Edward Swanstrom, 49, Pima County, Arizona, lured a 13-year-old girl using the Internet and molested her in Fullerton before he was scheduled to go to prison on another child molest case.
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 Does 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 the victim. Fullerton Police and the mom thought the situation was resolved.
On January 5, 2004, Swanstrom pleaded 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 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 to the windows so people could not see inside. He picked up OC Jane Doe from school and molested her in a parking lot. Swanstrom pleaded guilty on June 15, 2006.
The heroes in the case were OC Jane Does 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. School officials called the police, who arrested the defendant while he was parked nearby. He will serve his sentence in California first.
Swanstrom, who also goes by the name of Andrew Andersen, was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison after being convicted of one count of lewd acts upon a child under the age of fourteen. If the defendant is ever able to convince a parole board that he is no longer a threat to young girls, he will then be released from California prison and will serve 10 years in Arizona.
