‘Sweetheart swindler’ romances, cons his victims
(AP) — A whirlwind romance that end
ed with the theft of thousands of dollars
may have loft Shannon Chandler the lat
est Oregon victim of a man police are
calling the "sweetheart swindler."
"I felt like I'd known him all my life."
said the 24-year-old waitress of the man
she met serving coffee at a Eugene restau
rant.
He said his name was Patrick Ashley
lace Clark, and he claimed to l>e a young
trauma surgeon from Portland who was
about to relocate to Springfield.
Two weeks later Chandler ended up in
a Reno hotel suite with Clark quickly
packing his hags as she si reamed. "Who
are you?"
She would learn over the next few days
that the man who wrote her poetry and
sent her roses had stolen thousands of
dollars from her and her parents
"You think you're basically intelligent,
you're not gullible, you're not a pushover,
and then you feel so stupid ami so violat
ed." said Chandler, a University of Ore
gon graduate who is awaiting results of a
recent I I S. Air Force test for officer's can
didate school
Eugene and Portland-area police say
two other young women have been iden
tified ns victims of the same con man and
investigators suspet t there ore many
more. •
"There's probably a victim in Nevada
ns we speak." said Eugene police Detec
tive Jim Green. “That's where he left
Shannon.”
Police said it's likely the man who
went by the name Joco Clark with Chan
dler. Pat Clark with a Portland woman
and Ed Snyder with a Beaverton woman
goes from one romanlii swindle to anoth
er.
Along the way. lie steals the women's
blank checks, credit cards and hank
machine cards to buy gifts for his victims
and support his claims of wealth.
Police have released a composite
sketch of the suspei t. whom his v ictims
describe as thin, about 0 feet toll, with
sandy-colored hair and sometimes wear
ing glasses.
The man's relationship with the 20
veor-old woman from Portland began
shortly after he vanished two weeks into
a romance with a young Beaverton
divorcee, whom he'd promised to take
home to Australia and marry Instead, he
11 felt like I’d known him
all my Met’
Shannon Chandler.
former University student
disappeared with her money.
He spent five days swindling several
hundred dollars from his Portland victim,
then met Chandler the following Monday
and. as she puts it. "swept me off my
feet.''
Looking hack on the relationship.
Chandler said she remembers little things
that didn't seem right But Clark had an
answer for everything, she said
He didn't flaunt it. but Chandler said
it was clear his family had money He
also talked about medicine with sin I
authority that Chandler said she never
doubted he was a doctor.
"I'm a 20-questions kind of person and
I asked him 20 questions and more." she
said "He really knew his stuff '
During their first week together. Chan
dler wrote nearly $300 in checks to cov
er their expenses after Clark told her his
wallet had been stolen. He promised to
repay her in a matter of days.
He eventually deposited a check for
nearlv 55,000 in her bank account but
Chandler didn't know the check belonged
to her father and had been forged She
believes he stole checks and c redit c ards
from both her parents while helping her
move some of her belongings from an
apartment into her family's Eugene home.
On a trip to Reno that she did not know
was being charged to her father. Chandler
phoned her parents. She was stunned
when they asked why she'd deposited
one of their checks into her account.
After confronting Clark, ho to ter a
story of personal problems as he pac ked
and left, never to return.
Chandler flew home that night and
Iteg.jii c oping with a financ ial nightmare.
Mlhough the credit card companies are
forgiving several thousand dollars in
debt, Chandler said the bank is holding
liter responsible for about $3,500.
Her advice to women is to investigate
the stories of men they've just met. "If I'd
diet ked on the things he'd said. I would
have found out he was lying," she said.
Justice slow for accused canines
SEATTLE (AP) — Justice, for canines ns for
humans, is sometimes slow in coming.
Eight dogs accused of viciousness are housed
at Seattle's Animal Control shelter in Ballard,
awaiting sentencing If they ore found guilty,
they will be killed.
Their cases must bo tried before a jury or a
judge. Stays of execution ore issued and
revoked, os prosecutors, public defenders and
private attorneys Iwttle over their fates.
The process (an take months or even years, as
it often (lie's on human death row.
On a recent day. the denizens of death row
included a pair of Great Danes accused of
attacking children, sheep and joggers; two black
Lhasa npsos accused of biting, and a Rottweil
er accused of attacking a 7-year-old girl on her
way to school.
Hut the most talked-about inmates are Buzz
and Girdy. a pit bull and a pit-bull mix that
have been behind bars for almost a year.
The dogs are accusod of biting four school
children and two adults in a frenzied attack in
November 1992 that involved both police and
animal-control officers. Petitions were signed
by 28fi neighbors, demanding that the dogs be
removed from the Wallingford area.
Area residents testifying at the dogs' week
long trial in Municipal Court indicated the ani
mals had been a prohlom for months
One witness, Robert Pashek, said ho had been
on his way to pick up his granddaughter at
school when he saw a boy running across the
street,
"Two dogs were after him," Pashek said. "He
squeezed between the bumpers of two i.ars and
the dogs couldn't get him.
"Then the dogs came after me. snarling. I had
an umbrella and I held it out in front of me so
they would snap at that rather than me." he
said.
The dogs' owners believe in their innocence.
Margarethe Gosselin. Buzz's owner, said he
‘Then the dogs came after
me, snarling. I had an
umbrella and I held it out in
front of me so they would
snap at that rather than me/
— Robert Pashek,
witness
and Girdy warn framed
"The dogs nro rad; they're awesome dogs."
she said. "They were provoked from the begin
ning by a group of kids. One of the kids came
into the yard."
“They're not vicious — it's just crazy." said
Gosselin.
She estimated that she and Girdy's owner.
Mike Fischer, had so far spent about S12.000
to defend the animals The shelter has spent
another $4,500 to keep and feed the dogs, and
prosecutors have spent hours working the case.
Gosselin and Fischer were acquitted of the
charge of owning vicious animals. Jurors said
there was not enough evidence that they knew
the dogs were vicious.
But jurors made clear they thought the dogs
were menacing and the animals were ordered
kept in custody. Gosselin and Fischer appealed
the ruling and the case was humped to Superi
or Court for trial next summer.
If the dogs are determined to he vicious at
that proceeding, they will Ire killed — "no ifs.
ands or huts." said shelter supervisor Mary
Felix-Klenk.
By the time the trial starts in July. Buzz and
Girdy will have Ih-ch locked up for 20 months.
“Bv law. we're required to hold them," Felix
Klenk said. "But from a personal point of view,
I think holding them that long is the meanest
thing you can do to them."
Man molests corpses
EVERETT. Wash. (AP) — A
man who broke into a funeral
home and sexually molested
bodies has been sentenced to 10
years in prison.
Ronald Shawn Ryan. 23. of
Edmonds, deserved to be pun
ished to the full extent of the
law because of the "nature of
the crime, the abhorrence of it."
Snohomish County Superior
Court Judge John Wilson said
Monday.
Ryan was accused in two Jan
uary break-ins at a south Sno
homish County funeral home.
After a bench trial in August, he
was convicted of malicious mis
chief and two counts of second
degree burglary, one of which
was determined to be sexually
motivated.
Police found items stolen
from the funeral home in Ryan's
home. He confessed to the
break-ins. but denied the crimes
were for his sexual gratification,
court papers show.
Ryan’s sentence was nearly
twice the standard punishment
called for under state sentencing
guidelines for second-degree
burglary.
It is appropriate because his
behavior "shocks the con
science of this court and the
community," the judge said.
Wilson added that state legis
lators need to again make
necrophilia, sex with the dead, a
criminal act It was decriminal
ized in the mid-1970s when leg
islators tossed out stale sodomy
laws.
Richard Tassano, Ryan’s pub
lic defender, said he expects
Ryan to appeal the sentence.
Family sues
funeral home
MEDFORD (AP) — The
family of a 14-year-old girl
who was raped and mur
dered two years ago is suing
a Medford funeral home,
claiming its negligence
allowed the corpse to be
molested.
The girl's father said learn
ing of the molestation six
months after his daughter's
death was like tearing open
the wound of his grief.
“It's damn near impossible
to stop dwelling on it," he
said. "It's always there, the
atrocity of it."
The lawsuit seaks
$250,000 from Service Cor
poration Oregon, the owner
of Conger-Morris Funeral
Home in Medford.
The general manager and
attorney for the funeral home
said they haven't seen the
lawsuit, and had no immedi
ate comment.
The girl's body was taken
to the funeral home follow
ing her slaying in Medford in
November 1991.
Police brought corpse
abuse charges against a mor
tician last summer after a
photo processing company
turned over Film showing a
hand molesting the corpse.
Bradford Simas. 33. was
fined $230 after pleading no
contest to a lesser charge.
He's in prison on an unrelat
ed drug conviction.
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