Ralph R. Swenson
Private Investigator

Ralph Swenson, Qualified Manager and Owner of Swenson Investigations, brings to the private investigation profession a variety of skills, techniques, and experiences. As a member of a top secret Army military unit he acquired a life-long interest in fact-finding early in his career. For his service, the U.S. Congress awarded him two congressional medals “in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the country."

From his military experience he acquired an interest in medical research and when he returned to private life he obtained a college degree in biology and chemistry. He taught high school biology and chemistry before he was accepted to medical school. After attending medical school he chose not to practice medicine but to pursue a career in business. He achieved a variety of goals in private enterprise; obtaining patents for several inventions, writing a bestselling book that his medical education inspired, and successfully developing several real estate projects.

During this period, his business achievements enabled him to pursue life-long interests in the natural sciences as well as social sciences, which include anthropology and archaeology. He has traveled and studied in various parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

His travels and studies have enabled him to acquire and develop a variety of skills and techniques such as observation, deduction, and scientific documentation that are similar to what successful private investigation requires.

In 1990, realizing the investigative skills and talents Mr. Swenson’s life experiences had equipped him with, the Presiding Judge of the Stanislaus County Superior Court asked him to serve for a year as grand jury foreman. In this capacity, Swenson and his fellow grand jurors uncovered a number of irregularities in financial practices of the county of Stanislaus. After a detailed investigation, the grand jurors documented a variety of serious problems in a series of three grand jury final reports. When the impaneled grand jury signed and released the report to the public, its findings were widely reported in the local news media and even in distant locales such as London, New York and Washington. As a result of his grand jury service, Mr. Swenson added a new dimension to his life-long interest in investigative tools and methods: using them to prevent fraud, graft, and corruption in government.

An opportunity arose shortly after grand jury service when Swenson’s brother asked him to assist in his work as an investigator for the Superior Courts of two counties. This partnership lasted over twenty years when Mr. Swenson’s brother died. Thereafter, Ralph Swenson obtained a California private investigator’s license and is now engaged in private practice in that field.