COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A court document says one phone
number used to report alleged abuse at a polygamist retreat in
Texas had been used previously by a Colorado woman.
An arrest warrant affidavit made public today said the phone
number was used to place a call to a crisis center in Texas before
authorities there raided the retreat and removed more than 400
children.
The affidavit says 33-year-old Rozita Swinton of Colorado
Springs had used the same number previously, but it's not yet clear
whether authorities suspect Swinton made any of the calls that
triggered the raid.
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.
Swinton was arrested April 16 on a misdemeanor charge of false
reporting in a February incident in Colorado Springs with no known
ties to the Texas case. She was later released.
The document released today shows Swinton had an extensive
record in Colorado Springs of posing as a troubled teen and making
false claims. The affidavit connects Swinton to several reports
that alerted Colorado Springs officials.
The document links Swinton to calls made throughout October from
a "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 February, a woman calling herself "Jennifer" called 911
from a prepaid Tacphone, claiming that her father had locked her in
her basement for days, the document said.
Officers linked the calls to Swinton in March.
Her whereabouts are unknown and she has not returned a phone
message. It wasn't known whether she has an attorney.