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Victim: Was it a trap? Swanson, 25, recounts events that led to beating by youths
Published: Saturday, July 4, 2009
By TRACY KENNEDY

TORRINGTON - The victim of an assault by four youths said Friday he was led into a trap.

"I don't want to blame anyone, but this whole thing does smell like a set-up," Roger Swanson, 25, said.

Swanson was pummeled with fists and struck several times in the head, back and ankles with an aluminum bat June 6 when he went to visit his then-girlfriend, Melanie Arnold, 34, at her second-floor apartment at 26 Maud St., Torrington.

The four youths, including Arnold's daughter and three young men, were arraigned on assault, conspiracy and weapons charges on Wednesday in sealed proceedings in Bantam Superior Court. They reportedly told police Arnold's 16-year-old daughter heard her mother's screams and mistakenly believed she was being harmed by Swanson.

Swanson said he and Arnold were having anal sex and Arnold wasn't screaming loudly, but moaning. "I received a text message to come over and I didn't know who sent it. I thought it was Melanie and I went over. She was surprised to see me," Swanson said. It was in the evening and Arnold was enjoying some drinks because her birthday was the next day, Swanson said.

Arnold's daughter and friends didn't like Swanson and let him know on previous occasions, he said. Swanson, an avid NASCAR fan, was raised on a farm and works as a farm hand in the Washington, Conn. area. "I guess it's because I'm a bit of a redneck. Maybe they didn't like the way I acted or spoke or because I grew up in New Preston," Swanson explained. A week before the incident the youth chased him out of Arnold's house.

"When I saw them come in Melanie's bedroom I thought, 'Uh-oh, here we go' and one of them pointed at me and said 'We got you'," he said.

Swanson ran for the door. "It sounded like hail on a car windshield. They were hitting me so much," Swanson said. It's been a month, and he said he still feels pain in his back.

Days after the beating, he confronted the young men about what they did and they appeared remorseful, he said. "I wanted them to see the bruises and let them know how close they came to making my kids have no father," he said.

Swanson and Arnold are not dating any longer. Arnold has asked him to do what he could to drop the charges, he said, but Swanson hopes the case is a "wake up call" for his attackers.

"I pray to God they 'get it' and don't spend the rest of their lives in jail," Swanson said. "You just can't act like this - with violence - this extreme when they don't like something."

Phone calls made to Arnold were not returned.

The cases against the four youths are still pending and another chapter in the story will take shape Monday when three more parties are scheduled to appear in court. Arnold, her daughter, Swanson's ex-wife, Tanya Arnold, and her 54-year-old mother, Deborah Kohn Morey, will answer charges relating to a dispute between the women on June 22.

The incident stems from an argument Morey and Arnold had because Arnold reportedly went to Swanson's ex-wife's home looking for Swanson.

"The whole thing is really too Jerry Springer," Tanya Arnold said. "It's seriously ridiculous."

Swanson does not believe all of the attention is related to his talents with the opposite sex. After a difficult divorce with Tanya and a tumultuous relationship with Arnold, he is still unattached.

"I wouldn't mind the publicity a little longer - maybe the "Today" show or Katie Couric," he joked. "I have had a lot of hits on my Myspace, but no proposals yet."