Final Four Fraudster Already Locked Up in Iowa Prison, Says He Wants to Make Things Right with Naperville Patsy

A grifter charged with bilking a Naperville man out of more than $500 with the false promise of NCAA Final Four tickets sent a letter from an Iowa prison saying he wants to pay back his victim.
“I am willing to make full restitution and court costs, fees or fines if this can be done while I am in Iowa D.O.C.,” Jeffrey John Swanson said in his letter to Will County clerk of court.

Swanson, 52, faces a theft charge in connection with his March Madness scam. A 59-year-old Naperville man wired him cash for an unspecified number of Final Four tickets, according to a criminal complaint filed in Will County court, but the tickets were never sent.

Swanson was locked up in Mount Pleasant Correctional Center for the Iowa theft more than a month before the Naperville police secured a warrant for his arrest in August.

In his letter, Swanson said he had been “informed” that he was wanted in Will County, that he was “wanting to get this matter resolved as soon as possible,” and asked about the possibility of pleading guilty while he was still in an Iowa prison.

Swanson’s arraignment at the Joliet courthouse was scheduled for October.