By Christy Gutowski
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO, Ill. — An Illinois prison warden abruptly retired Tuesday amid an investigation into her relationship with a convicted sex offender who had been living in her home for about a year, law enforcement officials said.
Nedra Chandler’s decision to retire as warden of the Dixon Correctional Center in northwestern Illinois comes less than two weeks after she was placed on administrative leave, state corrections officials said.
Authorities said her leave began Sept. 19, the same day police arrested convicted sex offender Robert Swon at her residence in Sterling. He was later charged with possession of child pornography and violating terms of his sex offender registration.
Swon, 27, had been living with Chandler, 53, since his release from prison last October, according to police and public records.
Authorities said they did not know how the two met.
Police began investigating Swon earlier this year based on a tip of possible illegal Internet activity, said Sterling police Detective Michael Henry.
“Through the course of the investigation, it led us back to her residence,” Henry said.
In the past, Chandler has served as a foster parent, police said. Henry said no children were in the home when they executed a search warrant, and it appears Chandler and Swon lived there alone, in separate bedrooms. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services declined to say whether Chandler is an active foster parent.
Chandler is not believed to have been involved in any illegal activity tied to Swon’s arrest, several law enforcement officials said.
Swon had pleaded guilty to child pornography in 2009 and was placed on 30 months’ probation, court records showed.
Swon’s probation later was revoked after he failed to register his address, and he was sentenced to two years in prison in August 2012, according to state records.
Swon was never housed at the Dixon prison, according to state corrections officials.
Though Illinois Department of Corrections employees are not necessarily banned from contact with someone with a criminal history, such relationships must be disclosed to their employer, authorities said.
Chandler was with the Corrections Department for about 30 years and warden of the medium-security Dixon facility for men, located about 100 miles west of Chicago, since 2005.
She did not return a message left on her cellphone.