1125 Chapline Street, Federal Building, Suite 3000 ● Wheeling, WV 26003
(304) 234-0100 ● Contact: Fawn E. Thomas, Public Affairs Specialist

 

September 9, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yoder, Indiana, Resident Indicted
in West Virginia on Child Exploitation Charges

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA — A 39 year old Yoder, Indiana, resident was named in an Indictment returned on September 8, 2010, by a Federal Grand Jury sitting in Clarksburg, West Virginia.

United States Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld, II announced that MATTHEW M. P. MABEE, also known as “mattftw24,” was named in a two-count Indictment. Count One of the Indictment alleges that MABEE traveled in interstate commerce on February 26, 2010, from the State of Indiana to the State of West Virginia for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a 14 year-old boy. Count Two of the Indictment alleges that MABEE, a registered sex offender by the law of the State of Indiana, committed a felony offense involving a minor on February 26, 2010, in Tunnelton, West Virginia.

If convicted MABEE faces a maximum penalty of 30 years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000 on Count One of the Indictment; and a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment (in addition to the sentence imposed on Count One) on Count Two of the Indictment.

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David J. Perri. The case was investigated by the West Virginia State Police.

It should be noted that the charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations and not evidence of guilt, and that each defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.