Delco couple conspired to rape, kidnap and steal from two mentally disabled women, police say

A husband and wife living in squalor in Chester conspired to defraud two mentally disabled women, forcing them to move in with them and perform sexual acts they lacked the ability to consent to before moving them to Florida, away from the concerns of their families and county social workers, according to police.

Michael Swanson, 40, and his wife Nicole, 37, have been charged with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, conspiracy, kidnapping, theft, and related crimes after Delaware County investigators discovered their plot to siphon Social Security and other government benefit payments away from the women, one of whom gave birth to Michael’s child, according to the affidavit of probable cause for their arrests.

Both remained in custody in lieu of $1 million bail for Nicole Swanson, and $900,000 bail for Michael Swanson, court records show. One of the victims, prosecutors said, has returned to the area.

There was no indication that Michael Swanson had hired an attorney. Nicole Swanson’s attorney, Heather Jo Mattes, said Tuesday that she hadn’t yet seen any firsthand evidence to support the allegations made by investigators.

“We’re certainly going to investigate what’s been said here, and Ms. Swanson is presumed innocent until proven otherwise in a court of law,” she said.

In a statement, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer called the couple’s actions “truly heinous.”

“The members of law enforcement, the medical professionals, and the social workers who have worked on this case stand united in calling out the depravity of these defendants’ actions,” he said. “They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

County detectives opened the case in January, when they learned that one of the women, a 30-year-old with an IQ of 56, had been the victim of human trafficking, the affidavit said.

In interviews, the woman said she had met Michael Swanson through her friend, a 27-year-old she had attended special education classes with at Chichester High School. Her friend, whom police said has the mental capacity of a 7-year-old, had been in a relationship with Swanson since she was 17, according to the affidavit.

The younger woman later told police she met Swanson through Facebook, and he had convinced her to move out of her parents’ home and into his on Broomall Street in Chester, telling her that her parents were stealing her Social Security benefits. Swanson pressured her into having a sexual relationship with him, something investigators said she was unable to fully consent to. Eventually, she became pregnant with Swanson’s child.

The 27-year-old gave birth to that child in February 2023, triggering an investigation by Delaware County Department of Children and Youth Services, given her mental disability, police said. Not long after, Swanson asked her to bring the older victim into their “relationship,” the affidavit said, and similarly pressured the 30-year-old to move in with him and his wife.

At one point, a total of 11 people were living in the Broomall Street home, investigators said, a two-bedroom house that appeared to be unkept, crowded and dirty in pictures posted to social media, according to the affidavit.

While living with Swanson, the 30-year-old was forced to have sex with him and his wife, something she told investigators made her uncomfortable. These encounters were also seemingly recorded by cameras placed throughout the home, according to the affidavit. The woman told police that Swanson also recorded some of these encounters on his cell phone.

Swanson also coerced the woman into making him the payee of her Social Security, food stamps, and other benefits, which she said he used to buy food and other items for everyone in the home but her, the affidavit said. He also discouraged her from contacting her family, she told police.

The 27-year-old also told investigators that Swanson discouraged her from contacting her family, and at one point confiscated her cell phone, the affidavit said.

In July, Swanson moved both women, as well as his wife and their seven children, to a double-wide trailer in Tallahassee, Fla., the affidavit said. Swanson told the women he did so because “a lot of stuff was happening” in Chester, but investigators wrote in court filings they believe he made the move to avoid further scrutiny by county CYS workers.

While in Florida, the 30-year-old continued to have her money and benefits stolen, police said. On one occasion, she was beaten severely by another woman living in the trailer, as well as some of Swanson’s children, according to the affidavit. That assault was videotaped and sent to the 30-year-old’s father, something that ultimately allowed her family to track her down and bring her home, police said.