FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   CONTACT:  DAVID R. DUGAS                                                             

WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 12, 2008   (225) 389-0443

WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/LAM  FAX:  (225) 389-0561

MISSOURI MAN SENTENCED TO FEDERAL PRISON

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - AKSHAYA SWAIN, 30, of Columbia, Missouri, was sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Helen G. Berrigan to fifteen (15) months in prison followed by three (3) years supervised release for transfer of obscene material to a minor, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.  SWAIN previously pled guilty on July 23, 2008 to a Superseding Bill of Information for transfer of obscene material to a minor.

According to documents filed in federal court, AKSHAYA SWAIN was a 29 year old graduate student at the University of Missouri in Columbia where he initiated obscene online communications using the screen name “aks281usa” with a 15-year old girl from Kenner.  The girl was actually an undercover detective with the Kenner Police Department assigned to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Innocent Images Task Force, New Orleans.  The defendant was subsequently arrested by Special Agents of the FBI when he traveled to New Orleans for a convention in March, 2008.

Judge Berrigan remanded SWAIN to the custody of the U. S. Marshal’s Service.  In a separate federal indictment, out of Missouri, SWAIN is scheduled to be sentenced on December 10, 2008, for violating the same federal statute.

This investigation was conducted by the Kenner Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The prosecution of this case is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Brian M. Klebba.