CHARLOTTE, N.C. — U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell sentenced Darren Matthews, 46, of Conover, N.C. to 78 months in prison for child pornography charges, according to a news release.
Darren Matthews
Federal officials say Matthews will serve a lifetime of supervised release and will have to register as a sex offender when he gets out of prison.
Detectives say in November of 2019 the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office received information that Matthews was emailing images of child pornography, and court records show that the images depicted children, some as young as toddlers, being sexually abused.
On November 22nd, 2019 police searched Matthews’ home and took numerous electronic devices to find more than 1,300 files of child porn in his possession, investigators say.
Detectives say Matthews plead guilty to having child pornography in August of 2020, and is being held in federal custody until he is placed in a designated federal facility.
Officials say this case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.
