Former high school coach pleads guilty to federal child pornography charges

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A Rhode Island man pleaded guilty in federal court in Providence Tuesday to one count each of receipt, possession and distribution of child pornography, as charged in a federal indictment returned in August. The guilty plea is the result of an extensive investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Glen Matteson, 52, of Richmond, R.I., a former Chariho (R.I.) High School assistant soccer coach, faces up to 60 years in federal prison, a lifetime of supervised release and a $750,000 fine.

He will be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell Jr. Feb. 8, 2013.

The former Chariho High School assistant soccer coach also faces charges in state court of indecent solicitation of a child, brought by the Richmond Police Department.

According to information presented to the court, Richmond police received a complaint Feb. 19 from a local resident that he had found sexually graphic text messages from Matteson on the cell phone of his 15-year-old son, a soccer player on Matteson's team.

With the father's consent, Richmond police engaged in a series of text message exchanges with Matteson over four days, assuming the identity of the boy. In the context of the sexually explicit texts, Matteson invited the boy to come with him to a soccer event and offered to pick him up. On February 22, the morning of the planned meeting, Matteson was arrested by Richmond police.

According to information presented to the court, after making certain admissions to Richmond police to viewing, storing and distributing child pornography images and videos, officers sought and executed a court authorized search warrant on Matteson's cell phone, two home computers, a digital storage device and his work computer. In addition to discovering numerous text messages and emails containing sexually explicit messages, a forensic search of the equipment resulted in the discovery of 898 images and 73 videos depicting child pornography.

The matter was investigated by HSI, the Richmond Police Department and the Rhode Island State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST.

HSI is a founding member and the U.S. representative of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams.