From Deseret News archives:

Warrant dropped for woman suspected in FLDS hoax call

Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 9:38 a.m. MDT
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The Utah Attorney General's Office has declined to investigate an apparent hoax call that sounded similar to the phone call that sparked the raid on the Fundamentalist LDS Church's YFZ Ranch.

"We referred it back for local law enforcement to look at," said Ken Wallentine, the Utah Attorney General's chief of law enforcement.

The Division of Child and Family Services received a phone call in April that alleged abuse in the FLDS border town of Hildale. DCFS has declined to release specific details about the call, but said it alleged child abuse and neglect and "may be related to an ongoing criminal matter," referring to the hoax call investigation in Texas.

"There seems to be some contextual similarity," Wallentine said, noting it would be more appropriate for a local law enforcement agency to investigate.

A spokeswoman for DCFS said Tuesday that local law enforcement did review the case, but nothing came of it. The call also lacked specific information about a victim and an address of the alleged abuse.

"We didn't have enough information to pursue a case," said Liz Sollis with the Utah Department of Human Services.

Arizona child welfare authorities investigated a similar call and also took no action.

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Meanwhile, 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.

Swinton is suspected in the hoax call that sparked the YFZ raid in Eldorado, Texas. Authorities have suggested that she pretended to be a 16-year-old girl named "Sarah," who was pregnant and in an abusive marriage to a man named Dale Barlow. An arrest warrant was dropped for Barlow, and "Sarah" never has been found. Texas authorities said Swinton remains under investigation.

Hundreds of children were taken from the polygamous sect's property when child welfare authorities and law enforcement responded and said they found other signs of abuse. The children were ultimately returned after rulings by two Texas courts that the state acted improperly and there was no "immediate" risk of abuse.


E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

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