Colorado Springs, CO and Eldorado, TX - This is not the first time Rozita Swinton has made up a good story and called authorities. But it’s definitely the first time one of Swinton’s calls produced a mass raid on over 400 people. Swinton, 33, is now facing charges related to the April 3 raid on the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, owned and occupied by members of Warren Jeffs’ Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints. Rozita Swinton may have set the whole raid off by calling a San Angelo crisis center on March 29, saying she was a young girl named Sarah who was being abused.
Rozita Swinton is a soft-spoken young woman with what police call “a baby voice”. She’s her neighborhood delegate to the Obama campaign. She is single, without children, pays her bills and works for an insurance company. By all accounts, she is a giving person, allowing her roommate to move in after the Eldorado raid had begun. But Swinton has called in false reports before, tying up police and social resources for weeks at a time.
In June 2005, Swinton was arrested in Castle Rock, Colorado after she called an adoption agency posing a teenaged pregnant girl. Swinton told the agency and police that she was young, pregnant, alone and thinking of killing herself after leaving the baby at a fire station. There was no baby. There was no teenager. There was only Rozita Swinton, who had no explanation for what she’d done. Police charged her with filing a false police report, and she is on probation for that case.
In February of this year, a swarm of Colorado Springs police officers went out looking for a thirteen-year-old who said she was locked in a basement. Nope - it was Rozita Swinton again. That case is still pending.
Flora Jessop, a former FLDS member who escaped and now runs a crisis center, says that Swinton repeatedly called her posing as a young abused girl. Jessop said she first got a call March 30 (the day after the San Angelo hotline call) from Swinton, who said she was an abuse victim named Sarah. Swinton had done her research, but missed a few key points over the 30-50 hours of phone conversations Jessop taped. And the man Sarah claimed was her husband is a well-known polygamist FLDS member who doesn’t live at the Eldorado compound at all. That was one of several clues that led authorities to Swinton’s door.
Is Rozita Swinton a wingnut, or a misguided angel of mercy trying to save the abused children of the FLDS? Investigators are still looking for Sarah, on the off-chance that she does exist. But Texas Rangers have already been to Colorado, where they found books and “items of interest” in Swinton’s apartment. The hotline call has been traced and appears to come from Swinton. On the other hand, there is evidence of prolonged and ritualized sexual abuse on the Yearning For Zion compound, even down to a marital bed in the temple itself and many minor children who are pregnant or have had babies by much older relatives. Rozita Swinton may be a nutball. She may also have saved over 400 lives.
Heroine or criminal or both, Swinton remains under investigation by multiple agencies today. She is charged with false reporting in Colorado and may be facing probation violation charges and other charges as well. I don’t know what I think about this one - what do you think?
Concerned Citizen
Rhoni
Chrissey
AnotherMother
SilliMari
vlb
1purplemoon
maryhaze
Turtletop
MadmamainNC
impqueen
RACECITYUSA
25 responses so far ↓
1
bornagainpagan
Apr 20, 2008 at 9:26 am -Definitely a wingnut, who may have stumbled on a good deed.
I’ve have on occassion been involved in circumstances with individuals claiming to be someone they are not, in the same vein as this story. Invariably, they have been women in their late twenties/early thirties, claiming to be much younger than they are; claiming to have been abused or alluding to something terrible, and very familiar with support services and how to get their attention. Because this is what it’s about - sympathetic attention, and the thrill of manipulating others - what power!
I have at times tried to imagine what you have to feel like inside to both crave this kind of attention, and to have the conscience and moral centre of a cockroach. That precipice scared the shit out of me. While its not the psycopathic twist of something like Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, where illness is fabricated or induced in children by mothers seeking attention, it is a mental disturbance none the less. God help her kids if she ever has them.
2
impqueen
Apr 20, 2008 at 12:37 pm -I kinda think she has a misguided Angel of Mercy thing going on in this situation, combined with a need to either ask for help she didn’t get as a kid, or like you said BAP, feel the power of making people act on her behalf. Whatever, the woman needs treatment, and she needs to be helpd responsible for some of the law enforcement costs in her false reports.
I bet she read all the FLDS stuff she could get her hands on, then called the hotline and told herself that “now some of those poor girls will finally get help.” What’s freakin’ amazing is that’s exactly what seems to have happened here.
3
mom of 4
Apr 20, 2008 at 2:00 pm -Funny how things work out isn’t it? Karma works in mysterious ways sometimes.
4
WryBread
Apr 20, 2008 at 9:17 pm -She’s got that “oops, think I went too far” look.
I was reading about how the children are interviewed and the boys have been found to be “emotionally healthy.” Nothing like being taught you’re the superior gender to get a person feeling good. Nothing was said about the girls.
5
WryBread
Apr 20, 2008 at 9:25 pm -Imp, what does this mean? She let one of the women move in to hide from authorities?
I am conflicted by this whole thing. I am glad the young girls will not be facing forced marriages, but have to wonder if bringing them into the “real world” where they will be rated relentlessly on their “hotness,” taught to fear loss of youth as the loss of value, and probably learn to obsess about their weight and so forth isn’t changing one hell for another. Instead of ritually married, they will be coerced on dates and hassled on the streets by horny guys.
I wish we could offer them a world in which women are not victims of choice and the objects of relentless merchandising designed to make them feel themselves inferior to air-brushed, photogenic, celebs.
Off my soapbox now –!
6
Boise Leon
Apr 20, 2008 at 9:52 pm -The FLDS is collateral damage to a political dirty tricks conspiracy. I have been watching this for two years and discovered that every event had a political relationship to the 2008 election. Every event is connected to the FBI starting with Jeffs introduction to the mainstream media by making the FBI 10 most wanted list. He does not fit the profile of Osama bin Laden or mass murderers on the list. There were NO federal charges to justify that. The wanted posters came out in three waves, each one increasing the reward by $50,000. Who authorized the rewards?
In June 2006 AGs Mark Shurtleff and Terry Goddard issue the 56 page “Primer” to draw the line where they intended to selectively enforce the law and so the FBI intrusion seemed to be the uncontrolled element.
Reports of the Swinton arrest shows she had research papers on the FLDS that detailed family relationships and addresses designed to be a cheat sheet while going through her script of abuse. Do you know that someone made $20,000 bail for Swinton and she is now missing? The sealed court records will implicate whoever is pulling the strings for this entire conspiracy. Swinton was not the prime mover, she had a sponsor. Swinton is a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, pledged to Barack Obama. Could this have been her reward for creating yet another event to discredit Mitt Romney for his LDS affiliation.
This is not about polygamy, child abuse or religion. It is all about national politics. The raid was timed to reinforce negative PR for the selection of McCain’s VP and “NO MITT” advertising campaign against Mitt Romney.
Far fetched? This whole fiasco is far fetched.
7
funnymommy
Apr 21, 2008 at 7:16 am -Um, did you post her bond? Are you two dating???
8
bornagainpagan
Apr 21, 2008 at 7:45 am -Man, I LOVE a good conspiracy theory, and this one is tight! Where to next, the grassy knoll or Roswell?
9
Angel
Apr 21, 2008 at 8:24 am -Conspiracy theories aside, Jeffs is a dangerous criminal. He may not have murdered anyone, but he has already been convicted at least once for accessory to rape of a child. And I know damn well that was not the only time it happened, just the only time he was arrested for it. This asshole hides behind his ‘religion’, and uses it in order to commit unspeakable acts against little girls. He forces them into marriages with older men when they are 13 years old, and probably younger than that. My guess is that as soon as a girl begins menstruating, and has thereby proven herself old enough to breed, Jeffs would marry her off to one of the old men (re: perverts) so she could begin helping to increase the population of their cult. And some girls have been known to begin their menstrual cycles as young as ten or eleven.
If some random guy off the street decided to kidnap five or six girls, and hold them in his apartment, and allow his son to have sex with all of them, he would be charged with - at the very least - kidnapping, false imprisonment, and accessory to rape. He would probably, with the laws written the way they are now, be charged with the more serious offense of rape in the 1st degree. And everyone would agree that that was an appropriate charge, and would hope that the man was convicted of child rape and put in prison for the rest of his worthless life. So why the defense of Jeffs, Boise Leon? Because that’s what it sounded like you were doing. You were defending this pervert, and claiming that the only reason he was even under investigation was because of some governmental conspiracy? That’s fucked up. Jeffs deserves to be put in a small cell with minimal food and water, and no sunlight for the rest of his life.
But that’s not what this story is about. This story is about a crazy woman who calls the police with made up stories about all manner of things, in order to get a little attention. I think she should be awarded a medal for the rescue of all of those girls, and then be given whatever punishment is appropriate for the fraud and misuse of police resources charges. And she obviously needs extensive counseling.
10
bornagainpagan
Apr 21, 2008 at 9:18 am -Thanks for grounding the story, Angel - there should be a corresponding one for pastor Jeffs and his elastizing of the 1st Amendment into the pollution of innocence. But hey, he’s just carrying on a long, long tradition of exploitation by belief.
And I want more conspiracy theories! Aliens, Zionists, psychedelics in the water and tunnels under the world. bring ‘em on!
11
Boise Leon
Apr 21, 2008 at 11:25 am -I do not defend Warren Jeffs. He is a bad character doing some really dumb things. He is however the perfect foil for tabloid journalism. The ingredients for a conspiracy are unexplained coincidences and the ease of jumping to conclusions. It is obvious to anyone who knows the culture to see the false items embedded in “factual” news stories. If you don’t like the concept of conspiracy then accept the challenge of solving the puzzles still on the table. Why did the FBI push Utah and Arizona into prosecuting the group they wanted to ignore in June 2006? Did Swinton work alone? If she is a loner, how did she become a voting delegate in the Democratic party? That takes people skills.
Help me, people! Convince me that everything is happening as it should.
12
Kathy
Apr 21, 2008 at 11:38 am -I think the whole 2008 election/ FLDS consiracy theory is really a conspiracy to detract the attention away from the fact that there are compounds in the US that allow dirty old men to fuck and impregnate as many little girls as they can under the guise of freedom of religion. It reeks of Warren Jeffs…
13
impqueen
Apr 21, 2008 at 11:43 am -The 16 year old minor with four kids, the twelve and thirteen year old pregnant girls, the marital bed in the temple… all those are just cogs in the giant conspiracy, huh? Are you suggesting that there were no abused minor females in the Eldorado compound?
If this is a conspiracy, who really benefits? What’s the bottom line? Why use the FLDS as fodder for political gain when nobody who’s ever dealt with them has managed to do more than spend a lot of money and get really frustrated? The FLDS is recognized as having little to do with the more mainstream Mormons - Romney is pretty clearly not a polygamist living on a compound. Who called Swinton a loner? Is that your term, or someone else’s?
14
impqueen
Apr 21, 2008 at 11:44 am -Bingo.
15
Angel
Apr 21, 2008 at 12:53 pm -ROFLMAO!!!!
Kathy - I peed my pants, girl! You are the best conspiracy theorist - EVAH! What makes it even funnier is that it might possibly be true. Conspiracy to cover a conspiracy which is hiding another conspiracy. Just thinking about it makes my brain hurt.
16
bornagainpagan
Apr 22, 2008 at 10:08 am -‘Paranoia is simply knowing the truth’, right? (William Burroughs)
The great thing about conspiracies is the ‘6-degrees of Kevin Bacon’ approach. Anything can be linked to anything with enough convolution, and all you have to do is raise an intriguing question or a supposed coincidence and it takes on a life of its own. Maybe that’s why so many guys like conspiracy theories - its an act of creation for the 49% of the popn without wombs.
17
Athena
Apr 22, 2008 at 3:31 pm -The Mormon faith officially separated themselves from polygamy over 100 years ago. The fact is, America wasn’t ever going to elect a mormon to begin with. Hell, the American people have a hard enough time electing a Catholic. Romney discredits himself by associating himself with a faith that employs secret handshakes and underware. Considering this, assuming that anyone in politics would dump their resources into a scheme that would almost/kinda tint people’s view of Romney by proxy is ridiculous. The dude never had a chance.
Oh, and I was really hoping I’d see a PNAC or Illuminati reference. I’m disappointed.
18
Rolando Bini
Apr 22, 2008 at 7:10 pm -Rozita Swinton is a nutcase but the so-called CPS uses any possible excuse to justice their petty jobs and destroy children and families.
To invade and destroy a whole community based on an annonymous call which probably is bogus is evidence that the so-called CPS must be abolished. They are the Greatest Child Abusers: for every child they may help, they destroy a thousand. They are plague, a Social Cancer producer that preys on those who offer the lest resistance and continually feeds the prison, homeless and mentally ill industries.
There are many studies on attachment and emotional bonding that point to the fact that the best way to create a psychopath is to rip him/her off their parents (the people they love and trust the most), especially before age 3 and place them in foster care.
The same sick, cruel and inhuman CPS woman who originated the infamous Waco massacre of innocent children is the one spread heading this new abuse.
If people do not wake up now, then we will become a nation of slaves where the government will not only owe our children but eventually tell you what to do and think.
The family is the natural cell of society and the last focus of resistance to Total State Control. If you want to know more about my point of view:
http://www.parentsinaction.net.....USSF1.html
And it is not a conspiracy but just planning. If you insist in call it a conspiracy, then it is an open conspiracy, in plain view to everyone. Of course there are those who having eyes refuse to see…
19
Rolando Bini
Apr 22, 2008 at 7:20 pm -20
mom of 4
Apr 22, 2008 at 7:32 pm -Yeah you’re right, lets just do away with CPS and allow parents to physically, sexually and mentally abuse their kids in peace. What were we thinking trying to help kids escape from that treatment? They all deserve it right?
21
nurseronda
Apr 22, 2008 at 8:22 pm -It looks like one from the group found it’s way to our forum.
22
Hippiepoet
Apr 22, 2008 at 9:27 pm -What in the fuck are you talking about? Ok smartyfuckingpants. If we get rid of CPS then what the fuck is your big plan for protecting our children from parents who should of never bred?
I cannot believe your statement regarding how “the best way create a psychopath is to rip him/her off their parents (the people they love and trust the most), especially before age 3 and place them in foster care.”
What the fuck? So if this child is being burned with cigarettes, molested, raped, starved, beaten and whatever else sick motherfuckers think to do to their children….you think that’s ok? You think these kids are going to grow up without a fucking head case. Jesus. I have heard some idiot things but this takes the fucking cake.
CPS may have problems but if they save ONE, just ONE fucking child from a life of abuse and maybe death at the hands of some sadistic bastard, then I say, it’s worth the fuck ups!
23
liliwhite
Apr 22, 2008 at 10:47 pm -I think miss Swinton is a heroic woman who was likely motivated by her own abuse to help other young girls escape a similar fate. The system simply does not do enough to help protect these women and children who are being enslaved and brainwashed in the name of religious freedom. I wish that I could meet Rozita to congratulate her on her part in freeing these children from their abusers. I can’t believe these cults are allowed to operate outside of the law the way they do. We talk about freeing women in the Middle East from oppression, and yet allow women and children right here in the United States to be enslaved by fanatical perverts.
Rozita, I commend you.
24
Angel
Apr 22, 2008 at 11:06 pm -Rolando is not only a nutcase himself, but I would be willing to bet he is one of the higher-ups in the FLDS organization that runs the compound which was recently raided.
Hey, Bibi, how many wives you got? How many of them are also your nieces or cousins? Or daughters, maybe? Y’all are some sick fucking morons. People like you are one of the reasons we NEED CPS, and one of the best arguments for the removal of children from a ‘family’ situation. When the ‘family’ members think that raping 13 year olds, and marrying blood relatives is an OK thing to do, then intervention is needed.
Do yourself a favor, and crawl back into whatever toilet you splashed out of, and keep swimming around with the excrement of our society. With any luck, one day you might wind up as a massive clog in the sewage pipes of the asylum of idiots in which you now reside. Until then, why don’t you save your useless rantings for those who might be conned into buying your line of BS. Which leaves out pretty much everyone with an IQ over 15.
25
Athena
Apr 23, 2008 at 12:19 pm -I’ll agree that the CPS is severely flawed and could use an overhaul, but I wouldn’t go so far as to consider it a useless institution. I believe they should be externally audited more. I, too, am concerned about the burden that illegitimate allegations places on the system, but have no solution for mitigating that.
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