Knox County Man Sentenced To 60 Years Imprisonment For Two Counts Of Production Of Child Pornography

KNOXVILLE Tenn. – On April 15, 2025, Matthew Estes, 26, currently of Knox County, Tennessee, was sentenced to 720 months by the Honorable Thomas A. Varlan, United States District Judge, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville.  Following his release, Estes will be on lifetime supervision and will be required to register with state sex offender registries and comply with special sex offender conditions.

As part of the plea agreement filed with the court, Estes agreed to plead guilty to an indictment charging him with two counts of production of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2251(a).

According to the filed court documents, on October 13, 2017, the Knoxville Police Department -Internet Crimes against Children (KPD-ICAC) was contacted by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about a video of Estes raping a 16-month-old victim.  The video was posted on the dark web on a Tor website, known as “HurtMeh.”  The video was located on the discussion board titled, “Toddler being pummeled without any regard to his well-being.”

On May 15, 2017, KPD-ICAC, received a video from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office of Estes again raping the 16-month-old.  The video had been located during a forensic examination of a device belonging to a suspect charged with possessing child pornography

U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee and Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud, Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) made the announcement.

The criminal indictment was the result of an investigation by the Knoxville Police Department Internet Crimes Against Children and HSI.  The investigation was headed by Detective John Williams, HSI-ICAC task force officer.

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Kolman represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006, by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  For more information about PSC, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.justice.gov/psc/resources.html and click on the tab "resources.”

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