Schenectady County Sex Offender Sentenced to 300 Months for Attempted Enticement of a Minor

ALBANY, NEW YORK – Matthew Peters, age 49, of Schenectady, New York, was sentenced today to 300 months in prison for attempting to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity and for committing a felony offense involving a minor while required to register as a sex offender. United States Attorney Carla B. Freedman and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), made the announcement.

As part of his guilty plea, Peters admitted that between October 2 and October 7, 2020, he initiated and exchanged sexually explicit text messages with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old child. After learning the apparent child was 14 years old, Peters repeatedly asked the minor for “nudes” and “live” pictures.  Peters also asked the minor to meet him on multiple occasions and discussed engaging in various sexual acts with the minor when they met.  On October 7, Peters arrived at the prearranged meeting location near Albany, where he was encountered by law enforcement officers and arrested. Peters was a registered sex offender at the time of the offense; he had three prior sex offense convictions, two felony convictions in 2000 and one in 2012, each involving the sexual abuse of a child he had met online.

Senior United States District Judge Gary L. Sharpe also imposed a life term of post-imprisonment supervised release. Peters will again have to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

This case was investigated by the FBI Albany’s Child Exploitation Task Force, which includes members of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, including the Colonie Police Department, Rotterdam Police Department and the New York State Police.  Assistant United States Attorney Alexander P. Wentworth-Ping prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood.

Launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice, Project Safe Childhood is led by United States Attorney’s offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS).  Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc.