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Nicole Gonzales and Cleon Wall reporting Now there may be very little room to doubt the phone call which prompted the FLDS raid in Texas was a hoax. An affidavit was unsealed in Colorado Springs showing several calls were made from cell phones belonging to Rozita Swinton.
The document reveals that a Texas shelter received 16 calls in a week from a woman claiming to be "Sarah Barlow." Swinton has been named a "person of interest" in the Texas investigation.
Regardless of her history, authorities haven't stated she's a suspect in any of the calls that triggered the raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound.
Authorities never found 16-year-old Sarah Barlow, who called a crisis center claiming she was abused at the compound.
The affidavit states that a girl claiming to be Sarah Barlow first called the Newbridge Family Shelter in Texas on March 29. Barlow told call takers her 49-year-old husband, Dale Barlow, was both physically and sexually abusive toward her. Barlow said she also wanted to leave the compound but was afraid she'd be locked in a room and starved.
Those calls are eerily similar to the ones Flora Jessop received from a 16-year-old Colorado City girl claiming she wanted out of polygamy because of all the abuse.
Turns out, those calls were from Rozita Swinton. Authorities traced them back through cell phones numbers, and that wasn't the first time Swinton allegedly made phony calls.
In Colorado Springs, the document states, Swinton made calls claiming to be 15-year-old Ericka Munoz and a Rampart High School student named April, both being sexually abused by male family members.
The affidavit also connects Swinton to "Dana Anderson," who claimed she was 17 years old and being sexually abused by her youth pastor at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
Authorities say Swinton may have multiple personalities, and the affidavit states that "Dana Anderson stated that Rozita and Dana are in the same body but just different personalities."
The affidavit proves that calls from Barlow continued as the FLDS raid was being executed in Eldorado.
Deputies working with shelter workers taking the calls from Barlow said she would hang up as soon as they asked for her location.
Calls were made to women's shelters across the nation, including Washington state, Colorado, Florida, Arizona and Utah, in addition to Texas.
Swinton also pleaded guilty in June 2007 for false reporting.
Utah civil rights attorney Brian Barnard says that is certain to trigger more court action. He says, "There are substantial constitutional questions with regard to what has occurred. That's going to be brought up in lawsuits, probably filed in federal court in Texas."
Texas officials say even if the calls claiming abuse from a distressed 16-year-old are a hoax, there's little chance it will reverse the decision that removed children from the FLDS ranch.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
E-mail: cwall@ksl.com
