Henrico County Man Sentenced to Eight Years for Distributing Child Pornography

RICHMOND, VA—Christopher Todd Matthews, Jr., 29, of Henrico County, Virginia, was sentenced today to eight years in prison for distributing scores of child pornographic videos.

Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli, II made the announcement after sentencing by United States District Judge Robert E. Payne.

According to court documents and evidence presented at court, undercover federal agents initially detected Matthews sharing child pornography videos over an online peer-to-peer network. Computer forensic evidence revealed that Matthews had saved 152 videos of child pornography and had distributed 86 of those videos over the Internet. Additional evidence revealed that for a period of eight years, Matthews sexually abused two minor relatives on a consistent basis beginning in their prepubescent years into their teenage years. Matthews committed these offenses partly as a juvenile and partly as an adult.

Dozens of the child pornographic videos recovered in the case were identified by the National Center for Missing Exploited children as victims in previous law enforcement investigations around the country. Following his term of imprisonment, Matthews will be required to register as a sex offender in any U.S. jurisdiction in which he lives, works, or attends school.

This case was investigated by agents with the FBI’s Innocent Images Task Force. Special Assistant United States Attorney Gene Fishel of the Virginia Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.