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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A man wanted since 2001 for sex offenses in Iowa was arrested in Utah after a suspicious landlord doubted his Social Security number and called the FBI, authorities said Wednesday.
Kirk Swearingen, 45, likely won't be returning to the Midwest. He was indicted on charges of receiving and possessing child pornography after agents examined compact discs in his computer case.
"He's here now, and we have federal charges. We would certainly like to keep him," said Melodie Rydalch, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in Salt Lake City.
The mandatory minimum sentence for receiving child pornography is 15 years in prison. Swearingen was in custody awaiting a detention hearing Thursday. Defense attorney Viviana Ramirez could not immediately be reached for comment.
After riding an Amtrak train to Salt Lake City from California on Sept. 15, he attempted to rent an apartment under a different name and supplied a Social Security number that actually belonged to a 91-year-old man, FBI agent Jeff Ross said in a court document.
The landlord called the FBI. Agents interviewed Swearingen and caught him in a series of lies about his name, date of birth and Social Security number, Ross said.
After fingerprinting him, agents found an arrest warrant from Jasper County, Iowa, where he was charged in the sexual abuse of two minors five years ago.
Swearingen also is wanted in Rapid City, S.D., where he was charged in 1994 with a sex offense involving a minor, Ross said.
His criminal history includes a conviction for sex offenses in Colorado in 1983, the agent said.
Swearingen declared himself the "king of child pornography" but denied possessing or making it, Ross said.
In 2002, four months after the Iowa charges were filed, FBI agents there filed documents in federal court accusing Swearingen of fleeing that state. He was described as a trucker who had used 40 aliases over 20 years.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
