By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Alan Swim may be remorseful for his actions but Judge Sean Leuthold was well aware that actions such as Swim’s are an ongoing problem in Crawford County.
Sixty-seven-year-old Swim, a Galion resident, pleaded guilty to abduction and was sentenced in Common Pleas Court Tuesday afternoon. Swim was charged with abduction when he held his girlfriend, who is in her 20s, in his car with the promise that he would take her home. He admitted that he met her on Craigslist.
“I screwed up. It’s not going to happen again,” Swim told Leuthold.
“The bottom line is she is a heroin addict,” Leuthold said. “She was basically putting it out there that she was selling herself in a sexual way because she was a heroin addict.”
Leuthold said the situation – older men who take advantage of young women addicted to heroin – was not that uncommon in Crawford County anymore.
“It’s part of the problem,” he added. “You’re continuing the cycle of addiction. I see it time and time again and it angers me.”
Despite that, Leuthold believed the widower learned his lesson.
“I do believe you’ll never do this again,” the judge said. “Giving people money to go buy heroin – it’s awful. It needs to stop. And you’re not the only person.”
Leuthold sentenced Swim to five years on community control with the special conditions that Swim does not have contact with the young women in the case nor with anyone else abusing drugs. Swim was also fined $750. Swim could face up to 36 months in prison if he fails on community control.
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