Utah banking on FLDS evidence

More than 200 children have been dropped from court oversight as the child custody case drags on. Child welfare investigations and a separate criminal probe continue.

A 33-year-old Colorado Springs woman remains under suspicion about her possible role in the call that sparked the raid. The Deseret News reported last month that Rozita Swinton may be subpoenaed to testify for the FLDS Church in the Oct. 1 hearing.

Prosecutors in several states may seek to use the seized evidence in ongoing and future criminal cases. A grand jury in Eldorado, Texas, has indicted six FLDS members, including Jeffs, on charges linked to underage marriages.

Law enforcement from Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Texas have begun sharing information via database after a June meeting in Las Vegas on polygamy-related crimes. Getting documents and witnesses has historically been a struggle.

"It's been two years since the arrest (of Warren Jeffs) and we're still fighting over evidence in the Escalade," Shurtleff said, referring to the SUV that Jeffs was riding in when he was arrested in August 2006.

Until the raid on the YFZ Ranch.

In Arizona, Mohave County Attorney Matt Smith is seeking to use some of the evidence as part of his prosecution of Jeffs on sexual misconduct charges. The FLDS leader is accused of performing more underage marriages there.

Jeffs' defense attorneys are already planning to challenge the use of any evidence in his case there.

"It is becoming more and more evident that the Texas raid was based on a hoax telephone call containing false accusations of abuse," attorneys Richard Wright and Michael Piccarreta wrote in court papers recently filed in Mohave County Superior Court.

"Published newspaper articles indicate that similar charges were made regarding the Colorado City/Hildale community, and were determined to be unworthy of belief. Indeed, it is believed that Colorado authorities are investigating criminal charges of false reporting to a law enforcement agency in connection with that matter."

Jeffs, 52, is already serving a pair of 5-to-life sentences after being convicted of rape as an accomplice for performing a marriage between a 14-year-old girl and her 19-year-old cousin.

The Utah Attorney General's Office has been conducting a number of investigations into Jeffs and the FLDS Church — including an organized crime probe.

"As far as all the financial documents, it's all part of that evidence," Shurtleff said, referring to the evidence from the YFZ Ranch. "Our desires to investigate the white collar stuff, the RICO and money laundering, if we can't get that evidence, then we're nowhere."

---

E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com