Attorney General's Sexual Predator Apprehension Team Investigation Results in Arrest

(NAPA) –Attorney General Bill Lockyer today announced as a result of an investigation by the California Department of Justice San Francisco Sexual Predator Apprehension Team (SF SPAT), a Napa resident has been arrested on charges of possession of child pornography.

In mid-September, during a routine resident probation search, agents with the Napa Special Investigation Bureau (NSIB) located multiple CD-ROMs containing child pornography. The subject of the probation search informed officers that the material belonged to his roommate, Rodney Swanson. NSIB agents notified the SF SPAT office of the materials on September 12, 2003. An arrest warrant was issued and Swanson, 46, was taken into custody the same day.

Last Thursday, with another search warrant in hand, SF SPAT agents searched Swanson's residence seizing four computers, software and a loaded handgun. The Northern California Computer Crimes Task Force in Napa performed a forensic examination on all of the computer related items and, in addition to the original CD-ROMs, found thousands of images of minors ranging from 3 to 18 years of age. Over 1300 of the images are considered by the FBI to be child pornography.

Swanson was booked into the Napa County Jail. The Napa County District Attorney's office will be prosecuting the case.