A man in central New York who worked as a pastor for decades has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
James H. Swanson, 59, of Rome, NY, was was arrested just over a year ago allegations of receiving and transporting child pornography.
Investigators said Swanson would for years download child pornography from the Internet and then upload the files to a cloud storage account — charges that carried up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.
But the prosecutor said so. Swanson pleaded guilty to the charges. As part of the agreement, he admitted to downloading and saving “several” child pornography files between March 25 and March 28, 2022.
He also admitted to doing so “for years,” adding that he would “periodically purge his collection of child pornography before eventually accessing, viewing and downloading more,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York in a news release.
On Friday, Judge Brenda K. Sannes sentenced Swanson to three years in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
According to documents filed with the court, the disgraced veteran pastor “most recently served as pastor of the Wesleyan Church in Rome.”
A church representative did not immediately return a request for comment Saturday.