• 1976 Carole (Blodgett) Swan graduates from Gardiner Area High School and is dating Marshall Swan, whom she marries in 1984.
• 1992 Carole Swan is elected to the Chelsea Board of Selectmen.
Additional Images
• 1994 Carole Swan injures her shoulder while working as a rural mail carrier; later this disability results in her receipt of federal workers compensation.
• August 2010, a Kennebec Journal investigation into contracting practices of Carole Swan, chairman of Chelsea Board of Selectmen, finds she may have violated town ethics and contracting rules by erroneously declaring town jobs emergencies and billing them in increments less than $10,000.
• Feb. 10, 2011, Swan is arrested on charges of aggravated forgery, theft and improper compensation for service charges; bail conditions ban her from being at the Town Office.
• June 30, 2011, Swan’s 19-year tenure as selectwoman ends after her term expires.
• July 27, 2011, Swan is indicted on state charges and pleads not guilty on Aug. 5, 2011.
• Feb. 29, 2012, Swan is indicted in federal court on 22 charges, including extortion and tax fraud. Her husband, Marshall Swan, is indicted by the same grand jury on 10 counts of tax fraud and defrauding a federal program.
• July 27, 2013, Carole Swan is convicted of two counts of workers’ compensation fraud (Aug. 1, 2008, and May 7, 2010) and five counts of income tax fraud 2006-2010.
• Sept. 17, 2013, Carole Swan is convicted of three counts of extortion for using her position as a selectwoman to seek kickbacks from Frank Monroe, who held the contract to plow and sand Chelsea’s roads.
• June 2, 2014, Marshall Swan is sentenced to 33 months in prison. He pays $145,000 in income taxes the couple owed for the years 2006 to 2010.
• June 13, 2014, Carole Swan is sentenced to 87 months in federal prison and fined $125,000.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
