Slow Progress in the Santos-Swinton IA Investigation

Ah, bureaucracy. And some of us actually want Government Run Health Care. An update now on my dealings with CSPD's Internal Affairs.

It is October the 8th, 2009. I received the following in the mail today, postmarked from Colorado Springs on October 5th:

"On 09-24-09, Mr. McBryde contacted Internal Affairs regarding some suspicions he had developed while following the Texas child custody/abuse case involving the FLDS at the Yearning for Zion ranch. The Ranch was raided by Texas authorities in April of 2008. Mr. McBryde's concerns involve Rosita [sic] Swinton and her connection to the Colorado Springs Police Department and in particular her past association with Lt. M. Santos and Lt. J. Anderson. Mr. McBryde requested that Internal Affairs look in to the case as he alleged that the relationship was more significant than previously reported. In particular he alleged the following:

1.) Ms. Swinton's relationship with Lt. Santos was more developed and long term,
2.) Ms. Swinton may have been a paid informant of the CSPD, 3.) The phone call made by Ms. Swinton to Texas was somehow at the Department's behest, 4.) Lt. Santos had intervened in a case involving Ms. Swinton in Douglas County, 5.) Lt. Santos did not recuse herself from matters involving Ms. Swinton and that she should have due to the alleged relationship."

The "Complaint Receipt Form" which has no number ( I had been promised one ) goes on only to list Lt. Magdalena Santos, Gold Hill Patrol-Shift II as the "Involved Employee(s)" or the subject. A few observations. Lt. Jane Anderson is also named, but somehow is NOT one of the subjects. It was alleged by me and was specifically alleged by my source and supposedly in the statement or deposition of Becky Hoerth that Janie WAS involved, which would make her a subject as well.

The Supervisor Receiving Complaint is said to be a Sgt. Lux (true) and not mentioned is the fact that I viewed Sgt. Lux as obstructionist and combative. Sgt. Lux no doubt is useful in minimizing department complaints from the outside.

The Division Commander Review was done by Lt. Kirk D. Wilson, with whom I have made some progress. That progress may only be to "go through the motions" and not accomplish anything, but even in a sincere investigation, one must "go through the motions." I believe in going through proper channels first. This approach then is appropriate.

The status is listed as; "A preliminary inquiry will be conducted to determine whether or not a policy violation may have occurred. Upon completion of the investigation, you will be notified of the results." In essence then, what is being done at CSPD's IA, is a "Preliminary Inquiry."

I will remark now on the body of he incident/allegation description.

"Mr. McBryde's concerns involve Rosita [sic] Swinton and her connection to the Colorado Springs Police Department and in particular her past association with Lt. M. Santos and Lt. J. Anderson."

As mentioned above, why is Lt. Jane Anderson not a subject of the inquiry?

"The phone call made by Ms. Swinton to Texas was somehow at the Department's behest..."

Not exactly. I suspect, and think there is strong circumstantial evidence to support the notion that Rozita was used by some branch of LE, up to and maybe including the FBI. Lt. Santos who USED to head up the Sex Crimes unit's Internet sting operations and now appears to have been demoted or moved sideways may have simply supplied Rozita to someone else that she worked with in documented Internet sex sting operations. I did not say that the phone call was made at the department's behest. If that occurred exactly as described, I would be one of the more surprised people on the planet. I don't think CSPD had it in their mind at any level above Lt's Santos and Anderson to "get" the FLDS at YFZ Ranch. They may have participated though in such an effort. Maybe they supplied Rozita's name and offered her as "voice talent."

"Lt. Santos had intervened in a case involving Ms. Swinton in Douglas County..."

Again, not exactly. That is my best guess. It is said that Becky Lynn Hoerth alleged that Santos and Anderson intervened on Rozita's behalf "three years ago." If that remark was made in April of 2008, that would refer to an incident in 2005. The only known incident in 2005, to me, is the Douglas County/Castle Rock incident, for which Rozita was convicted and had her sentence deferred. She was convicted by guilty plea.

It should be noted that the complaint was received two weeks ago. I received documentation of the complaint's receipt, today. I have followed up several times on this inquiry. I will be very disappointed to say the least if the investigation now moves or is shown to have moved with such speed that the preliminary investigation is conducted and closed prior to me even receiving the receipt. That would show planned bureaucratic foot dragging.

Slightly color the complaint to make it less credible. Like me alleging that the call was made at CSPD's behest. Make my allegations less qualified. In general, pretend not to "get it."

There are also other interesting remarks made by Lt. Wilson that need attention:

What does the wording "he alleged that the relationship was more significant than previously reported" imply? No relationship was previously reported outside CSPD. Lt. Wilson himself said that internally the relationship was "common knowledge."

I can say with certainty prior to my blog reports on the topic Rod Parker of Salt Lake City did not know. Neither did Michael Piccarreta. No FLDS member knew of the "previously reported" relationship. I suspect strongly that all find that relationship no matter how extensive, very interesting now. Was that relationship "previously reported" to Texas? If so, Texas knew and did not see fit to tell FLDS attorneys that their probable phony phone caller, that Texas refuses to investigate, whose computer records may show extensive LE contact, was that closely tied to Law Enforcement.

By doing this, supposing that contacts were widespread, Texas has now set themselves up for a Watergate style cover up. They may not have contracted for the break in, but they covered it up later. I don't know about you, but if LE held on to computers with potentially exculpatory evidence on them for 18 months and refused to investigate LE/caller connections and didn't tell the defense about them, it almost doesn't matter anymore if they were innocent of contracting for the call. You can no longer say with credibility that you are turning over all the evidence in the matter. You withheld evidence. There may be felonies involved now, where there were none before.

A post script. Lt. Wilson says "alleged relationship" but the only thing "alleged" for his purposes is the quality or color or extend or kind of relationship that existed. The relationship is not alleged. Lt. Wilson himself used the phrase "common knowledge" to refer to the relationship of Santos and Swinton. He does not now get to imply that I allege there was one. According to him, there was one, and it was "common knowledge" at the Colorado Springs Police Department.

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CSPD Internal Affairs, Lt. Maggie Santos and Rozita Swinton

I had two conversations with Colorado Springs' Police Department's "Internal Affairs" division today.

The first was grossly unsuccessful. The listed contact for CSPD's "IA" is a Lt. Kirk Wilson, and it should be noted that while Lt. Wilson was with CSPD in April of 2008, he was not in "IA."

When I called, about 9am their time, a woman answered the phone and indicated that Lt. Wilson was "in training" this morning and was unavailable. I left my phone number and name and asked that he get back to me. Within the hour I had a call back from a male member of CSPD, presumably in IA named Sgt. Lux. The conversation with Sgt. Lux could be best described as initially cordial, then cold, and then verbal warfare. At no time during the conversation would I describe Sgt. Lux as being helpful.

The gist of the conversation from my point of view was, that if I brought evidence, signed sealed and delivered of impropriety on the part of a CSPD officer, they would look into it. Specific times, specific places, specific persons and specific crimes. I was verbally harassed at several turns in the conversation and it descended into an exchange that I could best compare to a traffic stop where I was the driver being asked to quickly produce my License, Insurance and Registration.

In calling CSPD's IA, I had little expectation of real result. Lt. Maggie Santos had directed me to call IA and so I did. In general I expected the most positive outcome to be that IA had investigated Lt. Santos, and had cleared her. That would be a positive result in terms of information. I also have no desire that Lt. Santos be involved in anything improper. That would be sad and would possibly destroy lives. I have no desire for such an outcome, but Lt. Santos has brought this on herself, by being less than forthcoming.

If there was an ongoing IA investigation, I would not expect IA to tell me, one way or the other, and as far as I know, there is an investigation. I think that is unlikely, but it's possible.

The conversation with Sgt. Lux was fruitless with me yelling at him in the end that he was obstructing, and being obtuse and wasting my time. He repeated questions and belittled saying I was unprepared for the call and didn't know what I was alleging. Right Sgt. Lux. I was unprepared, I don't know what I am alleging. This is all new to me. I eventually found part of the information he asked about, having no way to know in advance what CSPD's IA would want to know or use as documentation, and I gave it to him. Like I said, after that I ended up yelling at Sgt. Lux. It was an infuriating conversation.

So I went to Costco. Did some shopping, drove back, and called the number I had to pry out of Sgt. Lux for CSPD's records division in the hope that I get access to Becky Hoerth's deposition that almost certainly had to spring out of the April 2008 arrest warrant of Rozita Swinton.

And got interrupted.

By a call.

From Lt. Kirk Wilson.

Lt. Wilson said he had a "number on his phone" and was calling back, he also said he had an email about the conversation Sgt. Lux and I had from Sgt. Lux. The tone of our conversation was considerably different. Whereas the one that took place between myself and Sgt. Lux could be best characterized as Sgt. Lux telling me "What do you want US to do about it?" and me eventually becoming angry, Lt. Wilson wanted to know what I had called about, and made an effort to fit it into a form Internal Affairs could deal with.

Eventually I was able to clarify who it was that I was suggesting there be an investigation concerning and why it was important. Essentially it boiled down to "This is the largest child custody case in US History, Lt. Santos has not been forthcoming, it needs to be investigated for even the smallest appearance of impropriety and then those appearances pursued until resolution." It was not hard once the case was laid out to convince Lt. Wilson that this was important.

I would say there has NOT been a case opened with regard to Rozita at any time by IA involving Rozita and either Lt. Santos and her "friend" in the department, with whom she lives, the female officer I refer to as "Beta." Had there been, Lt. Santos would have been better prepared when I called on the 21st. She wasn't. Lt. Wilson would have been carrying out a case of faked ignorance as to some of the details, that should have him acting out his job, not doing it, in Hollywood, for bigger bucks. I'm going to call this as the first formal investigation into the matter. I of course, cannot predict the outcome.

One of the things that I told Lt. Wilson I would quote him on was his statement that it was "common knowledge" that Rozita and Lt. Maggie Santos had a "relationship" around CSPD, as an internal matter. For this to be true, contact with Maggie and Rozita simply had to be of a relatively contemporary nature. The obvious familiarity and "common knowledge" in the department (which included Lt. Wilson knowing at the time of Rozita's arrest) means that it wasn't a 15 year old relationship. I'm sorry. Rozita has gained weight, changed in appearance, and was arrested initially under a different name. Maggie, in addition had fielded a call in February of 2007 from Washington state regarding Rozita and if her memory had faded, it certainly had been recently refreshed, and a little over a year later, here they were again. Similar problem. False reporting across state lines.

After telling Lt. Wilson I intended to publish his statement, he hung a few believable qualifiers on it. By "common knowledge" he did not mean "EVERYBODY at CSPD knew." He offered that of course, he knew, but that didn't mean everybody, but indeed quite a few people at CSPD that were around for the arrest, did know.

He also did not mean that the quality or nature of the relationship was known for anything other than "they knew each other." In other words that's all that there might have been to the association. They knew each other. That makes sense to some degree for an officer that is the CSPD sex crimes unit and a frequent false reporter that used to be your kid's nanny. Except this was not acknowledged to me by Maggie, so that further erodes her credibility.

Basically it is evident to me so far that Lt. Wilson is being truthful with me (this could change) and at least initially intended to investigate the charge. The fact that a good number of CSPD officers knew of the familiarity of Santos and Swinton says that Lt. Santos blew smoke my direction.

At one point Lt. Wilson wondered aloud why I would want to push the issue and I explained. This is the largest child custody case in US History. Hoerth, Swinton, Santos and "Beta" are almost certainly all lesbians that at one time, hung out together. That makes their relationships anything from romantic to professional and inappropriate. If it was "common knowledge" at CSPD that Rozita and Maggie had a "relationship," then why has that fact NEVER come to light in the reporting of the story?

IA has opened a case or initial investigation, they will be getting back to me.

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