Spokane7
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June 21, 2011 in City
Man held after police rescue famished woman, 105
78-year-old man charged with mistreatment
Stevens County deputies discovered a 105-year-old woman begging for food after they were asked by an animal cruelty suspect to retrieve his medicine from the squalid Kettle Falls, Wash., home before taking him to jail.
The woman, Frances Swan, was rescued May 26 and now is recuperating at a Colville nursing home, while her self-described caretaker, 78-year-old John H. Friedlund, was charged Monday with felony criminal mistreatment in connection with the discovery. Swan, who turns 106 on Wednesday, is believed to be one of the state’s oldest residents.
“He’s not a relative. There is no relationship whatsoever,” Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen said of Friedlund.
State and county officials are now trying to contact the woman’s niece in Bremerton and have not yet learned who was responsible for the care of the bedridden woman. She has been placed at the Buena Vista nursing home in Colville and is doing well, Rasmussen said.
“I’m very pleased by the fast response by law enforcement and associated agencies who have acted together to bring about some relief for this lady,” he said.
The mistreatment case began unfolding as deputies went to arrest Friedlund at a home where he was living but does not own at 180 E. 10th Ave. in Kettle Falls. Deputies had an arrest warrant for him after neighbors reported several starving horses at Friedlund’s property, located at 2019 Friedlund Road.
When the deputies arrived at the 10th Avenue home, owned by Swan, they found garbage, metal, car parts, dog feces and “other assorted junk” in the front yard and driveway. Household garbage lined a narrow passageway to the front door.
“As the door opened, a very strong, pungent odor of feces, rotting food, urine, and staleness was easily detected by all the officers outside,” Detective James Caruso wrote.
Rasmussen said investigators found a photo of Swan’s home taken in 2005. “It was a nice, neat little place. Now it’s wall-to-wall trash.”
After he was initially taken into custody, Friedlund gave the deputies permission to enter the home to retrieve his medicine. At that point, Caruso asked about the lady who owned the home and asked if they could check on her. Friedlund told the deputies: “She’s just fine. I take care of her.”
Caruso then picked his way through barking dogs, rotten food, filthy dog bowls, scores of guns and ammunition amid odors he described as “almost unbearable” until he reached a bedroom door. When he opened it, he found the “thin, frail woman with pale skin tone. When she saw me, she immediately looked at me and said, ‘Please feed me.’ ”
Caruso identified himself, and Swan again said, “ ‘Please feed me. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.’ Her voice was soft and labored and it appeared that it was difficult for her to speak,” Caruso wrote in the report. “Frances told me she wanted to ‘go to the hospital and be taken care of.’ ”
As she pleaded with the detective to not leave, Friedlund entered the room and Swan asked him why he hadn’t fed her. “He laughed and said, ‘I fed you today and you know it.’ ”
Once outside the room, Caruso asked Friedlund what specifically he had fed the elderly woman. “He looked at me and said, ‘I fed her, and she knows it.’ He wouldn’t say any more.”
When ambulance crews arrived, they could not get their equipment through the piles of filth and had to extricate Swan by carrying her on a hand stretcher.
Friedlund was later released from jail and Swan was allowed to go back home. On a follow-up investigation by Kettle Falls police and state Adult Protective Services on June 6, investigators met with Suzanne Thorne, who said Friedlund was paying her to occasionally check on Swan.
Thorne avoided many questions with Friedlund present, but nodded when asked if he leaves Swan alone in the home.
“Mrs. Thorne said that Mr. Friedlund takes very good care of Mrs. Swan but was unable to articulate what care he provides her,” Detective Dwayne Ford wrote. “She could not indicate what type of meals he prepares for her or at what regularity.”
Thorne did say that when she tried to clean the home outside of Swan’s room, Friedlund would chastise her.
“She did believe she would be fired … if she informed others about the conditions,” Ford wrote.
Before they left, the investigators learned from Thorne that Friedlund had failed to take Swan to a scheduled doctor’s appointment that day. They decided to remove her from the home and again called the ambulance crew to retrieve her from the filth.
As Swan recuperates at the nursing home, Friedlund remains in the Stevens County Jail on a $25,000 bond, said Rasmussen, who credited Caruso for the discovery when he asked about the woman during the initial arrest.
“Had (Caruso) not asked, they may not have known” Swan’s condition, he said. “We are still gathering information to get a truer picture of what her circumstances were for the last four or five years.”
Closing Geiger: Wise or worrisome? 
oneanddone on June 21 at 5:32 a.m.
Is the niece expected to care for this woman? That’s a stretch. Anything so the state doesn’t have any responsibility I guess. And Clouse - do you ever proof read your articles? It first says Swan was allowed to go home, then says she was recuperating at a nursing home? That SFCC degree not working for you?
Scoutster on June 21 at 6:58 a.m.
The niece is probably in her 70-80s, so probably not much help.
This woman will fall into the government welfare system supported by the taxpayers of Washington and the US of A.
Good thing it is there for her.
MrBloggy on June 21 at 7:16 a.m.
why should my tax dollars take care of this woman? apparently she was well enough to beg for food from the deputy who found her which means she can join the other bums who choose not to work and beg. srsly, we’ve become such socialists/marxists we think it’s govt’s job to take care of maltreated 105 year olds. Excuse me. Show me that in the Constitution or the Holy Bible. Exactly. The New Deal is done. People like her need to stop sucking the life out of America and contribute. Govt is only to protect us from commie invasions. Nothing more. Go read Ayn Rand if you don’t believe this.
toliveanddieinla on June 21 at 7:35 a.m.
your a real jerk mr.bloggy ,better hope your not in this position sometime because i would leave you in the rotting home to die,you deserve it p.s. if she was married at one time with husband that worked or worked at one time in 105 years ,social security should pay for nursing home or family should help so dont go and say just be a bum your a loser mr.bloggy so please do me favor and move to mars way far away from earth your a jerk anybody that agrees give me a thumbs up
Byrdie714 on June 21 at 7:38 a.m.
Just hope that no one finds themselves in this situation when they are 105…..
No family around to take care of you, total strangers…..what a life. Not.
Ron_the_Cop on June 21 at 8:50 a.m.
Mr. Clouse I was also confused by the same paragraph mid story about Friedlund being released. Looks like an editor removed a paragraph about a previous incident.
I had a similar experience when I was a relatively young patrol officer. There was an elderly lady I used to see out and about. She was a little absent minded and would get lost from time to time and I would take her home - Minnie Morgan was her name.
Over time the lady became confined to her house after a hospital stay and I lost track of her. Later I crossed paths with someone from social svs that was concerned about her safety and care. Her grandson was now her paid care provider. The lady was developing serious bed sores and other health issues from inadequate care. Other home care providers were documenting their concerns too.
I went with the social svs worker to the house to check on the lady. The grandson reported his grandma went by plane to Ohio. It was later determined the lady had died shortly after getting to Ohio. I guess the grandson was concerned about his lack of care and packed the lady onto the plane. To this day I don’t know how the airline allowed her to get on the plane.
This was before the day of elder abuse and negligent care arising to potential manslaughter charges. Our homicide unit was less than thrilled I had documented this event which required them to at least look into this case. No charges were ever filed. This case was truly before its time.
From what I’ve read if Friedlund is some what of sound mind, he had a duty and responsibility to adequately care for Swan. Swan was totally dependent on Friedlund’s care. His apparent lack of care constitutes elder abuse and should be prosecuted.
Diana on June 21 at 7:55 p.m.
MrBloggy FTW!
EricW on June 22 at 10:32 p.m.
WOW…..After reading both articles and related comments I can’t believe this story can be turned into a Democrat / Republican thing by many of those who posted. This is not a D thing or an R thing, it’s a TRAGIC thing.
I visited Frances Swan today to deliver some flowers and wish her a Happy 106th Birthday. I did this with my friend Casey who suffered a severe spinal cord injury a few years back and now lives his life from a sip n puff operated wheel chair.
Frances was in good spirits and very welcoming even though we have never met. After a long discussion I can say that Frances is anything but a Government freeloader. According to her account she was born the daughter of a small sawmill operater and was a hard working girl from a very young age. Frances and her husband both retired from a lifetime of service as local rural mail route delivery drivers. She laughed as she recalled a time that she delivered the mail from a Cadillac saying “I was a little embarassed to be delivering mail on Kelly Hill in a Caddy”. If you have ever traveled Kelly Hill much you get the joke.
At her age of 106 and having come through God knows what type of recent conditions, Frances kept asking me to help her figure out what the plan was for her and where exactly she was so she could “kind of get things back under control” as she put it. I have no doubt that very few of her 106 years have been spend under anyone’s control but her own. She told many stories of tough times and kindness that she had experienced in her life and finishing with a direct stare and saying “do you know what I mean?” I didn’t always know, but I nodded yes just so she wouldn’t loose faith in me or my meager life experiences by comparison.
Frances ate a good dinner and asked several times if we had seen all the nice flowers that folks had sent her for her birthday. She was truely surprised how so many knew of her birthday but never asked me how I knew or qiestioned the sincerity of all who had sent them. Her room was looking great and smelled even better from all those flowers especially given the fact that they were gifts from folks who choose to reside in a Conservative, Red, Whacko County.
I feel terrible about the possibilities of what she might have endured, but what ever it was her strong will and kind heart seems to have prevailed. More than I can say for some of the more “Bloggy” folks on here. It was an honor to meet her. EW