Great Falls: How Did A Criminal Slip Through Vetting?

To get hired at Townsquare Media, announcers go through numerous interviews, we have assignments to complete, and we are thoroughly background checked. This is just to talk on the radio and write some articles. You have to be who you say you are and have done what you say you've done. Just to be on the radio. I can't stress this point enough. We are not in the business of life or death, we're in the business of entertainment.

I guess that's why I was so floored when the Great Falls Hospital Legacy Foundation hired someone with an extensive criminal background to be in charge of FUNDRAISING.

What?

Not only that, they defended hiring this person saying all of the former charges that were concerning were addressed in the interview.

This story is wild.

The Story Of The Felonious Fundraiser In Great Falls, Montana

• August 2, 2025, The Great Falls Clinic Legacy Foundation announces they hired Adrian Swensen as their fundraising administrator and said, "Adrian is recognized nationally as an expert in criminal justice reform, political advance work, and campaign finance reform. He speaks regularly to audiences across the country — ranging from grassroots advocates to institutional leaders — on policy, strategy, and systems change in these critical areas."--KRTV
• September 11, 2025, The Great Falls Clinic Legacy Foundation told KRTV, Swenson was no longer employed by the foundation, "While it is not our practice to comment on personnel matters, I am able to share that this individual is no longer part of our organization."

It's Freakishly Easy To Find This Information Out

Here's one article I found with a simple search on Google from the Salt Lake Tribune, and this from a Fox affiliate in Salt Lake, Fox 13. It took me about one minute, and that seems a bit long. Maybe 30-40 seconds.

The moral of this story, to me, is vet people. There's a reason for background checks. Whomever is in charge of this at the foundation needs to be fired for not doing their job. They just believed every word he said without checking on anything until the media showed them how easy it was to find dirt on this guy.

If a radio announcer has to go through so much vetting how about people we trust with millions of dollars?

Thanks for coming to my what-a-week-we're-having Ted Talk

Sources: Montana Free Press, KRTV, GF Legacy