Elliot County Registered Sex Offender Sentenced for Attempted Production of Child Pornography

ASHLAND, Ky. – A Sandy Hook, Ky., man, Matthew Nelson, 52, was sentenced on Monday, to 35 years in prison, by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning, for attempted production of child pornography and for committing a felony offense involving a minor as a registered sex offender. 

According to his plea agreement, in November 2023, law enforcement received information that Nelson, a registered sex offender, was engaging in sexual chatting with minor females via the internet and social media platforms. During an interview with law enforcement, Nelson admitted that he drove to one of the minor victim’s homes and provided her with vape products in an effort to get her to engage in sexual activity with him. Nelson also admitted that he attempted to persuade the victim to take sexually explicit images of herself and send them to Nelson via the internet. 

Nelson was previously convicted in Alaska for sexual abuse of a minor 3^rd degree and was required to register as a sex offender. 

Under federal law, Nelson must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for 15 years. 

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Rana Saoud, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Sheriff Jamie Reihs, Boyd County Sheriff’s Office; and Sheriff Ray Craft, Elliot County Sheriff’s Office, jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by HSI, Boyd County Sheriff’s Office, and Elliot County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Roth is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted this case as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

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