Pest Control In Quincy, Illinois

It’s no secret that pest control operators need keen inspection and insect identification skills to help them be successful in their jobs. But in the case of one Illinois PCO, these skills proved key in helping to convict a man suspected of poisoning his co-workers.

Kevin O’Donnell, president of O’Donnell’s Termite & Pest Control, Quincy, Ill., was the PCO called to consult in a mysterious and disturbing situation: a paramedic from the rural Illinois town stood accused of poisoning his co-workers with ant bait. But the paramedic, Michael Swango, said he had a good reason for having the bait: an infestation of ants in his apartment. It took O’Donnell’s expertise to show that wasn’t the case, and to help prove the paramedic was guilty as charged.

Recently, O’Donnell was interviewed by Long Island Newsday, the nation’s sixth largest metropolitan newspaper. The daily ran an in-depth story on the unusual situation, in light of new charges being brought against the medic.

EARLY QUESTIONS. The string of events which preceded O’Donnell’s involvement were mysterious and disturbing: In one month in the fall of 1984, six of Swango’s co-workers had mysteriously fallen ill without explanation.

Acquaintances in the small town of Quincy, Ill., where Swango grew up, say he was a very intelligent, driven student. A graduate of Quincy College in 1979, Swango enrolled at the Southern Illinois University Medical School in Carbondale.

Classmates said he was difficult to get to know and didn’t have many close friends there. He graduated in 1983, and secured an internship at the Ohio State University Hospitals in Columbus. On weekends, according to the Newsday report, Swango would drive more than 400 miles back to Quincy to work as a paramedic. Then in July of 1984, the Columbus hospital let Swango go for poor performance. After his dismissal, Swango returned to Quincy and worked as a part-time paramedic for two local hospitals.

Co-workers in Quincy reportedly liked Swango, but were occasionally surprised by his apparent obsession with traumatic cases: he seemed to enjoy witnessing and talking about gory accident scenes. More suspicions about Swango were raised in September of 1984 when several paramedics became violently ill after eating donuts Swango had brought in with him. In another incident, a co-worker became very ill after drinking a soda Swango had bought for him. No one could prove the paramedic was guilty of causing the illnesses, but co-workers were suspicious and eventually found possible evidence: His duffel bag contained bottles of Terro Ant Poison which contained the active ingredient arsenic. Co-workers were also able to preserve a glass of iced tea he allegedly left for them. Tests later showed that the tea, which tasted overly sweet, contained a potentially lethal dose of arsenic, Newsday reported. It turned out to be an important piece of evidence in the case against Swango, who was arrested in late October.

In his defense, Swango claimed he had purchased the ant poison because of an ant infestation in his apartment. That was when Swango’s attorney, Daniel Cook, hired Kevin O’Donnell to inspect Swango’s apartment and show the infestation existed.

Upon inspection, O’Donnell discovered ants in the apartment alright, but the finding hurt, instead of helped, Swango’s case.

“What I found when I went into the apartment was a tremendous amount of harvester ants,” said O’Donnell, “and they looked like they had been dumped on the floor.” The ants, which looked to number close to a thousand, O’Donnell said, were all piled up on the floor between the kitchen and the living room. There was dirt mixed in with the ants, and an empty, dirty box lay nearby.

“It was very strange seeing the dirt and the quantity of ants there,” said O’Donnell of the inspection. “You just don’t see those inside a house.” As most pest control professionals know, in the vast majority of circumstances, harvester ants are found outdoors living in the soil or under mulch. They are found throughout the country, but are more common in warmer climates.

During the inspection, O’Donnell also found a few carpenter ants in a closet, which he says today, might have justified Swango’s having the ant poison, had the harvester ants not been present. It was also revealed that prior to the inspection, Swango had returned from a trip to Florida, where his mother lives, and where harvester ants are more commonly found.

According to O’Donnell, when the prosecution learned about the unusual harvester ant situation, the prosecuting attorney subpoenaed O’Donnell to testify. Cook, Swango’s attorney at the time, later told Newsday that O’Donnell’s testimony was, in his opinion, “the most damaging part of the case.”

Another important piece of evidence against Swango turned out to be the glass of iced tea, which contained the same concentration of sodium arsenate found in one of the bottles of Terro that Swango possessed. (In 1988, when the Environmental Protection Agency banned arsenicals from all pesticide products, Terro II Ant Killer replaced the original Terro formulation. Terro II Ant Killer contains borax as the active ingredient.)

Swango was eventually charged with seven counts of aggravated battery against six paramedics and was sentenced to five years in prison in 1985. He was paroled in 1987 for good behavior. According to the Newsday report, in many of the places Swango has worked since serving in prison, he has been suspected of a number of unexplained deaths and illnesses, although he has never been charged in connection with them. Since the 1984 poisoning, and his subsequent imprisonment and parole, Swango has changed his name and moved from city to city. He also left the country to practice medicine in Africa and Saudi Arabia.

NEW CHARGES. Currently Swango is being held in Brooklyn on a federal fraud charge in connection with his conviction record and his employment at the State University of New York Hospital in 1993. In September, he was charged with five counts of illegally prescribing narcotics to patients at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Northport, N.Y. And the country of Zimbabwe is seeking to have Swango extradited in connection with an inquiry into the deaths of five patients at a mission hospital where Swango worked in 1995, according to a report in Long Island Newsday.

In Quincy, these days, the story of Michael Swango is simply one of the more troublesome events in the town’s past. Even O’Donnell, who helped play a large role in the conviction, has difficulty remembering some of the details, and it’s no longer a topic of conversation for residents. Meanwhile, business goes on for O’Donnell’s Pest Control, which now employs 15 people, runs 10 routes in three states, and offers the gamut of pest control services. The company has been in business for 50 years, is one of the most respected pest control companies in town, and has been serving the city of Quincy longer than have any of its competitors. Incidentally, Kevin O’Donnell, a lifelong resident of Quincy, knew Swango’s younger brother and Dan Cook, who was his high school football coach, which isn’t surprising considering Quincy has a population of just over 40,000.

O’Donnell says his role in helping to convict Swango didn’t seem to increase business over the years. But today, the company remains one of the most respected pest control companies in Quincy and surrounding areas. It seems residents have always been aware of O’Donnell’s technical expertise, professionalism and service to the community. His role in the strange case of Michael Swango was just another confirmation of that fact.

Sidebar: THREE GENERATIONS OF O’DONNELL’s KNOW THE BUSINESS OF PEST CONTROL

The city of Quincy, Ill., with its population of just under 40,000 residents has a small-town atmosphere, says Kevin O’Donnell, president of O’Donnell’s Pest Control, but it’s offered many opportunities to the business. The company, which has been in business for more than 50 years, was started in 1946 by Edward J. “Eddie” O’Donnell, Kevin O’Donnell’s grandfather.

The younger O’Donnell entered the business during the summers of his college years, some 27 years ago. He has run the business since 1979, after the untimely death of his father, Richard E. O’Donnell. Kevin’s brother, Dan, and brother-in-law, Rod Beck, assist him in managing the business.

Today the company services an 80-mile radius around Quincy. The largest city in the area, Quincy is located on the western border of Illinois, on the Mississippi River. It is located 120 miles north of St. Louis, 110 miles east of Springfield, the state’s capitol, and more than 300 miles southwest of Chicago.

These days, O’Donnell admits competition in the Quincy area is tough, but the company’s longtime reputation of providing quality service with a personal touch has helped the business stay in the lead. “We’ve known people around here for a long time,” O’Donnell explained. “Probably more than anything else, we’re just easy to deal with.” The company doesn’t ask customers to sign annual contracts, and instead focuses on customer satisfaction in order to ensure customers will return. Another policy O’Donnell’s adheres to is a tradition of service to the community. Most of the officers of the company, along with many of its service professionals, are members of such organizations as the Lions Club, the Quincy Exchange Club, and other community service organizations. O’Donnell himself has been a member of the Board of Directors for the local chapter of the United Way for a number of years. The community service work not only helps employees forge valuable business connections, but also allows the company to devote some of its resources to the community that has helped it prosper.