NORRISTOWN — A Horsham Township man was sent to jail after he admitted to charges that he possessed and disseminated child pornography while using his cellphone.
Christopher G. Matton, 26, of the 300 block of Easton Road, was sentenced in Montgomery County Court to 11½ to 23 months in the county jail after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of disseminating child pornography in connection with incidents that occurred between June and August 2022.
Judge Virgil B. Walker also ordered Matton to complete six years of probation which will keep Matton under court supervision for a total of six years.
The judge said Matton, who was represented by defense lawyer Steven M. Pacillio, also must undergo a psychosexual evaluation and comply with all recommendations for treatment.
Additionally, Matton faces a 25-year requirement to report his address to state police in order to comply with Pennsylvania’s Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act, previously known as Megan’s Law.
An investigation began in August 2022, when the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received a report from Reddit, an online platform, that one of its users uploaded six images of suspected child pornography, according to the criminal complaint filed by Horsham Township Detective Gloria G. Hatcher.
The images depicted males and females, some as young as under the age of 6, engaged in sexual acts or poses, according to the arrest affidavit.
Detectives traced the internet address to Matton’s Easton Road home in Horsham and went to the residence armed with a search warrant on Nov. 9, 2022. During the search, detectives seized Matton’s cellphone.
“Chris Matton identified the cellphone as belonging to him. A forensic examination was conducted on the cellphone,” Hatcher wrote in the arrest affidavit.
Detectives subsequently determined the cellphone contained more than 100 photos that depicted juveniles and infants in varying states of nudity or engaged in sexual acts or poses, according to court papers.
A charge of criminal use of a communication facility was dismissed against Matton in exchange for his guilty plea to the child pornography charges.
Officials said county detectives, along with specially trained and sworn detectives from police departments countywide, routinely work with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to protect children from internet predators by aggressively and proactively investigating internet crimes that exploit children.
