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Press Release
PADUCAH, Ky. – A McCracken County, Kentucky man was sentenced today, by Senior Judge Thomas B. Russell, in United States District Court, to 240 months in prison, followed by a life-time term of supervised release for violating child pornography laws, announced David J. Hale, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky.
On November 9, 2012, a superseding indictment was filed against Matthew Francis Ferreira, age 28, by a federal grand jury meeting in Paducah, Kentucky. Ferreira was charged with three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography, via a computer.
On February 26, 2013, Ferreira pleaded guilty to all counts of the superseding indictment, and admitted that he utilized peer-to-peer software and Skype software to knowingly distribute images of child pornography. According to the plea agreement, in January 2012, Ferreira distributed, through the internet, several video files containing child pornography images, from the peer-to-peer software on his computer. In February 2012, he distributed files of child pornography directly to another individual. In March 2012, he possessed multiple images of child pornography. Ferreira agreed to forfeiture of personal items used in the commission of the crimes.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Sparks and was investigated by the Kentucky Attorney General’s Cybercrime Unit.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”