Libby man accused of fraud pleads not guilty

A Libby man facing felony charges of defrauding an elderly Troy woman out of nearly $90,000 pleaded not guilty after a recent appearance in Lincoln County District Court.

Benjamin R. Swanson, 38, is accused of three felonies, including two counts of exploitation of an incapacitated person or vulnerable adult, and theft by embezzlement. The maximum sentence for each offense is 10 years in the Montana State Prison.

He appeared with public defender Ben Kolter when he made his pleas on March 25. Swanson was lodged in the Lincoln County Detention Center on $100,000 bail, but he has since bonded out. Swanson’s next court appearance is set for May 6.

Lincoln County Deputy Attorney Lauren O’Neill is prosecuting the case.

According to court documents, Swanson made hundreds of transactions totaling $87,620.89 in a span of 2 1/2-years between Nov. 1, 2019 and May 17, 2022, after he allegedly gained control of her finances not long after the death of her husband.

County detectives David Hall and Anthony Jenson investigated the allegations and partnered with the Rocky Mountain Information Network investigator Amy Tan.

According to the supplemental narrative by Det. Hall, he received a phone call on Jan. 23, 2023, from Eric Anderson, an attorney in Bonners Ferry, Idaho. Anderson had spoken with the alleged victim and believed she had been taken advantage of financially by Swanson, who was living in Troy at the time. Anderson told Det. Hall that Swanson had obtained a quit claim deed for the woman’s home on Snowshoe Lane and that he had drained her bank account.

Anderson told the detective that Bush was directed to him by Libby attorney Amy Guth because Guth had put a deed together for Bush and Swanson. 

On Oct. 1, 2019, a quit claim deed was filed showing the alleged victim signing the property to Swanson for $0.

In a March 26, 2024, email to The Western News, Guth explained her office did not prepare a quit claim deed for the alleged victim. 

"My office refused to prepare a quit claim deed for (the alleged victim) which would transfer her property to Mr. Swanson," Guth wrote. "Sometime, after (the alleged victim) left my office, she signed a handwritten quit claim deed that was prepared by Mr. Swanson, I presume. 

"Later, my office prepared a transfer on death deed at (the alleged victim's) request transferring her property at death to Mr. Swanson. A transfer on death deed can be revoked at any time. We were not aware that (the alleged victim) had signed the handwritten quit claim deed prior to the transfer on death deed. I referred Ms. Bush’s case to another lawyer, Mr. Anderson, as I felt that my office would be a witness for (the alleged victim)."

A day later, on Jan. 24, 2023, Det. Hall met with the woman and her relative who was visiting from Kansas City, Missouri. The alleged victim said after her husband died in 2019 she met Swanson at a restaurant in Troy. She said Swanson offered to mow her lawn. She also said he did a good job. 

This developed into a relationship in which Swanson and his girlfriend, Heaven Bassett, moved into the basement of the woman’s home. The alleged victim said Swanson took money from her, obtained power of attorney and received deeds to her home. The woman’s relative said they changed the locks to the house because Swanson would just show up. 

When Det. Hall learned the woman didn’t have her bank records, he called First Montana Bank and spoke with an official there. The man said bank employees had been concerned with the activity on her bank records. The bank official called Montana Adult Protective Services, which confirmed they had an open case with the alleged victim.

When Det. Hall sought APS reports about the cases, he was denied. Hall then checked Lincoln County records and determined a quit claim deed was filed on the woman’s home and placed into Swanson’s name on Oct. 1, 2019. 

On Nov. 14, 2019, a beneficiary deed, put together by Guth, was done for the same property. It conveys the alleged victim's property to Swanson upon the woman's death.

Anderson, the attorney, told Det. Hall he spoke with Montana legal services on the woman’s behalf and that he’d worked to reverse a beneficiary deed. Anderson also spoke to the woman’s church pastor in Troy, seeking his assistance. The pastor took her to the First Montana Bank where they got printouts of her bank account. 

The records were turned over to Det. Hall. Hall determined that when Swanson was added to the woman’s account in November 2019, there was $126,000 in it. By May 2022, her account showed a negative balance of $12.47 and she was receiving overdraft fee notices. Swanson was removed from the account in June 2022 and the woman opened a new account.

Det. Hall reported in November 2019, 33 checks were written from the account. Totaling the amount from the larger checks was about $14,000. The records also showed debit card purchases in Libby, Kalispell, Seeley Lake and Idaho.

Then, on May 17, 2023, Det. Hall reported Swanson contacted him at the sheriff’s office and asked if he was being investigated for the money the woman had given him. The officer told Swanson he was being investigated and that he should stop having any contact with the alleged victim.

On Feb. 1, 2024, Det. Anthony Jenson called Rocky Mountain Information Network to see what the status of its investigation was. One day later, Tan called Jenson and said she was taking over the forensic accounting. Three weeks later Det. Jenson received Tan’s report. It showed that Swanson’s debit card made purchases and withdrawals totaling $69,905.57 from the account between Jan. 10, 2019 and May 17, 2022. It also showed that 18 checks signed by Swanson totaled more than $32,000. Thirteen checks were made out to cash for a total of more than $17,000.

On Feb. 26, Det. Jenson learned from county deputy Ben Fisher that the alleged victim, who was now confined to a wheelchair, was living at Libby Care Center. When Jenson spoke to her, she was aware Swanson was considered the owner of her property and had allegedly stolen money from her. She said she did not feel like there was anything she could do.

When Det. Jenson spoke to a staff member at the Care Center, she told him the woman wanted to move home, but Swanson said he didn’t want her to move out of the care center because she couldn’t live on her own and she would have to live with him.