"She has made distress calls in the past in our department," he said. "There were different age ranges. In our case that was charged, she did talk about being a child."

In 2005, Castle Rock, Colo., police were chasing Swinton, who called an adoption agency saying she was a 16-year-old girl named Jessica and she wanted to abandon her baby and then kill herself. For days, police played phone tag with her; an officer was on the phone with "Jessica" once for five hours.

"She called dispatch several times with the same story that she'd recently delivered a child. She reiterated that she had a firearm and wanted to commit suicide," said Castle Rock Police Lt. Douglas Ernst.

During one call, "Jessica" admitted to being outside the police station. An officer stopped her and discovered she was Swinton. The woman was charged and later pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and filing a false report. Ernst said police never did learn why she made the hoax calls.

"Because this had gone on for days and she had a story that was false and had inconsistencies, we worried about what's going on with the person, Ernst said. "We did have her evaluated at a hospital."

In this latest case, Swinton posted $20,000 bail and was released from the El Paso County Jail on Thursday. Within hours of posting bail, Jessop said Swinton had called her again.

"She's on the phone with me, trying to continue the ruse," Jessop recalled. "Swearing up and down, sobbing."

Swinton did not return phone calls seeking comment from the Deseret News. She has been ordered to appear in district court here to face charges on May 1.

Fallout

Questions have been raised that without 16-year-old Sarah's phone call, what was seen and seized at the YFZ Ranch may be inadmissible in court.

Child protective services workers insist the girl is unnecessary to their case of child abuse in the FLDS compound.

"I think some people have really focused on that (Sarah) but the reality is that her phone call is the reason we went out there, but it was not the reason for the removals," said Greg Cunningham, spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. "The removals happened based on what we saw out there."

Jessop said Texas child protective services workers found underage, pregnant girls and that is enough to make a possible hoax call moot.

An ex-FLDS member herself, Jessop has tried to help children leave the polygamous sect and even sheltered children who ran away. She said the experience won't stop her.

"My job is to help the kids that call me," she said. "You have to take every call seriously."

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com