For immediate release: Thursday, February 19, 2004

For more information: Contact Jack Magee, Chief Legal Counsel, Dept. of Revenue and Regulation, 605-773-3311

(WATERTOWN, SD) – The former owner of a Watertown auto dealership was sentenced February 18, 2004 to 22 years in the state penitentiary and ordered to pay restitution of more than $150,000 on over 50 felony and misdemeanor charges involving his business operations.

Circuit Court Judge Ronald Roehr suspended 16 years of the prison sentence imposed on 37-year-old Lance Swalve and ordered him placed on probation for 16 years; Swalve was also sentenced to an additional 60 days in jail and ordered to pay the restitution to those victims on whose behalf charges were filed.  On January 12, 2004, a Grant County jury found Swalve guilty of 21 Class 4 felony theft counts and 30 Class 2 misdemeanor motor vehicle violations.  The maximum sentence Swalve could have received on each of the four felony counts was 10 years in prison and/or a $10,000 fine; each misdemeanor charge carried a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail and/or a $200 fine.

The felony charges against Swalve stemmed from his failure to pay off loans against vehicles traded into his dealership; the vehicles were later sold to unsuspecting customers without the prior loans being paid off.  The 30 misdemeanor charges against Swalve resulted from his failure to deliver motor vehicle titles within the 30-day time period granted by law.

Debra Hillmer, Director of the state Division of Motor Vehicles, says she hopes the Swalve sentence will serve as a deterrent against future incidents of similar fraud.

“I think the system did work in the Swalve case.  Here’s an individual who was convicted of defrauding innocent victims, his own customers who did business with him in good faith.  This sentence should serve as a notice to others considering similar crimes that when you’re caught, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Hillmer said.

Hillmer also says Governor Mike Rounds’ newly-established Motor Vehicle Consumer Protection Task Force will look at how the state handles future cases such as this involving consumer fraud.

  The case was investigated by the South Dakota Division of Motor Vehicles, the Watertown Police Department, the Codington County Sheriff’s Office, and the South Dakota Department of Revenue and Regulation’s Investigative Services Bureau.

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