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Social media helped police link sex offender to Dixon prison warden

Four explicit photos of children were found on the cellphone of a convicted sex offender living in the home of the now former warden of the Dixon Correctional C...

Four explicit photos of children were found on the cellphone of a convicted sex offender living in the home of the now former warden of the Dixon Correctional Center, according to police.

"Identified images of child pornography where the person in the pictures appeared to be under the age of 13," said Detective Mike Henry of the Sterling Police Department.

Robert Swon, 27, was arrested at the home of warden Nedra Chandler on September 19. He was charged with child pornography and failure to register.

Police say he was registered as a sex offender and listed the home of the warden as his address, but did not report the social media sites he was using, a requirement of the Sex Offender Registration Act.

"He was failing to notify us as far as screen names, chat rooms, Facebook, emails, all those things listed now on the form. He had failed to provide those," Detective Henry said.

Henry said the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received the tip from one of the social media sites about the images being downloaded. They reported it to the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which forwarded the information to the Sterling Police Department.

Henry said Chandler was not interviewed by police.

Chandler abruptly retired as warden Tuesday, September 30, 2014, after 29 years with the Illinois Department of Corrections. She had been placed on paid leave the day Swon was arrested.

Related: Dixon Correctional Center Warden to retire immediately

"We do expect our people to exercise good judgement and we have no tolerance at all for wrongdoing or poor judgement on the part of someone in a position such as a warden," said prison spokesperson Tom Shaer.

Police said Swon may have been a former foster child of the warden, but they could not confirm the connection.

Chandler was allowed to retire and keep a close to $75,000-a-year pension.

Ironically, an assistant warden at Dixon, Charles Fasano, was fired in July 2014 for violating prison rules when he tried to give a released offender some cash.

Swon was living with Chandler at that time.

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