Northern District of Iowa | Iowa Air National Guardsman Pleads Guilty to Possessing Child Pornography

Kevin Swanson, 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, entered a guilty plea in federal court on May 4, 2023, to possession of child pornography.

In a plea agreement, Swanson admitted that between August 2020, and August 2021, he used an Internet-based, peer-to-peer (P2P) network to knowingly receive visual depictions of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including depictions involving prepubescent minors who had not reached the age of 12.  Swanson had over 1,168 images and 4 video files of child exploitation materials.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand will be set for a later date after a presentence report is prepared.  Swanson was taken into custody by the United States Marshal pending sentencing.  Swanson faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment without the possibility of parole, a fine of not more than $250,000, a mandatory special assessment of $100 and a term of supervised release of at least 5 years to life.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc.  For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Sioux City Police Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kraig R. Hamit.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-4080.  Follow us on Twitter @USAO_NDIA.