Repeat Sex Offender Is Sentenced To 15 Years For Child Pornography

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Matthew Stacks, 45, of Charlotte, was sentenced late yesterday to 15 years in prison for transportation of child pornography, announced Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn Jr. also ordered Stacks to serve a lifetime of supervised release and to register as a sex offender after he is released from prison.

John A. Strong, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division joins U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to court documents and information introduced at the sentencing hearing, on January 3, 2018, Stacks was using a peer-to-peer network to access and transport multiple files containing child pornography. During a subsequent search of Stack’s residence, law enforcement seized electronic and storage devices. Forensic analysis of the items seized revealed that Stacks possessed over 27,000 images and 32 videos of child pornography, some of which depicted children as young as toddlers being sexually abused.  

Stacks has prior convictions in North Carolina, including Second Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor in 2012.  He was also convicted in 2013 for a sex offender registry violation.

Stacks pleaded guilty on May 15, 2019, to transportation of child pornography. He is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole. 

The FBI led the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Cortney Randall of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte prosecuted the case.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ 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 www.projectsafechildhood.gov.