Matthew Eric Mason, Receipt of Child Pornography, Iowa 2021

DES MOINES, IA – Matthew Eric Mason, a 26-year-old man from Ottumwa and Des Moines, has been sentenced to 15 ½ years in federal prison for his role in the sexual exploitation of children. On November 16, 2021, United States District Court Judge Stephanie M. Rose handed down the sentence, which will be followed by 10 years of supervised release and registration as a sex offender.

According to court documents, Mason began communicating with multiple minor boys in 2019 while playing online video games. The investigation revealed that Mason knowingly persuaded and enticed a 13-year-old boy from New Hampshire to take “selfie” photographs of his genitals and send them to Mason via an online application. This occurred on multiple occasions in early February 2019.

Mason also knowingly persuaded and enticed a 12-year-old boy from Maryland to take a photo of his genitals and send it to Mason via text message. This incident occurred in the summer of 2019. At the time of these incidents, both boys were in middle school.

In November 2019, police searched Mason’s Des Moines apartment and discovered several electronic devices containing dozens of videos of child pornography depicting adolescent boys.

The case was investigated by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the Nashua Police Department, the Ottumwa Police Department, the Wapello County Attorney’s Office, and the FBI Child Exploitation Task Force. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Iowa prosecuted the case as part of the “Project Safe Childhood” initiative, a nationwide effort to reduce the incidence of sexual exploitation of children.

The Iowa Sexual Abuse Hotline is available for anyone with knowledge of a child being sexually abused. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-284-7821.

Mason pleaded guilty to the offense on August 25, 2021. The exact criminal charges against him were Receipt of Child Pornography.

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