Cary Man Sentenced to More than 8 Years in Prison for Receiving Child Pornography

WILMINGTON, N.C. – A Cary man was sentenced today to 97 months imprisonment followed by five years of supervised release for receipt of child pornography. Derrick Alexander Swick, age 29, pled guilty on August 8, 2023, after law enforcement was alerted in April 2021 by Dropbox that one of their users was uploading child pornography to its platform. Swick was also ordered to pay $20,000 in restitution.

According to court documents and other information presented in court, Swick was investigated by the Cary Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security (HSI). The investigation was initiated after Dropbox notified the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user, later identified as Swick, uploading child pornography to its platform. Subsequent search warrants led law enforcement to uncover child pornography in both Swick’s Dropbox and Google accounts.

Based on the search warrant results, law enforcement executed a search warrant at Swick’s residence in Cary.  Swick was present when the search warrant was executed and initially denied having ever accessed child pornography.  When confronted with the search warrant results of his Dropbox and Google account, Swick acknowledged there would be child pornography on his digital devices.  Two digital devices were seized and forensically analyzed and found to contain child pornography.  In total, Swick possessed over 939 images and 76 videos that depicted child pornography.  He additionally had approximately 4200 images that depicted child erotica or were difficult to ascertain the age of the individual.  Swick’s collection of photos and videos included very young children, infants, and toddlers, as well as images depicting sadistic and masochistic conduct.

Michael Easley, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after the sentencing was concluded.  U.S. District Judge Louise W. Flanagan presided over the sentencing.  The Cary Police Department and HSI investigated the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charity Wilson prosecuted the case.

 Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:22-CR-103-FL.

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