Matthew Ryan O’Connell, 31, of Wildwood has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to federal charges of possessing and transporting child pornography. He pleaded guilty to the two charges in May, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported.
U.S. District Judge Catherine D. Perry sentenced O’Connell on Oct. 6 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, court records show.
According to the guilty plea agreement, O’Connell began to communicate with a St. Louis County Police sergeant in March 2020 through the officer’s undercover “Grindr” phone app profile. O’Connell’s “Grindr” profile was “I like young guys,” and he told the undercover officer he had a collection of child sexual abuse material.
O’Connell sent images of child pornography to the sergeant through the “Kik” and Wickr” apps. O’Connell also told the sergeant a teenager was sharing child porn with him, the guilty plea said.
In May 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified the St. Louis Police that someone was using “Snapchat” to send images of child sexual abuse. A detective traced the material to O’Connell, and the St. Louis County Police received a search warrant for O’Connell’s home, according to the plea agreement.
On May 19, 2020, St. Louis County Police and a Homeland Security agent searched O’Connell’s home. They found two cell phones and a laptop, which had been hidden under a treadmill in the basement, with more the 600 images of child porn, the guilty plea said.
O’Connell admitted he used the internet to transport images and video of child pornography from August 2019 through May 2020, according to the guilty plea.
The St. Louis County Police and Homeland Security investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carrie Costantin prosecuted the case.
The 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 Department of Justice Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, 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, go to justice.gov/psc.