Former Chelsea Selectman Sentenced to More Than 7 Years on Extortion and Fraud Charges

Contact: Donald E. Clark
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Bangor, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Carole
J. Swan, 56, of Chelsea, Maine, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Bangor by Chief
Judge John A. Woodcock, Jr. to 87 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release for
extortion, federal tax fraud and federal worker’s compensation fraud. She was also fined
$125,000 and ordered to pay over $106,000 in restitution. On July 26, 2013, Swan was
convicted on the fraud charges following a three week jury trial. On September 17, 2013, Swan
was convicted on the extortion charges following a one week jury trial.

According to the court records and trial evidence, Swan was an elected member of the
Chelsea Board of Selectmen. Between January 2010 and February 2011, she used her position to
extort and attempt to extort $20,000 from Frank Monroe Construction, a local construction
company that plowed, salted and sanded Chelsea’s roads. She also filed false federal income tax
returns for tax years 2006 through 2010 in which she under-reported about $650,000 in gross
receipts and sales for her business, Swan Construction, thereby evading about $145,000 in
income and self-employment taxes. She also fraudulently obtained over $75,000 in worker’s
compensation benefits, by failing to report, among other things, her ownership of, and work for,
Swan Construction and a harness horse racing business, and by under-reporting the hours she
worked as a selectman and assessor.

In imposing sentence, Chief Judge Woodcock found that Swan obstructed justice by
repeatedly, deliberately and willfully lying throughout the proceedings. Chief Judge Woodcock
also noted that Swan breached her duties of honesty and trust to Chelsea and Frank Monroe and
described Monroe as “a local hero” for bringing Swan to justice.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Internal Revenue
Service – Criminal Investigations Division; the Department of Homeland Security, Office of
Inspector General ("OIG"); the U.S. Department of Labor, OIG, Office of Labor Racketeering
and Fraud Investigations; the U.S. Postal Service, OIG; and the Kennebec County Sheriff's
Office.