From The Tribune staff reports
PIEDMONT — A Piedmont man has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for possession and production of child pornography.
Matthew Allan Smyth, 37, on Monday was sentenced to 600 months in prison followed by 120 months of supervised release. Smyth pleaded guilty in December 2020 to one count of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. Authorities say this conviction will require him to register as a sex offender.
According to the plea agreement, Smyth admitted that he enticed a minor victim to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography between November 2016 and January 2018. Electronic devices seized from Smyth in March 2018 contained a total of 15 pornographic videos and 161 pornographic images of the minor victim.
Authorities say all the videos and images were produced by Smyth.
“Today’s sentence sends a strong message to all other sexual predators,” U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona said. “Smyth stole the innocence of this young child. Children are our most vulnerable victims, and my office will do everything in our power to seek justice for them.”
“These crimes are disgusting, and our investigators will remain ever vigilant in protecting victims,” Special Agent in Charge Johnnie Sharp, Jr. said. “Thank you to the collaborative efforts of our state and local law enforcement partners to remove yet another child predator from our community.”
“This sentence ensures that Smyth will not be able to hurt anyone else with his filth and the community can rest a little easier in that knowledge,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger.
FBI and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations investigated the case, along with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, Piedmont Police Department, and the Oxford Police Department.