Tennessee Man sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for distribution of Child Pornography

Anchorage, Alaska - U.S. Attorney Karen L. Loeffler announced today that a Tennessee man was sentenced in federal court in Anchorage for two counts of distributing child pornography. 

Matthew Bren Goodlett, 33, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Ralph R. Beistline, to 126 months in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release, for distributing sexually explicit images of children.  Goodlett emailed the materials to an email account in Alaska in January 2012.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Audrey J. Renschen, over 3,500 images and 150 videos of children being sexually exploited were involved, including images of children under age 12, and “material that portrays sadistic or masochistic conduct or other depictions of violence.”

At Goodlett’s sentencing, Judge Beistline noted the seriousness of the offenses, the ongoing harm to the victimized children, and the need to deter this kind of conduct.  After serving his 10 years and 6 months in prison, Judge Beistline stated Goodlett must serve 20 years of supervised release and be required to comply with special conditions, including participating in sex offender assessment and treatment, and registering as a sex offender.

This case was initiated as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse which was launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice.  Led by United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood combines federal, state and local resources to better identify, 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

Ms. Loeffler commends Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations for their investigation of this case.