Judicial candidate Erik Swenk responds to allegations he falsified time cards

Erik Swenk, a candidate for Seminole County Judge Group 6,  is refuting an inspector general’s office report that says he falsified time cards and improperly used his work computer to campaign for office. 

Swenk is running for county judge, which handles civil cases with damages under $50,000 and misdemeanor cases. Florida Politics first reported on the Florida Office of Inspector General investigation into allegations Swenk misused his state office while running for judge in 2026. 

Swenk is a supervisor for the Florida Office of Administrative Hearings, a state agency. The Florida Office of Inspector General investigated after two complaints, one made anonymously, concluding that Swenk:

• Falsified attendance logs to his supervisors for his time worked. Swenk argues those discrepancies were in the timekeeping spreadsheets, and not in the salaried hours he worked
• Swenk sent campaign-related emails and Teams invitations using a work computer

The report also found discrepancies on Swenk’s reported hours on an excel spreadsheet versus when he badged into a garage. Swenk described the discrepancies as ministerial for a salaried job that didn’t affect his pay.  

“I probably worked through lunch and worked late that night,” Swenk said about days when he clocked in later than reported.

But the report stopped short of finding any criminal misconduct.

“No criminal predicate exists at this time to warrant further investigation by (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,” officials wrote in the report, which you can find here.  

In an interview with Oviedo Community News, Swenk questioned the timing of the report, which came out just before the election. 

“I was never on the clock when I was campaigning,” Swenk said. “Both (the Florida Department of Law Enforcement) and my office found that to be true.”

Swenk is currently running against incumbent judge Wayne Culver, who was suspended in 2024 after an outburst where he cursed at a member of the court and an incident where he didn’t give a defendant time to explain why he violated probation. 

Alena Chaban is also running for the seat; Chaban is running after meeting the minimum five years as an attorney required to run.  

Voting is underway in the race, and more than 40,000 votes have been cast so far. With a three-way race for judge, if no one gets above 50% of the vote, a runoff vote between the top two vote-getters from the Aug. 18 primary election would face each other in the November general election. 

Abe Aboraya is a Report for America corps member.