Source: United States Department of Justice News
WASHINGTON – Matthew Sharp, 22, of Huber Heights, Ohio, was sentenced today to 120 months in prison for distribution of child pornography. Sharp pleaded guilty to the charge on September 16, 2022. In addition to the prison term, Sharp was ordered to complete 15 years of supervised release and to register as a sex offender.
The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Special Agent in Charge Wayne A. Jacobs of the Washington Field Office, and Chief Robert J. Contee, III, of the Metropolitan Police Department.
According to information filed in court, an undercover law enforcement officer (“UC”) engaged Sharp in October 2020 through an online group that was designed to allow its members to trade and view child pornography. The UC continued to monitor activity in the group over several days. Between October 1, 2020 and November 17, 2020, approximately 400 users joined the group for the purpose of exchanging child pornography and discussing the sexual abuse of children. Sharp was the creator and administer of the group and personally required new users to “verify” when joining the group.
On October 1, 2020, Sharp sent the UC a direct message via KIK asking him to “verify,” meaning to prove that he either possessed child pornography or that he had access to a child. Sharp specifically asked the UC to send him “cp,” or in the alternative to send “a live photo” of a child. The defendant further stated to the UC that most of the users in the group were “cp collectors,” indicating that group members collected child pornography. That same day, Sharp posted two videos to the group. Both videos depicted adult men sexually abusing children. The defendant distributed additional videos depicting child sexual assault within the group.
On January 7, 2021, law enforcement agents seized Sharp’s digital devices, and those devices were forensically examined. The defendant’s cell phone contained photographs and videos depicting the sexual abuse of children. Sharp admitted to law enforcement that he was in fact the administrator of the child pornography sharing group, that members of the group shared images of child pornography with him, and that he distributed child pornography to others.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Graves, Special Agent in Charge Jacobs, and Chief Contee commended those who worked on the case from the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes members of the FBI’s Washington Field Office and MPD’s Youth Investigations Division. They also expressed appreciation to those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rachel Forman and Janani Iyengar.