FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 15, 2006
SANTA ANA – A man who was out of custody after he was convicted in Arizona for molesting a 13-year-old girl plead guilty to one count of lewd acts upon a child under the age of fourteen in C36, Central Justice Center, in Santa Ana, before the Honorable Carla Singer. Edward Swanstrom, 49, of Pima County Arizona, who also goes by the name of Andrew Andersen, will be formally sentenced on July 21, 2006 and will receive 15 years to life in prison. He also admitted that he is a multiple child molester for his prior in Arizona.
In July 2003, Swanstrom began writing to OC Jane Doe, 13, in an internet chat room. In September 2003, Swanstrom began speaking to OC Jane Doe on the phone. OC Jane Doe’s Mom overheard the conversation. When she became concerned that she was not talking to a teenage boy but a grown man, she contacted the Fullerton Police who investigated and called the defendant to tell him he was talking to a 13-year-old girl. Swanstrom claimed he did not know and pretended he would stop contacting her. Fullerton Police and the mom thought the situation was resolved.
On January 5, 2004, Swanstrom pled guilty to molesting a 13-year-old girl in Pima County, Arizona. The negotiated plea was 10 years in prison and he was set to turn himself in. Meanwhile, Swanstrom sent a cell phone to the OC Jane Doe. He kept using the phone to contact her. On several occasions in January of 2004, the defendant rented an SUV and drove to Fullerton to molest the girl. He would duct tape trash bags in the windows so people could not see inside. He would pick up OC Jane Doe from school and molest her in parking lots.
“I am very proud of OC Jane Doe’s friends. They found out she was seeing an older man and told the school. They not only prevented Jane Doe from being molested further, but they saved other little girls from being molested and hurt by the defendant,” stated Deputy District Attorney Kal Kaliban, of the Sexual Assaults Unit, who is prosecuting this case. The school officials called the police who arrested the defendant who was parked nearby. “He will serve his sentence in California first. If the defendant is ever able to convince a parole board that he is no longer a threat to young girls, then he will be released from California prison and will serve 10 years in Arizona. Hopefully, the defendant will never be free to hurt another child again.”
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