Daily Herald Media's 2013 Tangled Web series

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SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013

March for Equality meets no protests Organizer promises to hold larger gay pride event in 2014

By Keith Uhlig Daily Herald Media kuhlig@wdhmedia.com

BY SHEREEN SKOLA | DAILY HERALD MEDIA | SSKOLA@WDHMEDIA.COM

P

ABOUT THIS REPORT Reporter Shereen Skola began to investigate the background of Tim Swinea after he was implicated in the sudden closure of a Wausau-area day care center in December. She uncovered a history of elaborate deceptions and multiple reported victims. In this three-day series, Skola documents the accusations against Swinea and the shattered lives he’s left behind.

TODAY: Penny Schoenke of Menasha tells the story of how a relationship with a man she met online started as a dream come true but evolved into a nightmare.

Shereen MONDAY: Schoenke’s life takes a harrowing turn Skola as Swinea convinces her that she and her children are in danger and persuades them to flee with him to Texas and Oklahoma to seek the protection of federal agents.

TUESDAY: Swinea’s criminal history in Wisconsin starts 16 years ago in Wausau and is far from over.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES: Visit this report at to read court complaints, police reports, bank letters and other documents to further learn the tale of one man’s tangled web, and to view a video report on this series.

enny Schoenke was deeply in love with Adam, her husband of 17 years, when he died in her arms after a two-year battle with cancer. Adam’s death in 2009 left her and their two young sons devastated; she thought she’d never find love again.

Then a successful, single businessman entered her life. Two years after Schoenke lost her husband, she thought God had given her the gift of a new beginning.

“I was so heartbroken when Adam died,” Schoenke said. “And in walked this man, this amazing man, who not only understood the pain I was going through, but he wanted to give me the world. You see, that’s how he is.

He literally charms the pants off you.”

Schoenke, 41, of Menasha met Tim Swinea in June 2011 through an online dating service. Swinea, who also was living in Menasha at the time, told Schoenke he was a cancer survivor whose longtime girlfriend had left him under the strain of his condition.

Schoenke’s heart went out to Swinea, who was left alone to endure the chemotherapy treatments meant to cure his condition, and the two bonded over their shared heartbreak and loss.

“When you think you’ve found someone who understands the worst thing that’s ever happened to you, it’s an amazing thing,” Schoenke said. “We talked for hours every night. It was just magical, it really was.”

See HEARTBREAK, Page 6A

About 300 people walked Saturday afternoon in a March for Equality from Marathon Park to downtown Wausau to demonstrate their support of equal treatment for those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Thepeacefulmarchhadafestive atmosphere, with the diversegrouplaughingandjoking, carrying flags, balloons and signs with sayings such as “Love is Love, Stop the Hate” and “All my children deserve equal rights! Gay or Straight!”

Dwaine Packard, 53, and his partner of 28 years, Chet Haatvedt, 51, of Antigo led the procession, carrying colorful gay pride flags. “We just want equality,” Packard said. “We’re tired of standing on the sidelines, and it’s time to make a stand.”

Considering the drama and controversy that gave rise to the organization of the march, the event itself was almost anticlimatic. Saturday afternoon was chosen for a Gay Pride Parade by an organizer named Daxx Bouvier. That parade drew comments from City Council member David Nutting, who said earlier this month that people should boycott the parade, or, if they went, turn their backs on “deviant-behaving individuals.”

Bouvier canceled his parade a week ago because, he said, participants became worried about their safety after comments in the media and from Nutting.

Meanwhile, after people of the local LGBTQ community could not reach Bouvier, and he hadn’t provided the city with proof of insurance, Shannon Thomas, 35, of Wausau decided to organize the March for Equality.“Ifelttheparadewasgoingto be canceled,” Thomas said. “And I wanted something in case people showed up. It got really confusing, with people secondguessing my motives.”

All the confusion and controversy may have worked in the March for Equality’s favor in the end, Thomas said. The event was indicative of the support the Wausau area really has for the LGBTQ community, she said.

“We still have a long way to go,” she said. “But I’m so incredibly proud of the support today.

The more people who can be who they are and not ashamed of their sexual orientation, the better it will be for all of us.”

There was no evidence of counter-protestors or anyone turning their backs on the marchers. Several people, See MARCH, Page 9A

From Wausau to the Big Apple Local actor/writer part of off-Broadway performance

By Keith Uhlig Daily Herald Media kuhlig@wdhmedia.com

People

NEW YORK CITY — The

River District Theatre was just getting established last year when Gary Anderson was asked by a theatrical friend to come

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to New York to perform his one-man show “Naked Darrow.”

Anderson, the co-foun-

der and artistic director of River District Theatre, demurred. He couldn’t leave Wausau and River District just as he was feeling at home here and he wanted to help make sure the River District got the traction it needed to take root in Wausau.

“I couldn’t leave,” Anderson, 59, said earlier this week in a cellphone conversation from New York. “I’ve done many un-

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ethical things in my life.

I’ve hurt people. Now, I just want to make a difference in society. I had to do the right thing.”

Since then, River District has done several plays in venues in Marshfield and Wausau during the last 18 months, including “Naked Darrow” and other plays written by Anderson, including “Lovers See ACTOR, Page 10A

Eugene Uekert Antoinette Young

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Heartbreak Continued from Page 1A

The magic didn’t last long.

Two years later, Schoenke says she is penniless and again devastated. Meanwhile, the 46year-old Swinea is in the Marathon County Jail in Wausau on a probation hold, charged with fraud and bigamy, and police say they are investigating his involvement in the sudden financial collapse of a Wausauarea day care center. Swinea and Schoenke never married, but evidence suggests he has at least two wives. And Swinea’s father, Bill Swinea of St. Louis, Mo., called his son a “born salesman” who has destroyed his family.

Daily Herald Media has spent months speaking with Swinea’s relatives, friends, wives and girlfriends, as well as poring over reams of documents, photographs and cellphone messages that seem to paintapictureofamanwhohas spent much of his adult life honing the skills that have allowed him to dupe vulnerable women into his life and out of their money.

“Tim can be so convincing,” Bill Swinea said. “If you don’t know him, you’d believe every word that came out of his mouth.”

lhTim Swinea is shown at Cowboys Stadium in December 2011, when he took Penny Schoenke’s sons on a tour he said had been organized by the son of the team’s owner, Jerry Jones. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

A whirlwind relationship Schoenke fell hard and fast for Swinea, and when he proposed marriage, she gladly agreed to wear his ring. But Schoenke now describes the man of her dreams as a nightmare. Just five months after they met, Schoenke said, she and her10- and16-year-old sons found themselves broken emotionally and financially — her small business was bankrupt — ostracized from their friends and stranded in a small Oklahoma town as Swinea’s lies finally unraveled.

Since the day she left Swinea behind at an Oklahoma police station and began to put her life back together, she said, she has learned quite a bit about Swinea. Schoenke said she now believes Swinea wasn’t successful or wealthy and didn’t own a business. And she doubts Swinea ever had cancer.

Today, Swinea, who is on probation from a 2011theft conviction, is facing criminal charges in Calumet County after Schoenke finally went to authorities, according to a report from the Appleton Police Department. And in Marathon County, Swinea is facing possible forgery charges, Everest Metro Police Capt. Mark Hull said.

The Everest Metro investigation began in December after a 48-year-old Weston woman, whom he married in August 2012, told police she was forced to shut down her successful day care center after Swinea wrote an unauthorized check from her business account and duped her into believing he had investors lined up to aid in her business plan. Citing an ongoing investigation, Hull declined to release the police report but said the case was referred to the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution; District Attorney Ken Heimerman on Wednesday said a final charging decision has not yet been made.

Swinea called a Daily Herald Media reporter one day after a news report published in December about his al-

said all the right things.”

By the time the two met in person, Schoenke said, looks didn’t matter. Still, she found it curious that the photo he’d sent her of himself — that of a handsome, dark-haired man with brown eyes — didn’t look much like the bald, blue-eyed man she met at a Menasha tavern.

The copy of Swinea’s online dating photo, which Daily Herald Media has obtained, looks nothing like the man now behind bars in the Marathon County Jail.

“Of course I was surprised that he looked so different, but he told me that he lost his hair from the chemo,” Schoenke said. “And he told me his old girlfriend liked brown eyes, so he wore colored contacts. I know it seems weird, but it didn’t really matter what he looked like anyway. I fell in love with who he was on the inside, not what he looked like.”

When Schoenke and Swinea began dating, Schoenke said, she had about $17,000 in her checking account and operated Shapin’ it Up, a small shop in Menasha that sold herbal remedies. The money was all that remained of a life insurance policy she collected when her husband died from complications of brain cancer, and Schoenke was struggling to make a profit in her shop.

Schoenke said Swinea, who claimed to run Coldwater Construction, a lucrative business, was quick to offer financial support; he offered to move his construction office to a spare room in the back of the shop and pay 100 percent of the rent and utilities. Eventually, he offered to invest thousands of dollars in Schoenke’s business and pay off her mortgage.

“Of course, I said yes,” Schoenke said. “He moved his office into my building, paid the rent, paid the utilities. He even hired one of my friends as a receptionist. It seemed like there was no end to the money he had. He took me and my friends out for expensive dinners. He took me and my sons to Packers games. We were really living the high life there for a while. And then it all fell apart.”

‘Piles of money’

Penny Schoenke says Tim Swinea produced this report to convince her that he was wealthy and sharing his investments with her family. She says she later discovered it was a fake document

leged involvement in the closing of the Wonderfully Made Day Care in Weston, asking for the opportunity to tell his side of the story, but he later refused to meet. Erik Loy, a public defender representing Swinea, has not returned a phone call to provide comment for this series.

Swinea was charged on March 19 in Marathon County Circuit Court with felony bigamy after his Weston wife, who is not being named because she is the reported victim of a crime, told police she discovered Swinea never divorced his first wife, one he married in 1992 in Missouri, according to the criminal

complaint.

Schoenke learned about the wife in Missouri after her relationship with Swinea fell apart.

“So the whole time we were together, planning to get married, he was already married to someone else,” she said. “Do you know how dirty that makes me feel?”

Small deceptions

Schoenke said that when she first met Swinea online in June 2011, she checked his criminal record through Wisconsin’s online Circuit Court Access system, or CCAP. She found several cases that drew red flags, dating back to a 1997 forgery conviction in Marathon County. In that case, Swinea was charged afx si end of id her boyfri arriage to ter his former girlfriend sa ke en o h Penny Sc roposed m hich she p , cashed more than $4,000 ea in Sw months, Tim d gave her this ring, w onds. in fraudulent checks m an ia d 11 her in 20 ntain any co t o Swinea gave her, acn id d later learned AILY HERALD MEDIA cording to the criminal /D LA O SHEREEN SK complaint.

But when Schoenke confronted Swinea with what she found on CCAP, Swinea insisted the case was a simple mix-up. The criminal, he said, was another Timothy Swinea with the same birth date.

“He told me people were always screwing that up, that there was another Tim Swinea with the same name who was doing all kinds of bad things, but it wasn’t him,” Schoenke said. “He said it had been a problem for years.

It probably wasn’t even the first lie he told me. All I know is,

it was one of many. But yes, I believed him.”

Schoenke said she and Swinea chatted online and talked on the phone for hours every day before agreeing to meet in person. They shared their stories of hardship: Schoenke was a grieving widow, while Swinea had battled testicular cancer and won, but lost his girlfriend in the process.

“He told me that his girlfriend couldn’t handle the stress, couldn’t go through all of the cancer stuff with him, and she left him,” Schoenke said. “He told me he admired me for staying with my husband when he was sick. He just

Schoenke said that with each passing week, Swinea’s generosity swelled. Swinea showed Schoenke a printout showing he had money market accounts totaling more than $2.5 million. Swinea claimed to have transferred more than half of his net worth into accounts he opened for Schoenke and her two sons. Schoenke said Swinea also deposited thousands of dollars in checks into Shapin’ it Up’s business account.

“I was completely dazzled,” Schoenke said. “I mean, who wouldn’t be? All of a sudden, there was money, piles of money, everywhere.”

A copy of the money market printout, obtained by Daily Herald Media, also shows Swinea had $281,105 in general checking as of Sept. 27, 2011, and a second printout of an online account record from U.S. Bank showed another checking account balance of $181,129.87 on Nov. 1, 2011.

Schoenke said she didn’t question the authenticity of the documents Swinea gave her until later, when she learned that the money market See MONEY, Page 7A

Penny Schoenke and Tim Swinea at a resort in Las Vegas in September 2011. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

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Money

bank was a visit to a jeweler. The man at the jewelry store confirmed what Schoenke already feared — that the ring she proudly wore on her finger was nothing but a beautiful fake. A phone call to Swinea’s “business partner” confirmed that not only was there no business partner, but the woman Schoenke thought was dead was alive and well, Schoenke said. A Stevens Point contractor, the man Swinea identified as his business associate, told Schoenke that Swinea had worked on some construction jobs for him but was not a partner, Schoenke said.

Daily Herald Media has been unable to reach the Stevens Point contractor for this story.

Schoenkefiledareport with the Appleton Police Department on Nov. 9, 2011. The case

Continued from Page 6A

program Swinea used can show model potential investments, and isn’t necessarily designed for actual investors to keep track of their finances.

While Swinea certainly could have had a large bank account, Schoenke now says Swinea could also have simply plugged imaginary numbers into the program, just to make an impression.

At first, it worked.

Schoenke said Swinea’s generosity seemed to have no bounds. Swinea showered her with expensive gifts. Her new boyfriend offered to pay off all of her credit cards, and Swinea even called Kevin Voss, a lending manager at TCF Bank in Menasha, indicating he planned to pay off Schoenke’s mortgage with a check from a trust fund.

That check never arrived, according to an April 26, 2012, letter from Voss.

But even with all the money flowing around — or perhaps because of it — Schoenke’s friends began to suspect something wasn’t quite right with Swinea. Dawn Laguna of Menasha, a friend whom Swinea hired as a Coldwater Construction receptionist, said she became suspicious when she realized that Swinea was conducting little, if any, business out of the office she worked in.

“I finally pulled Penny aside and said ‘Look, things aren’t adding up here,’” Laguna said. “‘No work is being done. Nothing is checking out.’”

Schoenke said Laguna’s concerns planted a seed of doubt in her mind about Swinea, but Schoenke shelved those concerns and traveled to Las Vegas in October 2011 with Swinea for a friend’s wedding. In Las Vegas, Schoenke said, a few more red flags popped up when Swinea asked to use Schoenke’s debit card twice to withdraw $600 in cash after he claimed something was “wrong” with his card. Schoenke said she believes Swinea started to feel her pulling away from him as her suspicions about him continued to grow, but that all changed when tragedy struck.

After an urgent phone call from his business partner, Schoenke said, Swinea burst into tears — and said that his business partner’s wife, a close friend named Jennifer, was dying.

“He was devastated, crying. I felt terrible for him,” Schoenke said. “And I felt guilty for doubting him.”

Schoenke said Swinea claimed that Jennifer passed out while running a marathon and was critically ill. Days after the

SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2013

7A

was referred to both the Calumet County District Attorney’s Office and the Winnebago County District Attorney’s Office, where the checks were allegedly cashed, for possible forgery charges, according to multiple police reports. So far, criminal charges have been filed only in Calumet County.

“The money was fake. The ring was fake. The business was fake. Everything, fake, fake, fake,” Schoenke said. “How could I have been so stupid? Oh, my God.” But nothing, Schoenke said, could have prepared her for what came next.

Read part two of this three-part series in Monday’s edition.

Shereen Skola can be reached at 715-845-0773.

Follow her on Twitter as @ShereenSkola.

CEDAR CREEK MALL

4th Of Sidewalk July Sale!! couple returned from Las Vegas, Swinea told Schoenke that Jennifer had died. Schoenke said she spent hours helping Swinea, who seemed overcome with grief, pick out music for the funeral. The tragedy brought the couple closer, and when Swinea presented Schoenke with a huge diamond engagement ring in late October 2011, Schoenke readily agreed.

“Tim even asked my sons for permission to marry me,” Schoenke said. “Whatever doubts I had, I pushed out of my mind.”

Two days later, Schoenke said, the walls came tumbling down.

about Swinea was adding up.

Swinea, she said, had been running an elaborate check-kiting scheme at her expense. The money Swinea was depositing into Schoenke’s account was actually her own money, paid for with forged checks she claims Swinea took from a desk in her office.

Prior to Sept. 20, 2011, Schoenke’s checking account at Chase Bank in Menasha was in good standing, according to a

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Preparing for the Unexpected: Death Away From Home

By Mary Boyd, Certified Pre-Planning Specialist, Peterson/Kraemer Funeral Homes and Crematory, Inc. (715) 845-6900

A financial nightmare Two months after Swinea moved his construction business into the Shapin’ it Up building, Schoenke finally sat down to take a look at her bank statements. What she saw, Schoenke said, nearly gave her a heart attack.

“I was thousands of dollars in the hole,” she said.

“I went from having more than $17,000 in my account to less than zero in two months.”

Schoenke said a visit to her bank confirmed what Laguna had been trying to tell her all along. Nothing

document written by branch manager Aaron Mueller. The account was closed and handed off to a collection agency in December 2011, but not before thousands of dollars in bounced checks made their way through the bank. Mueller, in his written statement, said that eight checks totaling $24,146.82 were presented for payment in just two days.

Stunned and penniless, Schoenke said her next stop after leaving the

As a certified pre-planning specialist, my job is to assist people with the sometimes unsettling task of thinking about their own death and planning for how they would like their final wishes carried out. An often overlooked part of this process is to discuss the very real possibility that death could occur someplace other than their hometown where arrangements have been made with their local funeral home. In today’s world of winter “snowbirders” and families that are often spread out across the country, frequent long-distance travel is more commonplace and creates a very real possibility that you or someone you love could die away from home. Consider these statistics which were published by American Pre-Arrangement Services, Inc.

-80% of Americans over age 18 take a trip 100 miles or more away from home that lasts at least one night or more -Over 50% of international travel is performed by senior citizens

Think about how you would answer these questions: -Where do your parents/siblings/children/grandchildren live?

-How frequently do you travel more than 100 miles away from home to visit your loved ones, take vacations or seek medical treatments?

Now ask yourself this question: If you or one of your loved ones were to die unexpectedly while away from home, would you or they know the correct way to proceed to ensure that any pre-arranged wishes were carried out?

Many people are confused about who should be contacted and assume that they should call a funeral home near the place of death. The most important thing to remember is that no matter where death occurs, the funeral home that will be handling your funeral service should be the first place you call, especially if pre-arrangements and/or pre-funding have been done.

Utilizing their experience and network of professional relationships, your local funeral director will secure and coordinate any services that are required at the place of death and serve as your family’s advisor through the entire process. They will arrange for a funeral home in the area where death occurred to pick up the deceased, prepare the body for transportation according to their wishes and secure any required local documentation.

Karen J. Sahr

CEDAR CREEK

Once the deceased has arrived in their home area, your local funeral director will pick up and transport the body to the local funeral home and proceed with finalizing all the arrangements with the family. They will prepare the deceased for viewing, burial or cremation and coordinate all the necessary details of the funeral and final disposition of the body. You should feel confident knowing that just one phone call placed to your home funeral director will ensure that all your most personal wishes are carried out, no matter where one might actually die.

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For those who regularly travel more than 100 miles from home whether for business or pleasure, you might consider asking if your funeral home offers participation in a Guaranteed Travel Assurance Plan. For a very reasonable one-time fee, members of the Plan will receive peace of mind knowing that all expenses and logistical issues associated with returning the deceased home from anywhere in the USA or abroad will be covered. In most cases, the costs involved in transporting a body even a short distance are far greater than the cost of membership in a Guaranteed Travel Assurance Plan.

11/8/1949 – 6/20/2012 We did not see you close your eyes, We did not see you die, All we knew was that you were gone, Without a last goodbye, It was a sudden parting, Too bitter to forget, Only those who loved you, Are the ones who will never forget.

The happy hours we once enjoyed, How sweet the memories still, But death has left a vacant place, This world can never fill.

Your life was one of kindly deeds, A helping hand for others’ needs, Sincere and true in heart and mind, Beautiful memories left behind.

We miss you!

Love – John, Dan and Kevin

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The burden of handling the death of a loved one is never easy, and when death unexpectedly occurs while away from home, this task becomes even more complex. Making pre-arrangements with a funeral home can alleviate a great deal of the emotional stress of the situation, as can understanding what to do in the case of a death away from home. Whether you are a frequent traveler between the homes of friends and relatives within the state, an international explorer, or if you spend part of the year in a warmer climate and wish to have funeral services in both your “hometowns”, making your wishes known and having a plan in place is always a good idea. Consult with your local funeral home and rest assured knowing that whenever and wherever you may need them, they are there to guide you and your family every step of the way.

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BATTLING GRIEF SLAMMED Atlanta stops Milwaukee’s Dealing with loss can affect your health

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MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Legal solution to heroin elusive

FAMILY FLEES FOR SAFETY, BASED ON

TALL TALES Editor’s note: In the first installment of this three-part series, published Sunday, Penny Schoenke of Menasha told of the disturbing discoveries she made about a man she met online and nearly married. When the first story ended, the couple was about to split up after Schoenke said she began to learn of Tim Swinea’s deceptions.

Swinea, who is now in the Marathon County Jail in Wausau facing felony bigamy and fraud charges, declined a Daily Herald Media request for an interview.

P

Lawmakers tread cautiously on growing problem

By Paul Srubas Gannett Wisconsin Media

GREEN BAY — Dave Fraser was so fed up seeing the rampant use of hard drugs by his friends and acquaintances in Sheboygan that he packed up his things, including a flower shop business, and moved to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Last week, he said, one of his buddies died of a heroin overdose in Menominee, Mich.

“It’s just as bad here, heroin, people crushing pills and snorting or injecting,” Fraser said. “I guess I don’t know what to do.

This last week, I’ve been reaching out to anybody who’ll listen.”

Fraser thinks special legislation is needed to combat the heroin problem, which the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team examined in a special report June 16 and Monday.

Responding to the stories, a handful of Wisconsin lawmakers agreed that some legislation probably is needed to address the issue. But they want to move cautiously.

“It’s tough to say there needs to be a government solution to every problem, and it’s certainly already illegal,” state Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, said.

Still, “I think there’s a pretty broad desire to address the problem. We’re trying to find the best way to do that, and I don’t think we’ve got our arms around it yet.”

The Gannett Wisconsin Media stories demonstrated the increase of heroin addiction statewide. “Deadly Doses” revealed heroin overdose deaths rose 50 percent in Wisconsin last year to at least 199 as the drug spread from the inner city to suburbs and rural areas.

The stories showed heroinrelated arrests and drug seizures have surged in recent years, and that an anti-overdose drug helped save thousands of users from potentially fatal overdoses in 2012 alone.

In response to the reporting, the Sheboygan-based Acuity insurance firm announced Tuesday it will contribute $100,000 to support efforts in the Sheboygan County area to tackle the heroin problem.

Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Allouez, and Jacque have been working on a program included in the budget passed last week by the Assembly and Senate that would set up a six-member task force in each of the state’s 72 counties to hash out ideas to combat heroin and other drugs.

The plan also calls for a $20 surcharge to be added to each

By Shereen Skola | Daily Herald Media sskola@wdhmedia.com

enny Schoenke said the deceit reached more elaborate levels after she discovered the man she loved drained her bank account of more than $17,000 in two months.

“Tim tells lies to cover his lies,” Schoenke said.

“The funny thing is, I can’t decide whether he’s just a man who wants to be loved so badly he’ll do anything for it, or if he was really out to hurt me.”

Schoenke said that when she confronted Tim Swinea about the missing money, he had a quick answer for her. He blamed his business partner, who Swinea said embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from their joint business, Coldwater Construction. Then, Schoenke said, Swinea took his story a step further, and a tale that had already seemed incredible became truly bizarre.

See TALES, Page 4A

THREE PART SERIES SUNDAY: Penny Schoenke of Menasha told the story of how a relationship with a man she met online started as a dream come true but evolved into a nightmare.

TODAY: Schoenke’s life takes a harrowing turn as Swinea convinces her that she and her children are in danger and persuades them to flee with him to Texas and Oklahoma to seek the protection of federal agents.

TUESDAY: Swinea’s criminal history in Wisconsin starts 16 years ago in Wausau and is far from over.

CUTLINE HERE

See HEROIN, Page 5A

Macker a success, but future still in air

By Lauren Tubbs Daily Herald Media ltubbs@wdhmedia.com

Newman Catholic Schools officials said Friday they consider this year’s Gus Macker 3-on-3 basketball tournament a success, though they haven’t decided whether it was successful enough to merit a return in 2014.

Newman officials still

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have not determined if the June15 and16 tournament was financially successful. Money raised in the tournament will go to local charities and the Newman and Wausau West high school athletic booster clubs. Jill Mabry, one of Newman’s main Gus Macker organizers, said Newman officials will determine within the next few weeks which local

charities will get money.

Newman Catholic Schools has brought the tournament to Wausau for 22 years through a series of three-year contracts with the Gus Macker national corporation. The current contract between the two ended this year; Newman officials will decide sometime before September whether to renew the contract. About

400 teams played in this year’s tournament, showing a decrease from last year’s 483 teams.

Mabry said this year’s turn-out didn’t reflect a decrease in participation.

“It was nice because even though we had less teams this year there were still tons of fans and spectators surrounding

Index

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Obituaries/2A

Classified .........4B Comics/TV .......9A Healthy Life ....6A Local .................3A Opinion ...........8A Sports ................1B

Today: A storm in spots.

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Tales

Continued from Page 1A

On the run Schoenke’s late husband, Adam, was a huge Dallas Cowboys fan, and the couple and their two sons traveled annually to see the team play on Thanksgiving Day. She and Swinea planned to keep that tradition alive in 2011, two years after Adam died from complications of cancer. One day before Thanksgiving, the morning of their scheduled flight out of Central Wisconsin Airport in Mosinee, Schoenke said, Swinea dropped a bomb.

“All of a sudden, the FBI was calling Tim, telling him that one of my employees was running drugs out of my business and wanted to kill me,” Schoenke said. “Tim said we were in big trouble because (the employee) had taken a hit out on me and my sons, and it was time to get out.”

Schoenke’s first instinct was to call her friends and ask for help.

That didn’t happen, because Swinea then broke the news that most of her friends were also involved in the drug trade and were part of a larger conspiracy against them.

Suddenly, Schoenke was alone. She had no one to turn to. She had no one to ask for advice. Her friends were gone.

“Tim told me I couldn’t call anybody, that I couldn’t trust anybody,” Schoenke said. “He made me believe that.”

As she rushed to pack a few bags, panic set in.

There was no time for tears, no time for questions, no time for the niggling doubt in the back of her brain. As a mother, her first instinct was to protect her children. To protect them, Schoenke thought, there was only one thing to do.

Run. Swinea insisted the threat against Schoenke and her sons, ages 10 and 16, was real enough that the U.S. Marshal Service was prepared to offer the family some help. That help seemed like a lifeline to Schoenke, as her life continued to spiral out of control. Initially, Swinea said a marshal was to meet the family in Menasha and fly them by private plane to Dallas,

SPECIAL REPORT: TANGLED WEB

Schoenke said. That plan was nixed when Swinea suddenly developed an infection and was told by his doctor he couldn’t fly, Schoenke said, so the family was instructed to drive instead.

Schoenke didn’t question. She just packed the van, in record time.

“He had an answer for everything,” Schoenke said. “Really. Everything.

And I was so focused on getting my children to safety, I figured I’d make sense of it all later, when I got them away from the danger.”

Schoenke, 41, said she became convinced Swinea was telling the truth when he showed her caller ID readouts on his phone that clearly indicated incoming calls from the U.S. Marshal Service and the FBI. Schoenke, who still has the phone with the caller ID readouts, said that even more convincing was a conversation she had with a man she believed was a federal agent.

Schoenke said a man called her phone to tell her that she and her family would be met in Dallas by a U.S. marshal who would lead them all to safety. Schoenke said she learned later that Swinea was using an accomplice, whose identity she has yet to uncover, along with something called Bluff My Call — an app for smartphones that allows users to display a predetermined caller ID — to aid him in the scam. The numbers were real; when a Daily Herald Media reporter called the numbers on Schoenke’s phone, a receptionist answering the phone confirmed she was answering from government offices in Milwaukee.

Phone calls from the U.S. Marshal Service do not show the agency’s name, only a central number, said Carolyn Goathne, a public affairs officer with the organization’s Washington, D.C., office. The same is true of phone calls from the FBI, a fact Daily Herald Media confirmed when FBI Special Agent Robert Botsch placed calls to a reporter’s desk phone and cellphone to show how a caller ID readout should look when a genuine call is received.

Schoenke said she is acutely aware of how ridiculous it all sounds, but Swinea was very convincing.

lhTim Swinea is shown at Cowboys Stadium in December 2011, when he took Penny Schoenke’s sons on a tour he said had been organized by the son of the team’s owner, Jerry Jones. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

ABOUT THIS REPORT Reporter Shereen Skola began to investigate the background of Tim Swinea after he was implicated in the sudden closure of a Wausau-area day care center in December. She uncovered a history of elaborate deceptions and multiple reported victims. In this three-day series, Skola documents the accusations against Swinea and the shattered lives he’s left behind.

Online exclusives: Visit this report at wausaudaily herald.com/tangledweb to read court complaints, police reports, bank letters and other documents to further learn the tale of one man’s tangled web, and to view a video report on this series.

“He showed me the caller ID that showed that yes, the FBI was calling, and then it was the U.S. Marshal’s Service,” Schoenke said. “I even talked to an agent who told me that my kids were in danger and we needed to go. Now.” Goathne said she could not comment on witness security procedures but called Swinea’s claims of help from the marshals “highly unlikely.”

“It just doesn’t happen that way,” Goathne said.

“We don’t just swoop in and pick up people who are fearing for their lives.”

Out of money and alienated from her friends, Schoenke withdrew the remaining $600 cash from her two sons’

bank accounts to pay for gas, food, and what she calls “a series of fleabag motels.” Swinea told Schoenke not to worry, though, because he was awaiting a $938,000 settlement from his former business partner that would soon be in his hands. Swinea showed Schoenke an email from an attorney in Stevens Point who Swinea said was handling the transaction, to prove that the money was coming.

The email that Swinea presented was sent from an email address with an @lawyer.com suffix that does not match the attorney’s actual email address, and the last name of the attorney is spelled differently from the signature on the email. It appears to have been yet another fake document.

A mountain of deception

Penny Schoenke and Tim Swinea at a resort in Las Vegas in September 2011. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

WWW.WAUSAUDAILYHERALD.COM

From Thanksgiving weekend until just before Christmas in 2011, Schoenke said she, her two children and Swinea moved from hotel to hotel in the Dallas area as she waited for the danger to her family to pass.

Schoenke tried to keep her sons in the dark about the danger the family faced, but the two boys were bitterly disappointed about missing the Dallas Cowboys game that had become a family tradition.

“Tim said that the Cowboys security team wasn’t willing to put the team at risk by having us at the game, with the threat on

our lives,” Schoenke said.

“But Tim had a consolation prize for that, too.”

Swinea, with “help” from the U.S. Marshal’s office, told Schoenke he had arranged for season tickets “for life” from Dallas Cowboys representative Stephen Jones, the son of team owner Jerry Jones, and Swinea showed Schoenke an email confirming the arrangement. The family did attend a game, a week after Thanksgiving, and Swinea tossed a football to Schoenke’s two sons on the field before the game.

Schoenke said she thought the game tickets and access to the field were gifts from the Cowboys organization, but learned later than anyone can get pre-game access to the field with the purchase of a tour ticket, which costs less than $20.

Schoenke said the bizarre trip finally ended in Shawnee, Okla., 200 miles from Dallas, where one of Swinea’s calls from the “U.S. Marshal’s Service” instructed them to go.

Schoenke said Swinea told her a private plane would be waiting for them at a small airfield in Shawnee to take them to an undisclosed location.

Schoenke said Swinea worked hard to keep Schoenke and her sons isolated from friends and family, many of whom were calling repeatedly.

Still, Schoenke said, her suspicions grew each day.

“He took our phones away from us, because he said it was too dangerous to have our phones, that we might be tracked through the cellphone signal,” Schoenke said. “Little did I know, the school was calling every day, wondering why my kids were truant. All the time, I thought the FBI had already told the school what was happening.”

A story unravels Finally, Schoenke said, Swinea’s game came to an end when she listened to voicemail left on her cellphone after Swinea left

the phones unattended while he used a restroom at a restaurant.

“There was message after message from the school, from friends, from my mother,” Schoenke said. “It was clear to me then that everything Tim told me was a lie and I needed to get out of there, fast. And I was afraid, really afraid.”

Schoenke said she grabbed the kids, told Swinea to get in the van, and drove to the Shawnee Police Department, shaking with fear the whole way.

Shawnee Police Sgt. John Goss said he couldn’t confirm many of the details that led up to Schoenke’s appearance at the department that day, but one thing was obvious: Schoenke was in hysterics when she walked in the door.

“It was clear she had been through something terrible,” Goss said. “The problem is, most of what was done to her isn’t illegal.”

Schoenke left the Police Department, where no charges were filed against Swinea, and Goss’ recollection is the only evidence she was there. She took off in the van with her children while Swinea, left behind, screamed at her to stop.

“I didn’t care what happened to him at that point,” Schoenke said.

“He could walk back to Wisconsin for all I cared.

But I didn’t have a penny to my name at this point, and I had no idea how to get my kids back home and put the pieces of our lives back together.”

Schoenke finally called her mother, who was able to wire her enough cash for gas and food to make the drive back to Wisconsin, where she faced the reality of explaining her absence to her friends and family, as well as school officials who wondered where the boys had been for two weeks. Broke, heartbroken and humiliated, Schoenke and her sons returned home two days before Christmas.

“Coming home was almost the worst part of it, having to face everyone and admit that I’d fallen for all of this,” Schoenke said. “I just felt so stupid, so incredibly stupid.”

Bill Swinea, 76, of Imperial, Mo., Tim Swinea’s father, said Schoenke tracked him down in early 2012 to tell him her story; he believes every word of it.

“Sadly, my son has been conning people, deceiving people, for years,” Bill Swinea said.

“He has a tremendous ability to circumvent the truth. And if you don’t know him, you believe it’s all true.”

The story doesn’t end in Shawnee. Somehow, Schoenke said, Swinea found his way back to central Wisconsin, where he met — and married — the woman Schoenke said became his next target.

What happened next shattered even more lives.

Read the final part of this series in Tuesday’s edition.

Shereen Skola can be reached at 715-845-0773. Follow her on Twitter as @ShereenSkola.

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Minn., Wis. junior chefs win trip to White House

By Dinesh Ramde Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — Two junior chefs from Minnesota and Wisconsin are among the winners of a White House contest that challenged kids between the ages of 8 to 12 to create healthy lunchtime recipes.

Liam Kivirist, 11, of Browntown, Wis., and Kaitlyn Kirchner, 9, of Madelia, Minn., will join the other winners July 9 at a Kids’ State Dinner at the White House. First lady Michelle Obama will host the event, which will include samples of some of the 54 winning recipes.

“It’s pretty amazing,” Kaitlyn told The Associated Press by telephone Sunday. “I never thought I would go to the White House.”

Kaitlyn submitted a garden stir fry featuring vegetables she and her family grow in their garden, including carrots, broccoli, yellow summer squash, sugar snap peas and red bell peppers.

This is the second year the White House has sponsored the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge. The rules are simple: Entries have to represent each of the food groups, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and low-fat dairy foods. Fruits and vegetables have to com-

prise about half the plate.

Liam, whose parents own a bed-and-breakfast inn in southern Wisconsin, figured he’d rely on creativity with his entry.

He noticed that last year’s winning entries included pestos, noodle dishes and wraps — but no chili. So he and his mother collaborated on a chili that combined standard ingredients with a few unusual ones.

Liam started with garden-grown tomatoes, onions, garlic and peppers.

Then he added pumpkin for sweetness and quinoa for protein.

“I try to be unique in every project I do,” said Liam, who is homeschooled. “I also thought of what I really like to eat.”

To top it off, he simmers the chili in the family’s 300-degree solar oven, which uses mirrors to focus the sun’s rays.

However, he added, the recipe works just as well a conventional stove.

All the winning recipes will be available for download starting in July at recipechallenge.epicurious.com.

Kaitlyn and Liam both said they’ve been cooking since they were little.

Kaitlyn recalled helping her mother pick vegetables as a 3-year-old and then helping her cook.

After a while, Kaitlyn started experimenting

with dishes of her own, depending on which vegetables were in season.

“Sometimes I’ll make cream and asparagus, if we have asparagus,” she said. “A lot of times we’ll just switch different vegetables. If we have it in the garden, we’ll put it in.”

Liam has also been a budding chef since age 5, when he remembered his parents cooking breakfast for their B&B clients. He had his “cooking chair” to stand on so he could reach ingredients and help with the preparation.

He said he loves to experiment with different food combinations to produce creative meals.

“The food is all normal. It’s what you do to it that makes it unique,” he said. He added that his chili is mild because he didn’t want spice to overpower the fresh taste.

The White House received more than 1,300 entries from around the country. Judges narrowed down the entries to two finalists from each state and U.S. territory. Chefs then prepared the 108 semifinalist recipes and a panel of judges selected the 54 finalists. Criteria included taste, healthiness, originality and affordability.

Kaitlyn limited her recipe to her favorite fresh home-grown vegetables.

NTSB looks into plane crash that killed two Associated Press

ASHLAND — A single-engine plane that crashed in northwestern Wisconsin this month, killing both people aboard, bounced “out of control” on the runway before eventually exploding, according to an investigative report.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the June 15 crash, which killed La Crosse physician Richard Renwick, 63, and his broth-

Macker

Continued from Page 1A

the courts,” Mabry said.

“Maybe I saw a few less spectators than last year, but I’d say the turn-out of excited fans was pretty much the same as always.”

Rainy weather didn’t seem to affect the tournament either. Despite wet courts that made play hazardous on opening morning, the only weather delay of the weekend was the Slam Dunk contest.

The competition, which was scheduled for 6 p.m.

June15, had to be rescheduled for noon the following day.

Randy Pagel, another major organizer behind Gus Macker, said the delay of the Slam Dunk contest turned out to be a good thing. Having the contest earlier in the day before participants were tired attracted a largerthan-normal crowd.

The second day of the tournament was hot and sunny, bringing plenty of spectators to the side-

er, 58-year-old Bruce Renwick of Waunakee. The NTSB’s final report could take 12 to 18 months, but a preliminary report released Friday suggests thereweredifficultieswith the landing, the La Crosse Tribune reported.

Richard Renwick, who was piloting the 1965 single-engine Piper Comanche, took off with his brother about11a.m. from the La Crosse Municipal Airport.

TheystoppednearAshland and then headed to Mad-

eline Island about 15 miles away.

The crash occurred at about 6:30 p.m. just short of the runway at Major Gilbert Field Airport near La Pointe, the NTSB report said.

Awitnesstoldinvestigators he “heard an airplane engine, heard ‘squealing,’ and heard sounds like screeching tires,” the report said. The witness looked at the runway “and saw the airplane ‘bouncing out of control.’”

lines. Mabry said the nice weather resulted in more food sales for concession stands run by the Newman and Wausau West athletic booster clubs.

Pagel said every aspect of the tournament went smoothly. There

were no serious injuries, the games were no more rowdy than usual and the fan feedback was positive.

MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2013

Heroin

Continued from Page 1A

criminal conviction in the state, to help pay for existing drug prevention programs.

Heroin addiction is an issue particularly close to the heart for Rep. John Nygren, R-Marinette.

His county led the state from 2008 to 2012 in per capita seizures of heroin by police. And more directly, Nygren said his daughter has a heroin addiction and is serving prison time.

“When she first told me about it, I always felt heroin was for losers living in the dark alleys, the homeless,” Nygren said.

“A lot of the girls who use — and a lot of them are girls — are pretty girls, good students. This is not the addiction of the 1960s and 1970s that we thought.”

But even Nygren sees a need for legislators to proceed with caution.

The biennial budget, awaiting Gov. Scott Walker’s signature, contains $2.5 million to pay for drug treatment alternatives, which is a 150 percent increase in such spending from the cur-

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uct of legislative action, Bernard Schaber said.

“We tried to address prescription drug concerns, and we did create and implement a prescription drug monitoring system, so if a person is going from store to store or doctor to doctor to get drugs, we’re able to track that,” she said.

However, plugging the path to easy, illicit prescription drugs drove opiate addicts to find another way to get their highs, and many turned to heroin, the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team found.

Legislators are talking about the problem, and there almost certainly will be initiatives forthcoming, Bernard Schaber said.

“We want to make sure the money we’re spending up front saves money in the long run,” she said.

“It’s horrible to lose these young people that could have been productive their whole lives, and it might have to be community-based treatment programs. There has to be a way to prevent these overdoses.”

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“A 150 percent increase is, well, not being cheap. But if it’s found to be widespread effective, it’ll probably need to be five times that,” Nygren said.

The state budget also puts $1 million toward establishing drug courts in some of the state’s smaller and rural counties, he said. “We think drug courts have been successful.”

Democrats are no more eager than Republicans to charge ahead at heroin without getting a better understanding of the problem, said Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber, D-Appleton. It’s clear that just jailing addicts isn’t doing the job and that the focus needs to be elsewhere, but even effective solutions can come with their own set of new problems, she said.

“It’s difficult addressing these social issues in the Legislature,” Bernard Schaber said. “Right now, we need to be getting information and talking to everybody on the ground, the people with addictions, law enforcement.”

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TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013

Three vehicles were involved in a fatal collision Monday morning at the intersection of 17th and Stewart avenues in Wausau that left one woman dead and another person injured. T’XER ZHON KHA/DAILY HERALD MEDIA

One dead in bizarre crash

BY SHEREEN SKOLA

By Shereen Skola

DAILY HERALD MEDIA SSKOLA@WDHMEDIA.COM

Daily Herald Media sskola@wdhmedia.com

This is the final story in a three-part series. In the first two installments, Penny Schoenke of Menasha told the story of her disturbing discoveries about Tim Swinea, a man she met online and nearly married. Schoenke said she lost her life savings, her business, the trust of her friends and neighbors and her self-respect. Fearing for her life, she fled to Dallas with the man she thought was out to protect her, she said, only to discover more lies. Swinea, who is now in the Marathon County Jail in Wausau facing bigamy and fraud charges, declined a Daily Herald Media request for an interview .

T

im Swinea’s criminal history in Wisconsin stretches back more than 16 years.

In 1997, a roommate reported the then-30-year-old Swinea to a fraud investigation specialist with Marathon County Social Services when he became suspicious of the food stamps and public assistance funds Swinea received.

Greg Hamsing of Wausau said that during the three months Swinea lived with him in 1997, only one child came to visit. That child stayed for about two weeks, Hamsing said, before returning to his mother in Missouri.

“He was getting hundreds of dollars in food stamps and AFDC (welfare payments),” Hamsing told Daily Herald Media. “It didn’t make any sense. So I called Social Services.”

After Hamsing blew the whistle, Swinea was convicted in January 1998 of public assistance fraud, online court records show; a second midemeanor charge of misstating

Timothy Swinea of Mosinee makes an initial appearance in March in Marathon County Circuit Court, where he faces felony bigamy charges. SHEREEN SKOLA/DAILY HERALD MEDIA

facts to gain food stamps was dismissed as part of a plea agreement. According to a criminal complaint, Swinea fraudulently received nearly $7,000 in public assistance after incorrectly report-

ing to Marathon County officials that three of his four children were living with him in Wisconsin. He served two years probation.

See FRAUD, Page 4A

ABOUT THIS REPORT Reporter Shereen Skola began to investigate the background of Tim Swinea after he was implicated in the sudden closure of a Wausau-area day care center in December. She uncovered a history of elaborate deceptions and multiple reported victims. In this three-day series, Skola documents the accusations against Swinea and the shattered lives he’s left behind.

SUNDAY: Penny Schoenke of Menasha told the story of how a relationship with a man she met online started as a dream come true but evolved into a nightmare.

$1.00 retail For home delivery pricing, see Page 2A

MONDAY: Schoenke’s life takes a harrowing turn as Swinea convinces her that she and her children are in danger and persuades them to flee with him to Texas and Oklahoma to seek the protection of federal agents.

TODAY: Swinea’s criminal history in Wisconsin starts 16 years ago in Wausau and is far from over.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES: Visit this report at wausau dailyherald.com/tangled web to read court complaints, police reports, bank letters and other documents to further learn the tale of one man’s tangled web, and to view a video report on this series.

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An 85-year-old woman was killed and a man was injured Monday in a bizarre three-vehicle crash on Wausau’s west side that police are trying to figure out.

At about 11 a.m., the driver of a sport utility vehicle flying southbound on 17th Avenue rammed into the back of a car that was stopped in traffic with enough force to crush the car under a truck that was stopped in front of it, Wausau Police Capt. Ben Bliven said Monday.

The three-car collision happened immediately after the SUV had hit a traffic light pole one block north of the crash scene, knocking out traffic lights at the corner of 17th Avenue and Elm Street. The SUV continued on at what police and witnesses said was a very high speed before it smashed into the car, Wausau Police Officer Paul Piskoty said. The speed limit on 17th Avenue is 25 mph.

Police on Monday afternoon did not know what might have caused the driver of the SUV to speed down 17th Avenue, apparently out of control. The collision smashed the car into the back of a dual-axle Wisconsin Public Service Corp. truck, leaving the car a barely recognizable wreck of twisted metal.

“I have never in all my years as an officer seen a car like that, crushed like a beer can,” Piskoty said. “It’s terrible, just terrible.”

The crash snarled traffic along 17th Avenue and southbound traffic was detoured for more than three hours after the crash as investigators worked to clear the scene. Dozens of See CRASH, Page 4A

SATURDAY CRASH VICTIM ON LIFE-SUPPORT The man injured in a one-car crash early Saturday morning in the town of Texas was in critical condition and on life-support systems as of Monday, according to the Marathon County Sheriff’s Department.

The name of the man is not being released, said Sheriff’s Lt. Dale Wisnewski. The man lost control of his car at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday on Highway W, just north of Highway WW. The car crashed into a power pole, knocking it down and leaving hundreds of people in the area without power. The man, the sole occupant of the car, was ejected from the vehicle. He was taken to Aspirus Wausau Hospital.

4A

TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2013

Fraud

Continued from Page 1A

Bill Swinea, 76, of Imperial, Mo., Tim’s father, said he and his wife, Jacqueline, raised one of Tim’s children, Zachary, from the time he was 5 years old. Zachary is now 21. Jacqueline Swinea sued her son in 2009 for back child support, online court records show, when Tim Swinea failed to contribute toward Zachary’s expenses.

“Yes, we had to sue our own son,” Bill Swinea said. “Obviously, Penny isn’t the first person he’s hurt. He has destroyed this family.”

According to Bill Swinea, when Tim Swinea was “on the run” to Dallas with Penny Schoenke of Menasha after convincing her that her life was in danger, Tim used Zachary’s credit card to pay for several hotel rooms, without Zachary’s permission.

“He stole that boy’s money,” Bill Swinea said.

“He stole money from me, too. My question is, if he has no morality at all, where will he finally stop?”

Fraud, forgery cases in Wisconsin Several other fraud cases filed against Tim Swinea, now 46, indicate that Bill Swinea is correct: Schoenke isn’t the only one to have fallen under the man’s spell.

Online court records show Tim Swinea was convicted in November 1998 of a single felony forgery charge, after officials at a local credit union reported receiving two counterfeit checks totaling more than $4,400 that a Mosinee woman deposited into her account. The checks were represented as being from Montgomery Ward & Co., in Chicago, and were made out to Timothy B. Swinea, according to the police report.

When questioned, the Mosinee woman told police that Swinea, with whom she had a romantic relationship, told her the checks were part of a benefit package he received when he left a job with Montgomery Ward.

The woman deposited the checks at Swinea’s request after Swinea asked her to pay some bills for him. She learned the checks were counterfeit just before depositing a third check, this time for $6,624.14, according to the report. When an officer tried to contact Swinea and left a message for him, a dispatcher told the officer Swinea was in the psychiatric ward at what is now Aspirus Wausau Hospital, according to the police report.

In a 2011 case, Swinea was found guilty on two counts of theft after persuading a number of people to hand over thousands of dollars to pay for a hunting vacation Swinea promised to organize at the Hog Wild Ranch in Gravelton, Mo. When the hunt failed to materialize, Swinea first told the victims that the ranch was destroyed by a tornado and their money would be refunded.

Weeks later, when pressed, Swinea said he had just been found to have cancer, and could no longer help the group with their refunds, according to the police report. Investigators later learned that the Hog Wild Ranch never existed.

Schoenke said her ex-

perience with Swinea, which began in June 2011 and ended in December 2011 after a harrowing escape from dangers that Swinea concocted, has left her scarred in ways she never imagined. Dating has been difficult, she said, because she can’t bring herself to trust anyone after all she’s been through.

“I find myself questioning everything now,” Schoenke said. “It’s like I’ve gone from one extreme to the other.”

Schoenke, 41, said she wishes she had paid more attention to the red flags that in hindsight she now sees so clearly.

“I should have asked more questions,” she said. “I should have known right from the start, when I saw him and he didn’t look anything like his profile picture (from an online dating site), that something was wrong. But I wanted to believe.”

Schoenke said the worst thing about the experience is knowing that Swinea can’t be punished for most of the wrongs she believes he committed. Calumet County prosecutors have filed forgery charges against him on accusations that he wrote unauthorized checks on Schoenke’s business account. But in Outagamie and Winnebago counties, where Swinea was accused of cashing other checks from Schoenke’s account, authorities have declined to prosecute, Schoenke said. District attorneys from those counties did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Similarly, no charges have been filed in Shawnee, Okla., where Schoenke said she finally left Swinea when she realized he had fabricated an entire story about drug dealers who were plotting to kill her and her sons. Schoenke reported him to police in Shawnee before returning to Wisconsin with her children.

“Apparently, it’s his word against mine,” Schoenke said. “And lying isn’t against the law.

Now, I just feel stupid and ashamed.”

Lee Shipway, the cofounder and co-executive director of Peaceful Solutions, a counseling agency in Wausau, said Schoenke’s feelings of shame are common with victims of what she calls “sociopathic behavior.”

“People who take advantage of others to this degree are usually so smooth, they could swindle 85 percent of the public,” Shipway said.

“They’re just that good at it.”

Shipway said she has never met Tim Swinea and can’t offer a specific diagnosis, but people in general with long histories of defrauding others typically have no empathy and see human beings only as pawns to get what they want. Victims often are left feeling betrayed, questioning their own internal compass, Shipway said.

“Swindlers cause so much pain,” Shipway said. “It isn’t that they don’t realize the impact their actions can have on other people, it’s just that they don’t care.”

Shipway said it’s likely more victims have more stories to tell. Most people who fall prey to a swindler are too ashamed to come forward and report what has happened to them.

Bill Swinea called his son a “born salesman” with an extremely high

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IQ and a long history of deceiving people who care about him.

“The bottom line is, he was too lazy to earn it, so he stole it,” Bill Swinea said. “And I don’t think he feels any remorse for what he’s done.”

Pending cases With an open criminal case in Marathon County and another in Calumet County, it’s likely we haven’t heard the last of Tim Swinea. An informational report on Swinea’s connection to a Weston day care center that closed abruptly amid allegations that Swinea mismanaged funds was forwarded to the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office for possible charges, Everest Metro Police Capt. Mark Hull said. District Attorney Ken Heimerman has so far declined to comment on charges in that case.

So far, one of the two women who claim to have married Swinea has successfully petitioned the court for an annulment of the couple’s marriage.

The Weston woman who owned the now-defunct day care, whom Daily Herald Media will not name because she is the victim of a crime, filed the petition in Marathon County Circuit court in March, online court records show. Marathon County Circuit Court Judge Greg Grau granted the woman’s request May 21.

Swinea next will appear Aug. 26 in Calumet County Circuit Court, where he faces two felony forgery charges in Schoenke’s case. A jury trial is set for Sept. 4. In Marathon County, where Swinea faces felony charges of bigamy and bail jumping, a pretrial conference is set for July 9. Until those cases are settled, Schoenke said, she feels as though her life is on hold.

“I know I sound like the typical jilted girlfriend that wants revenge,” Schoenke said.

“Probably even the cops think I’m just a crazy exgirlfriend. But somehow, he needs to pay. Then, just maybe, I can move on with my life.”

Shereen Skola can be reached at 715-845-0773. Follow her on Twitter as @ShereenSkola.

Three vehicles were involved in a fatal collision Monday morning at the intersection of 17th and Stewart avenues in Wausau that left one woman dead and another person injured. T’XER ZHON KHA/DAILY HERALD MEDIA

Crash

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stunned onlookers pulled into nearby parking lots to watch emergency workers extract the drivers from their vehicles, while a Wausau Police Department crash reconstruction team took measurements and photos as they investigated the crash.

The woman, who was the driver and only occupant of the car, was transported by ambulance to Aspirus Wausau Hospital and later was pronounced dead, police said. The driver of the SUV, whose name, age and gender were not released, also was transported to Aspirus Wausau Hospital with unspecified injuries, police said. No other passengers were in either vehi-

cle and the driver of the WPSC truck was not injured, Bliven said.

“Obviously, we’re dealing with a very serious crash and we’re going to continue to investigate what happened.” Bliven said.

No citations immediately were issued, according to the release.

Shereen Skola can be reached at 715-845-0773. Follow her on Twitter as @ShereenSkola.

STATE NOTES 2 pedestrians killed by trains APPLETON — Police

are investigating train collisions with pedestrians that killed two men in the same area of east-central Wisconsin.

A 64-year-old Appleton man was killed at about 1:20 a.m. Monday when he was struck by a train in Appleton.

WLUK-TV reported police said the man was lying on the tracks and didn’t respond to the train’s repeated whistles. Officials said he was hit and dragged about 300 feet.

The man’s name was not immediately released.

Just over 12 hours later, another man was struck and killed by a train in Oshkosh at about 1:45 p.m. Monday.

Police aren’t sure why the 52-year-old man from Oshkosh was on the train tracks. His name is being withheld until relatives are noti-

fied.

Police name man who shot daughter MILWAUKEE — Police have identified the Milwaukee man who fatally shot his 6-year-old daughter and then killed himself after fighting with the child’s mother.

Police said in a statement Monday that the man was 28-year-old Jeramie D. King and his daughter was 6-year-old Jakyla D. King.

Police previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that King and the child’s mother had a fight Sunday morning. The mother left home, went to work, and later stopped by the police station to report the domestic violence.

Officers went to the couple’s home at about noon, found the doors locked, entered and found the man and child dead.

The healing begins here.

New hope for your non-healing wound.

Grant Co. flood costs in millions RIO — Emergency officials estimate that repairs from flooding in Grant County will cost $2.3 million.

WISC-TV reported that total does not yet include the hard-hit city of Boscobel.

In total, 600 homes were damaged during the weekend’s storms. Twenty of those homes sustained major damage.

The storms that ripped through southwestern Wisconsin counties Saturday night left behind flooding, mudslides and uprooted trees.

The Crawford County board chair declared a state of emergency Saturday night. Flooding and mudslides occurred throughout the county, and emergency response teams evacuated individual homes throughout the evening.

— Associated Press

You don’t have to let a wound slow you down.

Seek the help of the Wound & Hyperbaric Center at Aspirus Wausau Hospital to get you back to the active life you deserve.

Our medical experts provide you with individualized treatment plans that include the most advanced wound care therapies available.

Ask your physician or call us at 1.800.847.4707.

The healing begins here.

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