Wilmington Man Pleads Guilty to Child Pornography Charge

NEW BERN—United States Attorney Thomas G. Walker announced that in federal court yesterday MATTHEW BRYAN WARFORD, 21, pled guilty before United States Magistrate Judge David W. Daniel to transportation of child pornography, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 2252(a)(2).

According to the October 25, 2011 criminal indictment, on August 22, 2010, WARFORD transported images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct. According to the investigation, in March, 2011, law enforcement received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that child pornography had been uploaded to Photobucket.com. Law enforcement tracked the IP address to WARFORD’s Wilmington, North Carolina, residence. While conducting an interview, law enforcement learned that WARFORD was a registered sex offender from a 2009 conviction.

Due to his prior conviction, according to Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252, 71, 109A, and 117 or Title 10, United States Code, Section 920, WARFORD faces an enhanced sentence of up to 40 years’ imprisonment at sentencing, which has not yet been set.

This case was part of the Project Safe Childhood initiative, a national program aimed at ensuring that criminals exploiting children are effectively prosecuted by making full use of all available law enforcement resources at every level. For more information about this important national project, Project Safe Childhood, go to www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Investigation of this case was conducted by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Ethan Ontjes is prosecuting the case.