Mansfield Man Sentenced for Child Porn

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Mansfield, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Mathew Taylor Cox, 49, of Mansfield, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Greg Kays to eight years in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Cox to forfeit to the government a desktop computer, two computer hard drives and 938 CDs and DVDs that contain images and videos of child pornography.

On Sept. 4, 2013, Cox pleaded guilty to one count of receiving and distributing child pornography (between May 1, 2008, and March 31, 2011) and one count of possessing child pornography (on Dec. 20, 2011).

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull, II. It was investigated by the FBI, the Nixa, Mo., Police Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Project Safe Childhood

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."