Friday, April 18, 2008

Texas v. FLDS: It Gets Interesting

Now it appears that a known wacko may have made the phone call which triggered the Texas authorities' military-style raid on the FLDS compound.

A 33-year-old Colorado Springs woman has been questioned about a telephone call that sparked a raid at the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints compound in western Texas two weeks ago. Rozita Swinton was arrested at her home Wednesday night by Colorado Springs police for an incident that occurred in February. Members of the Texas Rangers were also in Colorado Springs as part of their investigation....

Texas authorities launched their raid on the compound after receiving a warrant based on a phone call from a girl named "Sarah" who called for help, claiming she was pregnant and living inside the compound with her 49-year-old abusive husband. Flora Jessop, an outspoken ex-member of the FLDS group, told KUSA-TV she believes Swinton may have been the person she spoke with by phone, who claimed to be Sarah's twin sister. She said the woman she believes is Rozita Swinton called again Thursday morning after Swinton bailed out of the El Paso County Jail.

OK. But that's not all, according to Vox:

It will be interesting to watch the gyrations of government agents attempting to retroactively justify their outrageous actions once the details of the fraud becomes apparent to all and sundry. I don't know if it's actually Swinton who is responsible, but since the accused man is known to have been living in a different state than the caller reported, it's already fairly clear that the justification for the arrests and kidnappings is based on a false foundation.

Yes, it should be VERY interesting to hear the 'splanation.

MORE:

The media has tried to portray this as a "children endangered" case, repeating Texas officials' claims that girls were "spiritually married" as soon as they reached puberty. But if there is any actual evidence of that, it didn't come out in the first day of court hearings

So--to be repetitive---where's the beef? As McC remarks:

If the state can produce actual evidence of pregnant 13- and 14-year-olds -- and obstetric examinations could determine that very easily --then they've got a serious case. So far, though, there has been no report of any such evidence. So far as can be determined from this CNN/AP story, they've found one 16-year-old with a baby, but if every pregnant 16-year-old in Texas is cause for a paramilitary raid, they're going to need more SWAT teams.

Polygamy is illegal in Texas, and officials can prosecute those cases if they wish. Likewise, they can prosecute every case of statutory rape involved in these "spiritual marriages." But to take 130 children under the age of 4 away from their parents? That's extreme


Hmmmmmm.

8 comments:

Amy said...

Doesn't matter. In the eyes of many, they're religious freaks who don't deserve to have their families reunited.

What a joke.

Christian Prophet said...

I've been reading the hundreds of comments from outraged citizens at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/free-the-innocent-flds

Also, I've seen the video of Texas Foster Care system horrors at:
http://dayofpraise.blogspot.com/

Whew! What a situation!

Anonymous said...

Haven't seen anything in the reports about this "Swinton" woman. But calls are easily traced these days- especially one's to 911. Did the call originate inside the compound or at this Swinton woman's home? Pretty vauge info here on this colorado woman and the call. Time will tell I suppose, BUT they wouldn't go into this without good info to back up such a huge raid. Would they base such a raid on a vague phone call? I don't think so.
The phone call I think is going to be irrelevant in the end.
Why hasn't anyone seen the correlation of the arrest and recent guilty verdict of Jeffs to these raids and government action against the cult? It's possible that there was no phone call, no Sarah, but the raids were baised on information that came out at the clut leader's trial and immediate action was required.

Ain't religion grand.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, just stick to things you know something about.
Here in Vegas, the trial was closely followed. It dealt with 1 person, who no longer lived in the cult or whatever it was.
I don't defend anything about this religion, but this should scare the hell out of anybody with kids. It's like 1 kid in the neighborhood complains about being abused so they take all the neighborhood kids, proof or not, to make sure no one is getting abused. Or if 1 girl in a Catholic Church becomes pregnant, they take all the kids from that Church, proof or not, to "protect" them. This has no precedent in the U.S., but knowing social workers like I do, some of them are salivating at the idea.

Anonymous said...

Hey Dan,Vegas may be watching the trail closely but I can see you are not.It started with 1 CHILD and since they went after that Cult more then 1 CHILD is pregant by a much older man.You would also know if you followed the trial closely most of those children are not sure who their parents are.How many neighborhoods do you know of where all the kids have the same father,different Mothers but they all share the same room?What should scare the Hell out of anyone weith kids is lthe idea that Mothers have no problem with thier 13 to 15 year old child being maried off to 50 year old men.When a child can not tell a social worker 100% sure who dad is or who mom is or if some of the kids sharing a room with them may or may not be a sister.Take them away.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous, considering the trial was about 1 case and had nothing to do with the Texas compund, shows you really didn't watch the trial.
But that is nitpicking.
How is this any different than many cases of the inner city? In Houston, Dallas, El Paso in Texas and closer to Wisconsin, the inner city of Milwaukee and the south side.
Again, I don't respect this cult, but you have to look at the bigger picture. If the Amish were in Texas, I'm sure they would be pretty scared right now. How about other non-comformist religions?
Further, how can you justify removing kids from a house where the kid has not been abused or neglected and there is no immediate danger? There is absoutley no evidence that the boys were being abused, so why were they removed?
Again, think of the big picture. If the State of Texas is successful in this mattrer, it is a very scary scenario- children can be removed from a home where there is no abuse and no immediate threat of abuse.

Anonymous said...

Now they are requiring DNA testing on everyone- kids and adults. More freedoms lost. They are not getting government aid, so what is th epurpose. Again, someone makes a false claim of abuse, the cops come in, take the kids without any proof of abuse or neglect for the the vast majority if the kids and now require DNA testing. If it can happen to them, it can happen to you. This should scare the hell out of you.

Anonymous said...

THEY ARE GETTING GOV AID> RESEARCH BLEEDING THE BEAST. We are paying a good part of the cost as Taxpayers for their lifestyle