Convicted child molester Eugene Swenson will not be released from the Utah State Prison anytime soon. That's the decision handed down Monday by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole.
The news was music to the ears for Swenson's 11-year-old granddaughter and victim, Ashley White, who testified against him at an Oct. 28 hearing before board chairman Mike Sibbett."I'm pretty happy," Ashley said over the telephone from her home in Provo Wednesday night. "I'm not really surprised, because (Sibbett) was really nice and he listened to me."
Swenson was convicted of sexually assaulting four of his grandchildren - three girls and one boy - in 1994. He is serving a life sentence for the abuse, which took place over a nine-month period between September 1993 and May 1994. The Oct. 28 hearing was his first before the parole board.
The Whites were notified of the board's decision by phone early Wednesday morning, said Ashley's mother, Susan White. Swenson was to be notified of the decision sometime Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning, said John Green, administrative coordinator for the board.
Ashley and her mother announced the news to the public at a press conference on the steps of the 4th District Court in Provo on Thursday afternoon.
"I woke up to the news this morning, and I couldn't believe it," Susan White said Wednesday. "My highest hope was three years. I feel like we have finally been heard, like the kids have finally been heard."
Ashley said she decided to testify against Swenson in part because he continues to say he has never abused her. He has, however, admitted to the abuse of two other granddaughters and one grandson.
With the help of her mother and a counselor, Ashley spent more than a month preparing for the hearing. In the end, she said, testifying was harder than expected but still the right decision.
"I thought it would be easier," she said. "But if I hadn't done it, he probably would have gotten out," she said.
Swenson, 69, won't get a second chance before the board until May of 2005, Green said. By then he will have served 11 years of the five-years-to-life sentence he was given by the court.
"By then, all of the children involved will be young adults. They will be stronger and hopefully be able to face him down again, if they have to," Susan White said. "We're hoping not to have to do that."