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Woman linked to FLDS polygamous raid to be tried on unrelated Colorado charge

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday October 20, 2008

Woman linked to FLDS polygamous raid to be tried on unrelated Colorado charge

A Colorado Springs woman suspected of prompting a raid on an FLDS ranch in Texas is scheduled to go on trial in January on an unrelated misdemeanor charge of making a false report in Colorado.
Rozita Swinton has not been charged in connection with the April 3 raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch near El Dorado, in which she allegedly pretended to be a pregnant 16-year-old girl.
[...]
The 33-year-old woman will be tried in Colorado for allegedly posing as a young woman who claimed she was being sexually abused by a relative. The trial in El Paso County Court is set to begin Jan. 6 and is expected to take three days.

- Source: Woman linked to FLDS polygamous raid to be tried on unrelated Colorado charge, Pamela Manson, Salt Lake Tribune, Oct. 17, 2008 — Summarized by Religion News Blog

Suspected ‘Sarah’ to get mental health treatment

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. — The woman suspected of making the hoax phone call that sparked the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church‘s sprawling Texas ranch may soon be undergoing mental health treatment.
Court records obtained by the Deseret News revealed that Rozita Swinton will be entering inpatient treatment in November. That was apparently the reason a recent hearing on a probation violation here was delayed, pushing the case back to January — a week after a trial in Colorado Springs, where Swinton is accused of perpetuating another hoax.
“That involves medical issues I can’t discuss,” said Kathleen Walsh, a spokeswoman for the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Swinton’s attorney did not return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.
Swinton, 33, pleaded no contest in this Denver suburb to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting-fake crime. In 2007, police accused her of pretending to be a 16-year-old named “Jessica” who was going to abandon her baby and kill herself.
According to her plea deal, Swinton received a deferred judgment for a year and was ordered to undergo a mental evaluation, treatment and take all medications as prescribed. Court records indicate a letter was filed in the case, but clerks refused to release it saying it dealt with mental health issues.
Swinton’s arrest in Colorado Springs has put her probation in jeopardy. She has been charged in El Paso County, Colo., accused of calling police and pretending to be a 13-year-old girl who was drugged, chained and being sexually abused in a basement. The phone call had officers going door-to-door in February, searching desperately for a girl who didn’t exist. A counselor told authorities Swinton suffers from a multiple personality disorder, a police affidavit said.