From Deseret News archives:
Suspected 'Sarah' will be in court today
Rozita Swinton, 33, will appear for a pre-trial conference on a misdemeanor charge of making a false report. She is accused in a local case of a phony abuse call where she pretended to be a 13-year-old girl named "Dana," who was locked in a basement, drugged and sexually abused by her father.
When police here arrested Swinton, Texas Rangers were also present and seized evidence from her home that indicates a connection to the call that sparked the raid that resulted in 440 children being removed from the YFZ Ranch.
Texas authorities will only say that Swinton remains a "person of interest" in their ongoing investigation.
"The criminal investigation is still continuing. I do not know when we will be turning over the case to the prosecutors," said Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange Thursday.
All of the FLDS children taken in the raid have been returned to their parents after the Texas Supreme Court and Austin's 3rd Court of Appeals ruled the state acted improperly in removing all of the children from the ranch.
The Deseret News reported in May about phone numbers linked to Swinton being used to call family crisis shelters and child welfare authorities in Texas, Arizona, Washington and, possibly, Utah.
A call was first made to the Newbridge Family Shelter in San Angelo, Texas, on March 29 by a girl calling herself "Sarah Barlow." She said she had an 8-month-old baby and was pregnant with another child. She said her husband, 49-year-old Dale Barlow, abused her.
"Sarah Barlow desired to leave the YFZ Ranch compound but stated to call takers that if she were caught, she would be locked in her room and not allowed to eat," an arrest warrant affidavit said.
It was those calls that are believed to have triggered the raid on the YFZ Ranch on April 3. "Sarah" also called a battered women's shelter in Everett, Wash., and anti-polygamy activist Flora Jessop in Arizona.
Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran said in a recent interview with the Deseret News that when the raid was being conducted, authorities were still getting phone calls — and still believed there was a "Sarah." The FLDS put him in contact with Dale Evans Barlow, who lives in Colorado City, Ariz.
