District of Maine | Winterport man sentenced to 20 years for distributing child sexual abuse material

BANGOR, Maine: A Winterport man was convicted today in U.S. District Court in Bangor of distributing child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Stacey D. Neumann sentenced Steven Mathijs35, up to 240 months in prison, followed by 20 years of supervised release. Mathis pleaded guilty on April 25, 2024.

According to court records, in August 2021, Mathis used an online chat platform to discuss child sexual abuse material with others. In one exchange, another user requested a sexually explicit image of a child, and Mathis provided an image. In an interview with Maine State Police, Mathis admitted to distributing child sexual abuse material online.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Maine State Police investigated the case.

To report an incident involving the possession, distribution, receipt, or production of child pornography: Child sexual abuse material – in legal terms ‘child pornography’ – documents the sexual abuse and exploitation of children. These images document the exploitation and abuse of the victims, and every time the images are shared or viewed, they are re-victimized. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at https://report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678. If you are in Maine and you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted or abused, you can get help by calling the state’s toll-free, private 24-hour Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-871-7741.

Safe Childhood Project: This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Division, Project Safe Childhood uses federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children online, and to identify and prosecute victims. to rescue. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-me/psc.

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