Not guilty plea in case of phony tip to police
By Brian Newsome, The Gazette
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Rozita Swinton did not speak of charge stemming from raid in Texas.
It was "Jennifer" who landed Rozita Swinton briefly in El Paso County Court on a minor criminal offense Wednesday.
It was "Sarah Barlow" who brought the media.
The Colorado Springs woman has used many names, police allege, to feign calls of teenage girls in distress.
Swinton was arrested April 16 by Colorado Springs police for making a 911 call on Feb. 26 as "Jennifer," a teenager trapped in a basement. It sent police on a wild goose chase for hours.
She became famous over suspicions she made up "Sarah Barlow," an underage Mormon bride who called a crisis hot line in Texas and triggered a raid on a polygamist compound near Eldorado, Texas. More than 400 children were taken from the Yearning for Zion ranch and temporarily made wards of the state.
Although the Class 3 misdemeanor Swinton is charged with is the lowest-level offense under Colorado law, a gaggle of media waited for her outside the courtroom. She avoided news crews after her case was heard an hour earlier than scheduled.
Neither she nor her attorney, David Foley, have spoken publicly about the charge or the Texas raid. Swinton's hearing time was changed over a scheduling conflict for her attorney, said Lin Billings, spokeswoman for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office.
Swinton did not speak during her five-minute appearance before El Paso County Judge Daniel S. Wilson, Billings said. Foley entered a plea of not guilty and the trial date was set for Oct. 20.
In the Colorado Springs case, Swinton kept police searching for hours to find Jennifer, using a global positioning system to get an approximate location of the phone.
Swinton was put on probation in Castle Rock for making similar false claims there. She faces a hearing there Monday to discuss the revocation of her probation.
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July 10, 2008
9:25 a.m.
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Mtn__Gator writes:
Great, you got your 15 minutes of fame, now go sit in a cell for a while....idiot..