The Dynamic Duo of Internet Slander -
Deborah Swan, Chris Mortenson
Share This Article

By Edward Snook
Investigative Reporter

DEDICATION: This article is dedicated to all victims of abuse. Whether you are falsely charged with a crime; you have someone lying about you on the internet or in public; you are experiencing big-corporation abuse, banking or governmental agency bullying; or whether you are a young person being humiliated by your peers, this article is for you. Don’t allow abuse. Document EVERYTHING as it occurs and then go after the abuser with facts.

The main victims I dedicate this article to include Charles Dyer, who is sitting in a prison cell today, his Mother Janet and his Sister Amy, who are suffering greatly over losing Charles. They have lived in fear, not only of a broken criminal justice system, but equally of a threatening woman who deceitfully pretended to be Charles’ biggest supporter. Janet and Amy still hold out hope that one day Charles can come home.

Charles Dyer Investigation

Deborah Swan

In early 2011, a self-proclaimed “Patriot” named Deborah Swan began calling the US~Observer, seeking our help to investigate a child sex assault case filed in Oklahoma against Marine Sergeant Charles Dyer (aka July4Patriot). I informed Swan of our fees and sent her a contract to sign. Almost a year later Swan acquired the financial help from Chris Mortenson, a serviceman reportedly stationed in Afghanistan at the time, to pay the retainer required to hire us. Swan signed our contract and Mortenson paid the retainer for her.

US~Observer investigator Lorne Dey began our investigation and I assisted him. Swan immediately attempted to direct our investigation with claims that the FBI had set Dyer up and that they were following her. Swan then asked us to tell Charles Dyer’s Mother, Janet Dyer, that numerous Dyer supporters were bad people who were out to destroy her and damage Charles; that she was the only one who was really trying to help Charles gain his freedom. We investigated these people and found just the opposite. We found that each one we spoke with told stories of problems they encountered with Deborah Swan and of the fact that they were afraid of her – this included Charles Dyer’s Mother.

Within just a few weeks of being hired, we were getting inundated with pure lunacy from Swan, and Mortenson had started calling, claiming that the United States government was corrupt, that they were responsible for the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York, that our government had committed the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in 1995 and how evil our government is. After repeatedly telling Mortenson that we weren’t investigating these claims, only the case involving Charles Dyer, coupled with constant trouble with Swan, I decided that I was dropping Swan as a client.

I called Lorne Dey and instructed him to contact Charles Dyer’s Mother and inform her that she would need to sign a new contract with us or we would have to drop the case. Even though Swan had been our client or “responsible” person, the case we agreed to do was, and I quote from our contract, “Regarding: Alleged false allegations against Charles Dyer aka July 4th Patriot…” We dropped Swan and Janet Dyer signed on as our new client on June 8, 2012.

Charles Dyer

Lorne Dey and I immediately made arrangements to travel to Oklahoma and arrived there in early August of 2012. We had a very successful trip, having created a covert contact with Valerie Dyer, the Mother of the alleged victim in the Dyer case and ex-wife of Charles Dyer. This was the only possible way to prove Dyer’s innocence and publicly vindicate him and we were fortunate to get next to the source of the charges against Charles as soon as we did.

YouTube Videos Ruin Dyer Investigation

During our trip or just prior to it Swan had been working overtime to attack us for dropping her from our case and she did so very publicly by publishing blatant lies on YouTube. She claimed that we had defrauded her and Mortenson out of a $10,000.00 retainer - That Edward Snook “is a fraud”, that “he is dishonest” etc., etc. Well, it didn’t take long for Valerie Dyer to view Swan’s on-line attacks. Shortly after returning home I was confronted with a Facebook message written by Valerie Dyer, who had watched Swan’s YouTube videos. The portion of her message directed at me stated, “US Observer Guy your full of shit!!” Swan had single-handedly ruined our successful investigative trip to Oklahoma.

Why in the world would Swan claim that I defrauded her and Mortenson when I was doing the very thing I was hired to do and doing it well? In a nutshell, this is what created this entire mess and incredible waste of time. Extreme time for myself, the US~Observer and especially for Charles Dyer who sits in a prison cell, not to mention the innocent people who have needed our help, but have read Swan and Mortenson’s lies on the Internet and decided not to hire us at their detriment, e.g. a prison cell!

Swan, Mortenson Use
“Common Law Court”

Swan continued posting her malicious attacks on YouTube and Mortenson made a very threatening phone call to this writer. I made many attempts to get them to stop their defamation but my attempts fell on deaf ears. Swan’s next course of action was to have Mortenson file a complaint with a “Common Law Court” called the Committee of Safety. I simply refused to take part in this charade.

Swan, Mortenson
Attempt to Use DOJ

Next, Swan and Mortenson filed complaints with the Oregon Department of Justice and the Washington Attorney General. All false complaints were dismissed shortly after I answered them - dismissed, because these professionals investigated Swan and Mortenson’s complaints and found them to be completely without merit.

Swan, Mortenson Use Better Business Bureau

When Swan and Mortenson failed at their attempts to deceive the Departments of Justice they turned to another “Common Law Court” type voice called the Better Business Bureau (BBB). I went from having an “A” rating with them for over 20 years to an “F” rating, following three separate, false complaints filed with them by Swan and Mortenson. Most people think of the BBB as a legitimate business – I would strongly disagree.

Edward Snook Forced
to File Lawsuit

All this time Swan and Mortenson’s meritless claims continued to be viewed on the Internet by the public. Neither the BBB nor YouTube will remove any content unless a case has been adjudicated, because Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act protects them from being sued for other people's content they host. So, after repeated attempts to tell Swan and Mortenson to remove their deceptive lies from the Internet and to leave me and the US~Observer alone, I was forced to not only publish about them, but to sue them for Defamation in order to obtain a judgment for damages and an order to have their garbage removed from the Internet.

Both Swan and Mortenson countersued for exorbitant amounts. Mortenson’s countersuit was dismissed entirely on February 19, 2016 and most of Swan’s countersuit has been dismissed. I am still attempting to get her countersuit dismissed entirely.

Swan, Mortenson DECEPTION Expands – Both Attempt to Use Oregon State Bar

Believe it or not Swan and Mortenson’s false claims are once again flowing. Swan is now claiming that my Attorney James Leuenberger is committing fraud. She has filed two Oregon State Bar (OSB) complaints against him. Swan’s first complaint with the OSB was dismissed in short order because it was a patently false complaint (exactly like her myriad of other wild-accusations). Her second complaint will be dropped soon. Mortenson was next at bat. He filed his complaint with the Oregon State Bar in mid-April of 2016 and will probably file another when they dismiss his first.

Swan, Mortenson Revert
Back to the Internet

Swan has claimed in court filings and on the Internet, “This duo (Leuenberger and Snook) has been using the Josephine County Courthouse to commit the crime of extortion. Judge Thomas Hull, placed his stamp of approval on a fraudulent default judgment that James Leuenberger procured by fraud, deceit, and fraud upon this court. Leuenberger has used the Josephine County Court House, for his criminal theft of $49,999.99."

Swan continues, “James Leuenberger and Ed Snook have both committed theft, theft by deception, theft by fraud, and many other crimes by bringing this law suit against Deborah Swan. They have been caught committing perjury as well as violating the rights of Deborah Swan by giving false representations on court record claiming Swan never sent her answers to Leuenberger. This was a total scam on their part to get a fraudulent default judgment against Swan. Oregon’s judiciary has been a silent, yet willing partner in this conspiracy.” On one Internet site Swan claims, “Judge Thomas Hull is ignoring the self authenticated evidence that has been made on the court record against this attorney James Leuenberger. Deborah Swan performed her own investigation, and discovered serious crimes upon the court and against herself. Both Leuenberger, and Judge Hull, ignoring his solemn ‘Oath of Office’ and the BAR, to uphold the Constitutional rights of the citizens of all parties.”

All any prudent person needs to do is call the Josephine County Clerk’s Office or the Josephine County District Attorney’s Office and ask them if Edward Snook or James Leuenberger have been charged with any of the crimes listed above. They will be told that they have not – this should prove to the caller that Deborah Swan and Chris Mortenson are blatant and compulsive liars.

Deborah Swan's LinkedIn profile

The very simple truth about this matter is that Swan actually defaulted on my original lawsuit by not filing her answer on time properly. Attorney Leuenberger sent in a default order for the court to sign on the last day of Swan’s deadline, believing that Swan wasn’t going to file a response. The proposed order he sent to the court meant absolutely nothing until it was signed by a judge. On the last afternoon of the last day Swan filed her answer but failed to pay the filing fee required. The court then entered a judgment against Swan. Swan immediately asked the court to declare her indigent and give her a second chance. Judge Hull chose to grant her a second chance, the court administration granted her indigent status (meaning that she does not have to pay any filing or court fees) and now Leuenberger is a “fraud” according to Swan. I should add that I find it odd that the court would grant indigent status to Swan who is a self-proclaimed “Health, Wellness and Fitness Professional” as shown by the Twitter picture and caption above (copied on April 6, 2016). I also find it odd that Chris Mortenson was granted indigent status when he has stated that he is active military reserve. Of course, neither Swan nor Mortenson would dare commit perjury, would they? Further, I find it very odd that Chris Mortenson would work for the very government that he claims is responsible for bombing and killing U.S. citizens within the borders of the United States…

Now, let’s compare Swan’s claims about Judge Hull and Leuenberger with what transpired originally in the Dyer case. Again, when I refused to listen to Swan and Mortenson’s ridiculous claims, I dropped Swan as a client. Our contract states, “The Client pre-authorizes Investigator to discontinue work on this matter at any time solely based on his discretion alone.” Certainly this clause gives us the right to drop a difficult or dangerous client; however, Swan being dropped as a client had absolutely nothing to do with the case we took on, which I have already quoted and pertains only to Charles Dyer.

What does Charles Dyer’s Mother have to say about the US~Observer and about Deborah Swan?

Janet Dyer’s Declaration:

“04/23/2016
To whom it may concern:

Through all of the problems I have had with Debra Swan, Ed Snook has kept in contact and has continued to work with us for the freedom of our son. He has done all that he can even though Ms. Swan has done things to hinder him as well as us. He and his staff have always tried to do all that we asked of them and are still keeping in constant contact with us.

Ms. Swan spent a lot of time trying to convince Charles and myself not to use an attorney but to file common law motions. In the state of Oklahoma it is not legal to file under common law. There is even a note on the front of the window at the Court Clerk's office in Stephens County, Oklahoma which states that common law is not to be filed there, that it is not legal in the state of Oklahoma. She was continually telling me that if I didn't do what she said Charles would be convicted and would not get out of prison. She went so far as to ask me to send her the money I would be spending on an attorney and let her help represent Charles in court.

I received many 3-mails (sic) and Charles received volumes of paperwork about this at the prison after his conviction to use for his appeals. He asked her to research some cases but did not send them, just sent more of the same.

She put information on Facebook about my being instrumental in having Charles convicted because of my refusal to listen. She called me at all hours and, even when I told her I was working (I did medical transcription at home), she kept talking and telling me she had just one more question. She sent multiple e-mails and kept sending me messages on my messenger wanting me to answer her. I got paid by the line and could not convince her I needed to be typing for work rather than answering her messenger questions or e-mails or talking on the phone.

I hereby declare that the above statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief, and that I understand it is made for use as evidence in court and is subject to penalty for perjury.”

Janet Dyer

Deborah Swan

The US~Observer is still working on the Charles Dyer case, having put in many pro bono hours to date and even more hours in exposing the subterfuge of Swan and Mortenson’s that has greatly damaged Charles Dyer’s chances to be vindicated.

Deborah Swan appeared to realize how her claims made her sound, when she made the following statement during her first interview with Lorne Dey - “I promise I’m not crazy, I’m not psychotic, I promise you.”

I for one have a very hard time believing her, partly because of her past felony conviction dealing with a crime of dishonesty; bank fraud. I have also had an extremely hard time figuring out how Deborah Swan can possess firearms when she is a convicted felon.

Editor’s Note: Anyone with information on Deborah Swan (residing in Spring, Texas) or her partner Chris Mortenson (residing in DuPont, WA) are urged to contact the US~Observer at 541-474-7885 or by email: editor@usobserver.com.

Subscribe to the US~Observer News Flash Alerts!

Email

Get a subscription to US~Observer delivered
right to your mailbox via first-class mail!

Click Here for more information