Union City Man Sentenced to 4 Years for a Child Exploitation Offense

ERIE, Pa. - A resident of Erie County, Pennsylvania, has been sentenced in federal court to 4 years in jail and 10 years of supervised release on his conviction of violating federal laws relating to the sexual exploitation of children, Acting United States Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman announced today.

Senior United States District Judge David S. Cercone imposed the sentence on Matthew Swanson, 30, of Union City, Pennsylvania.

According to information presented to the court, in and around August 2020, Swanson possessed computer images depicting prepubescent minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Swanson came to the attention of law enforcement after Kik reported that a Kik user was engaged in child exploitation activity. That user was ultimately determined to be Swanson, who confessed to the FBI that he had been downloading child sexual abuse material for years and had recently used Kik to obtain illegal material.

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 (CEOS), 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.justice.gov/psc.

Assistant United States Attorney Christian A. Trabold prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

Acting United States Attorney Kaufman commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Pennsylvania State Police for the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of Swanson.