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Virginia Beach man arrested on child porn charges to serve 10 years behind bars

Posted at 4:23 PM, Nov 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-11-08 16:23:55-05

Karl Swoveland. (VBSO)

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – A Virginia Beach man accused of possessing and distributing child porn was sentenced today to 10 years behind bars.

Karl Swoveland will serve 20 years supervised release after his time in prison comes to an end. He will also pay a $100 fine.

Federal investigators say they had been tracking peer-to-peer networks and traced child porn to Swoveland’s house when they arrested him in March 2018.

Investigators took out a search warrant at his home and searched a desktop in the 59-year-old’s bedroom, court documents say. The search of the computer “contained titles indicative of child pornography.”

Investigators told Swoveland they were there for “internet activity” and they asked him to rank his computer expertise on a scale of one to ten. Court documents say Swoveland then told them he no longer wished to speak with them.

Still, investigators say Swoveland continued to talk with him and after interviews with other family members he “asked me if we had what we needed on his computer.” In addition, court documents say Swoveland admitted to family members that he had been downloading child porn and apologized to his family.