Swapp is sorry for crimes

Addam Swapp says he has found Jesus Christ in prison and now he wants peace.

"I was wrong, what I did. I'm sorry for it," he said on a tape recording of his parole hearing released Monday. "If I could take it back, I would."

Swapp has just begun his 15-year sentence for manslaughter in connection with the 1988 standoff with law enforcement in Summit County that ended with the death of Utah Department of Corrections Lt. Fred House.

A Utah Board of Pardons and Parole member traveled to the Arizona prison, where Swapp is being kept to avoid any appearance of impropriety. Many corrections officers involved in the standoff still work at the Utah State Prison.

Speaking at his first parole hearing Friday, the 45-year-old Swapp sounded penitent as he apologized to House's family. He described himself as a fundamentalist and said he has been "born again."

"I want to be like Jesus Christ," said Swapp, quickly adding: "I don't mean I want to be Christ. He's my example."

The Singer-Swapp saga began in 1979 when family patriarch John Singer was killed by police officers. Years later, Swapp joined the family and took Singer's daughters, Heidi and Charlotte, as his polygamous wives.

Recounting the events that led up to the siege at their Marion ranch, Swapp said what sent him over the edge was when the family received the bloodstained clothes and the autopsy photos of John Singer from the Summit County Sheriff.