Registered Sex Offender from Round Rock Sentenced to 10 Years in Federal Prison for New Child Pornography Offense

Jacob Michael Swaney, a 30-year-old registered sex offender residing in Round Rock, Texas, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison this morning for possessing child sexual abuse images and videos announced United States Attorney Robert Pitman.

In addition to the prison term, United States District Judge Lee Yeakel ordered that Swaney be placed under supervised release for a period of 15 years after completing his prison term.

On July 26, 2012, Swaney pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. By pleading guilty, Swaney admitted that in March 2011 and in April 2012, he made child sexual abuse images and videos available over the Internet using a peer-to-peer network to an undercover FBI employee. On May 23, 2012, FBI agents served a search warrant at Swaney’s residence, found him in possession of numerous images and videos depicting the sexual abuse of minors, and arrested him. Swaney further admitted that since September 2010, he had downloaded several thousand images and videos of child pornography.

This is Swaney’s second child pornography-related conviction. In December 2003, Swaney was convicted in federal court in Austin of possessing child pornography and was sentenced at that time to 27 months in federal prison. As a result of his 2003 conviction, Swaney was required by law to register as a sex offender. Swaney will remain subject to child sex offender registration laws after his release from prison on his current charge.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Matthew Devlin prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by 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 better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.