Upstate New York Pastor Sentenced to Federal Prison for Child Pornography

United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Matthew Scarpino, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Buffalo, New York Field Office, announced that an Upstate New York pastor has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.

James H. Swanson, 59, of Rome, New York, confessed to uploading multiple videos of child pornography to a cloud storage account under his control between March 25, 2022, and March 28, 2022. Additionally, Swanson admitted to engaging in this illegal activity for several years, periodically purging his collection of child pornography before continuing to access, view, and download more illicit material.

The disclosure came to light through documents filed in United States District Court. It was revealed that Swanson, who worked as a pastor for decades, most recently served as the pastor of the Rome Wesleyan Church.

Upon delivering the sentence, Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes also imposed a 15-year term of supervised release, which Swanson will commence after his release from prison. Additionally, Swanson will be mandated to register as a sex offender.

The investigation into the case was undertaken collaboratively by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the New York State Police (NYSP), and the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office. Prosecution was carried out by Assistant U.S. Attorney Adrian S. LaRochelle as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative led by the United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS). It is designed to harness federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals exploiting children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.

Get our free mobile app

For more information about the initiative to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, please visit Project Safe Childhood.