Illinois Man Sentenced to 10 Years for Possessing Child Pornography

MADISON, WIS. – Scott C. Blader, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Matthew Slaughter, 37, Rockford, Illinois, was sentenced on July 18 by U.S. District Judge James Peterson to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography.  This sentence will run consecutively to an eight-year sentence the defendant was already serving for repeated sexual assault of a minor, and will be followed by 25 years of supervised release.  Slaughter pleaded guilty to this charge on April 19, 2019.

In 2002, Slaughter was convicted of repeated sexual assault of a child.  He was on extended supervision for that offense when he committed his federal offense.  In addition to possessing child pornography, he had contact with several minors, asking them to send him explicit pictures.  

Judge Peterson called the defendant a “dangerous predator” and ordered the defendant’s federal sentence to run consecutively to his state sentence because the defendant exploited his victims’ vulnerabilities for his own sexual satisfaction.

The charge against Slaughter was the result of the result of an investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Noblesville (Indiana) Police Department. The prosecution of the case has been handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Altman.