Georgia Man Admits to Producing Child Pornography

June 1, 2010 - Dennis C. Pfannenschmidt, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, announced that a 53-year-old Georgia resident pleaded guilty yesterday before Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edwin M. Kosik to producing child pornography as an aider and abettor during November 2008.

Pfannenschmidt stated that Scott Swanson, of Hiwassee, Georgia, admitted to persuading a minor to create sexually explicit images of the minor and transmit them from Pennsylvania to Georgia via computer.

Swanson was indicted by a federal grand jury on July 23, 2009. Swanson’s charges resulted from an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Scranton Police, and the Wyoming County District Attorney’s Office.

Pfannenschmidt noted that as a result of the guilty plea, Swanson faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a possible maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Sentencing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

Pfannenschmidt noted that 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.

Pfannenschmidt noted that the case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa.