Sex Offender Caught in Halfway House with Child Pornography Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

ST. LOUIS - U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a registered sex offender who was caught in a halfway house with child sexual abuse material to 15 years in prison.

Eric Michael Swancutt, 46, pleaded guilty in January in U.S. District Court in St. Louis to one count of receiving child pornography. On Aug. 17, 2022, a staffer at the residential reentry center near Farmington, Missouri found a cell phone hidden in Swancutt's sock during a pat down search. A court-approved search of the phone uncovered child pornography and evidence that Swancutt had searched for child pornography, Swancutt's plea agreement says.

In 2017, Swancutt was sentenced in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis to 97 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to two counts of receiving child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

The FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Chapman prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.