Idaho Falls man charged with 10 felonies after allegedly possessing ‘extreme’ child porn

IDAHO FALLS — A 24-year-old Idaho Falls man has been charged with multiple felonies after allegedly possessing “extreme” child porn that shows forceful child rape acts.

Teagan Dee Swanson was charged with 10 felonies for willfully possessing or accessing child sexually exploitative material.

According to the affidavit of probable cause filed by the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, on Aug. 5, 2022, a detective was assigned a case with a possible suspect in Idaho Falls.

A cyber tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children stated MediaLab/Kik discovered one of its users uploaded three “extreme” videos of child sexual abuse material through a Kik account in April. It was believed that the user was located in eastern Idaho, according to the IP address.

“These videos from the cyber tip show violent and forceful child rape acts with females as young as 4 to 5 years old up to approximately 14 years old,” the detective wrote in documents.

On Jan. 19, a search warrant was executed at the Idaho Falls home Swanson lives at. He was taken to the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office for an interview.

The detective asked Swanson about the internet accounts he uses and specifically his Kik account. He initially told the detective he didn’t remember what his username was. But Swanson did say that a username suggested by the detective may have been his in the past, according to court documents. Swanson said his Kik account was shut down or banned but wasn’t sure of the date, possibly a year ago. The detective said that his account was still active, at least until May 2022.

Later in the interview, Swanson admitted to having the Kik account username and remembered when it was banned, documents said.

The detective asked him about the three videos that were uploaded to Kik. He admitted that he would receive the video links from groups on Kik and even said he would send the links back to the group.

“Swanson recognized what he did was wrong by sharing those images and links,” a detective wrote.

Swanson told the detective that Kik was the only app where he viewed child pornography.

The detective said Swanson talked about pornography addiction. The detective asked him what percentage of the pornography Swanson had ever viewed was of children. He didn’t answer the question directly but said it was just a “handful of times … not every day,” documents said.

The detective repeated the question again and Swanson allegedly said, “Maybe 10% of the time.”

In documents, the detective asked Swanson what the youngest child he ever saw on the internet was. Swanson said 15 to 16 years old.

On Jan. 25, the detective examined Swanson’s phone.

“In total, I found approximately 158 images of (child pornography) just on this one device. Further examinations of Swanson’s other devices are forthcoming,” the detective wrote.

These images showed multiple children who were as young as infants being sexually abused.

An arrest warrant was then issued for Swanson. He had an initial court appearance on Friday. His bond was set at $75,000. If he bonds out, he will be sent to pretrial services. He cannot have contact with minor children or access the internet.

Each charge carries up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Though Swanson has been charged with these crimes, it does not necessarily mean he committed them. Everyone is presumed innocent until they are proven guilty.

Swanson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. at the Bonneville County courthouse.