arrest warrant was issued for her after she failed to show up on Monday. Court records indicate the judge dropped the warrant and scheduled a court hearing for Aug. 6.

Swinton pleaded guilty to a false report call in which she claimed to be a girl who had given birth, sought to abandon her baby and commit suicide. She was placed on probation, and after being arrested on suspicion of another hoax call, was brought back to Douglas County court for a probation violation.

Via: Chron.com

An arrest warrant has been issued for a woman considered a person of interest in phone calls that may have sparked a raid on a Texas polygamist group. The warrant was issued after the woman didn’t show up in court on the charges of violating probation.

Rozita Swinton, of Colorado Springs, failed to show up for a hearing in Douglas County District Court on Monday afternoon for one of two false-reporting cases against her in Colorado.

Court administrator Lori McKager says an arrest warrant has been issued for Swinton.

Swinton’s accused of violating her probation stemming from her 2007 guilty plea for telling police she was a 16-year-old girl who was suicidal after giving birth.

Authorities have linked her to a phone number used to call a Texas crisis center that may have led to the raid where more than 460 children were removed from a polygamist compound.

The 33-year-old Swinton faces jail time if found guilty of violating probation.

Via: Houston Chronicle

A woman considered a person of interest in phone calls that may have sparked a raid on a Texas polygamist group is returning to court for one of two false-reporting cases against her in Colorado.

Rozita Swinton of Colorado Springs has a hearing in Douglas County District Court on Monday.

She’s accused of violating her probation stemming from her 2007 guilty plea for telling police she was a 16-year-old girl who was suicidal after giving birth.

The 33-year-old Swinton faces jail time if found guilty of violating probation.

Authorities have linked her to a phone number used to call a Texas crisis center that may have led to the raid where more than 460 children were removed from a polygamist compound.

Via: Salt Lake Tribune

A woman whose alleged bogus tip is thought to have sparked April’s raid on the FLDS ranch in Texas pleaded not guilty Wednesday to an unrelated misdemeanor charge of making a false report in Colorado.

Rozita Swinton’s case is now scheduled to be heard in a three-day trial starting Oct. 20 in El Paso County District Court.

The 33 year old – who appeared with her attorney David Foley – did not make any statements during her pretrial conference, which had originally been scheduled for June 6 but was postponed.