Obscene materials charge nets a plea

Published Saturday, September 20, 2008

A Columbia man pleaded guilty this week in federal court to a charge of transferring obscene material to a minor, according to Boone County sheriff’s Detective Andy Anderson. Akshaya K. Swain, 30, of 1321 Anthony St., was the subject of an undercover investigation by the Mid-Missouri Internet Crimes Task Force. In June, the office of the U.S. Attorney of the Western District of Missouri identified Swain as a graduate student and employee of the University of Missouri. The MU Web site lists Swain as a doctoral physics student.

Swain

In Nov. 2007, a member of the Internet task force posed as a 14-year-old girl in an online chat room, Anderson said in a news release. Swain contacted the decoy on three separate occasions, engaging in sexually graphic conversation.

On one occasion, Anderson said in the news release, Swain exposed himself to the decoy child for the purpose of sexual gratification. Swain was charged on Nov. 8, 2007, and indicted by a federal grand jury this June, according to previous Tribune reports.

Local law enforcement officers and the FBI were also involved in the investigation.

In March, Swain was arrested in the New Orleans suburb of Kenner, La. He was accused of traveling to Louisiana to have sex with someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl he met online but was actually an undercover Kenner police detective.