Donald S. Boyce, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on January 27, 2017, Eric M. Swancutt, 39, formerly of Belleville, IL, was sentenced for Receipt of Child Pornography and Possession of Prepubescent Child Pornography. Swancutt was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 97 months on each count, to run concurrently, to be followed by a 10 year term of supervised release on each count, also to run concurrently. Swancutt was also ordered to a pay a fine of $300 and a $300 special assessment. Swancutt had been in custody since his arraignment on June 24, 2016.
The charges arose when, on October 23, 2015, a Compaq Presario laptop computer was seized from the residence that Swancutt previously shared with other individuals in Belleville. A forensic review of the laptop computer revealed that it contained image and/or video files of child pornography, many of which were of prepubescent children. The forensic review also revealed that on or about July 18, and August 19, 2015, the defendant received image and/or video files of child pornography, including, but not limited to, the video files charged in the Indictment, via the Internet.
On June 21, 2016, Swancutt provided a voluntary statement in which he admitted accessing and viewing child pornography. Swancutt also admitted viewing the child pornography on the
laptop computer, and that he had downloaded the child pornography while living in the Belleville residence.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 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 Aresources.@
The case was investigated by the Belleville Police Department and the FBI’s Springfield Child Exploitation Task Force. The case was assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.
###