Tulsa Man Sentenced for Possession and Distribution of Child Pornography

A Tulsa man was sentence today for Distribution and Receipt of Child Pornography and Possession of Child Pornography, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. 

Kevin Edward Swarthout, 48, was sentenced to 180 months in federal prison and 25 years of supervised release today in front of U.S. District Court Judge Gregory K. Frizzell. In addition, at least 5 victims who were abused during the creation of the pornography he downloaded and distributed will receive mandatory restitution as required by the Amy, Vicky, and Andy Child Pornography Victim Assistance Act of 2018.

Swarthout has both state and federal convictions for child pornography. Additionally, he has extensive state probation violations for further sexual misconduct and placing himself in proximity to children. Swarthout, a member of the Cherokee Nation, recently had state child pornography charges dismissed at the Tulsa County District Court due to the recent Supreme Court decision on McGirt v. Oklahoma.

“Multi-convicted child porn offender Kevin Swarthout is headed exactly where he belongs, behind bars. Our system of laws seeks to protect our children from men like Swarthout who are seemingly addicted to child pornography,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “This is a supply and demand problem. We must attack both so as to weed out these child-preying criminals. I am thankful for the thorough work of our law enforcement partners, and I applaud Judge Frizzell for handing down this stern sentence.”

Swarthout admitted that between December 25, 2019 and May 12, 2020, in the Northern District of Oklahoma and elsewhere, after he had previously been convicted of Possession of Child Pornography, he knowingly received more than 100 videos and distributed at least 21 videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. He further admitted to possessing and accessing with intent to view visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct in multiple graphic image and video files. At least one of the files depicted a minor that had not attained 12 years of age engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The Tulsa Police Department Cyber Crimes Unit and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Nassar is prosecuting the case.