CROWN POINT | Nearly five years after alarmed investors first alerted authorities, Lake Criminal Court Judge Diane Boswell reluctantly accepted a complex plea agreement Monday for business owner Daniel Swift, a former Crown Point School Board president.
Swift was arrested in December 2004 at his business, High School Sports Publication Inc., and charged with defrauding at least 13 Indiana and Illinois clients of more than $900,000 by selling them unregistered securities, that promised to pay interest rates of up to 14.8 percent.
Individual investments ranged from $3,000 to $250,000. Investors included a single mother, a person who lost a home and was forced to move to Michigan, a man who invested his wife's inheritance and a Purple Heart recipient.
The Indiana secretary of state's prosecution assistance unit undertook an investigation in September 2003, working with Lake County prosecutors and Crown Point police.
In June, Swift, 63, finally entered into a plea agreement with special prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to eight felony counts in connection with 58 securities-related charges.
Swift agreed to pay partial restitution of $423,264.33 -- less than half of what he allegedly bilked from investors -- and serve a 16-year sentence that includes no prison time. He will serve half the time at the Kimbrough Work Release Facility and spend the remaining eight-years on probation.
Three failures to make timely restitution payments would cost Swift, who is self-employed, from 30 to 120 days in the Lake County Jail. A fourth lapse would result in Swift's serving the full 16-year sentence in state prison.
Victims long have criticized the length of the state's investigation and what they consider a lenient plea agreement.
During Monday's protracted and emotional sentencing hearing, Boswell herself probed the state's reasoning and impatiently challenged defense arguments.
Given that they stand to receive only a fraction of the money Swift squandered, Boswell said victims may well be seeking "satisfaction" rather financial return.
In an emotional statement to the court, Nancy Schultz, who worked for Swift at the high school publication, said she and her husband lost their $180,000 retirement nest egg, forcing them to sell their home and move to a small town in Michigan.
"But most of all, I have to live with the guilt of knowing that I was the one that convinced my family and friends to invest their money, and that is something I have to live with every day," she said. "They trusted me, and I trusted Dan Swift."
Boswell dismissed Swift's statement apologizing to the court and his plea for forgiveness. "It is an abomination and a disgrace to take your friends' money and misuse it," Boswell said.
Despite her misgivings, Boswell ultimately reasoned the alternatives to the plea deal could delay a resolution for victims by several more years.
Some half-dozen victims met Boswell's decision with resignation and lingering anger. They expressed mostly disappointment with the state's handling of the case, chiding prosecutors for their efforts.
"The only person who ended up doing his job was Nick Thiros," victim Mike Schultz said, noting the repeated continuances won by Thiros, Swift's defense attorney. The inaction prolonged the case for years, keeping Swift unaccountable and out of jail, Schultz said
Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter, however, said local and, later, state prosecutors worked closely with the victims.
"All of the victims wanted their money back," Carter said. "We're not the entity to get their money back. We tried to do what we could."
Daniel Swift, a former Crown Point School Board president accused of bilking investors out of more than $900,000, would pay victims less than half that in restitution and spend no time in prison under a plea agreement accepted Monday. Lake Criminal Court Judge Diane Boswell reluctantly agreed to the punishment negotiated between Swift and prosecutors.
