Oneida County pastor sentenced to federal prison
ROME, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A former Oneida County pastor will spend three years behind bars in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
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According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, 59-year-old James Swanson of Rome admitted that in March of 2022, he uploaded several videos of child pornography to a cloud storage account under his control. Additionally, Swanson said that for years he would periodically purge his collection of child pornography before eventually accessing, viewing, and downloading more.
Documents filed in the United District Court say that Swanson was a pastor for decades. Swanson most recently served as the pastor of Rome Wesleyan Church.
A 15-year term of supervised release was also implemented by Chief United States District Judge, Brenda K. Sannes, which Swanson will begin serving after his release from prison. Also after being released, Swanson will be required to register as a sex offender.
