| For Immediate Release August 21, 2006 |
Contact: | Susan Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel (714) 347-8408 Office (714) 323-4486 Cell |
CONVICTED ARIZONA CHILD MOLESTER TO BE SENTENCED FOR CYBER-LURING AND MOLESTING
A 13-YEAR-OLD GIRL
SANTA ANA – The Arizona man who lured a girl using the internet and molested a 13-year-old girl in Fullerton will be sentenced tomorrow after being convicted of one count of lewd acts upon a child under the age of fourteen. Edward Swanstrom, 49, of Pima County, Arizona, who also goes by the name of Andrew Andersen, is facing 15 years to life in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow, August 22, 2006, at 8:30 a.m. in department C-36, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
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 her daughter was not talking to a teenage boy but a grown man, she contacted the Fullerton Police. The police investigated and called the defendant and told 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. In January of 2004, while he was out of custody on the Arizona case, the defendant rented an SUV and drove to Fullerton to molest the girl. He duct taped trash bags in the windows so people could not see inside. He picked up OC Jane Doe from school and molested her in a parking lot. Swanstrom plead guilty on June 15, 2006.
“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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