Folsom man sentenced to 40 years in prison for sexual exploitation of minor, amid broader crackdown on online predation

A Folsom man has been sentenced to a hefty 40-year prison term for the sexual exploitation of a minor, with the case shining a spotlight on the ongoing plague of online predation. Matthew Goyder, 41, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta and will also face a lifetime of supervised release following his imprisonment, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced. The charges stem from Goyder’s use of the social media platform Snapchat to prey on minors, posing as a teenager to coerce his victims into providing sexually explicit images and videos, according to court documents.

Investigators who examined Goyder’s iPhone discovered approximately 120 albums of explicit content, many of which were cataloged with the victims’ names and ages. This is stark evidence of the perpetrator’s extensive exploitative activities. This case, a partnership between the Folsom Police Department and the Sacramento Valley Hi-tech Crimes Task Force, has exposed the disturbing reality of online child exploitation that Project Safe Childhood, an initiative of the Department of Justice, is actively working to eradicate.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Yang led the prosecution of this harrowing case, which grows out of Project Safe Childhood’s broader mission to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse, a growing epidemic the initiative has been fighting since its founding in May 2006, as detailed on the U.S. Attorney’s Office website. Project Safe Childhood brings together federal, state, and local resources to investigate, prosecute offenders, and assist victims. More information about Internet safety education can be found on the Department of Justice’s official website.