Alleged stalker's bond increased to $100,000

A judge Wednesday increased the bond for Michael Swelland from $5,000 to $100,000 - twice as much as the prosecutor requested on the stalking charge.

Swelland, 36, is accused of stalking his estranged wife, Jennifer Swelland.

"Mike will not, absolutely not, leave me alone," she testified before District Judge Ted Lympus.

Since a restraining order was issued against him, "He has called me hundreds and hundreds of times," she said, even as she sat at the sheriff's office to file a complaint.

When a deputy took the phone and told Swelland to stop calling, "He didn't even end the conversation and then he'd call right back," she said.

She has recorded his phone calls and told him she was doing it. Yet he persisted in making obscene threats.

"You've got a war for life, you [expletive]," he said, according to a transcript Jennifer Swelland read. "I will be in your face the rest of your life. Your restraining order will never affect me because I will fight you around it."

"Are you afraid of him?" County Attorney Ed Corrigan asked.

"Yes, I am," she said. "He's coming. I know he is."

Her fear is so great she won't let their son stay with her, she said.

Jennifer Swelland said her husband hasn't hurt her. Since they separated, though, someone has twice drilled into the oil pan of her car. Once, it burned out her engine.

"I want the court to explain to this man that a restraining order means something, that no means something," she said.

Her lawyer, Tiffany Lonnevik, testified that Swelland called his wife 217 times in nine days, including while she was in Lonnevik's office. She said Swelland's counselor told her he anticipates Swelland will do something such as kidnap his wife, "tie her to a chair, read from the Bible until Jennifer repented and became a godly wife."

Swelland testified that if he remains free on bond, he plans to "stay as far away as I possibly can." He said he poses no risk to his wife.

But Corrigan called on old criminal records, showing that Swelland was prosecuted for violating other restraining orders with an ex-wife and was charged with assault 1992.

Swelland said he didn't recall most of the charges.

Swelland's attorney, Gary Doran, said his client has no history of violence.

"The concern is primarily harassment," he said. He asked Lympus to maintain the bond amount.

But Corrigan said, "He has a 13-year history of terrorizing and harassing the women who are so unfortunate as to fall within his grasp."

Lympus said he recalls enough domestic murders "when there was no evidence of physical bodily injury" before they happened.

"I'm hearing promises from the defendant," he said, but "the best indicator of future behavior is past behavior.

"The court is satisfied there is a real risk of bodily injury or worse," Lympus said.

He exceeded Corrigan's request for $50,000 bond and set it at $100,000. If Swelland is able to post bond, he also must appear again in court before he is released.

Reporter Chery Sabol may be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at csabol@dailyinterlake.com