Jeffersonville resident sentenced for sexually exploiting boys he met in church group

Maria DeVito, Newark Advocate
·2 min read
The Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse on Marconi Boulevard Downtown houses the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
The Joseph P. Kinneary U.S. Courthouse on Marconi Boulevard Downtown houses the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

A Newark man will spend 25 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors and soliciting child pornography from more than 50 boys, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio announced Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors accused Matthew I. Reif, 27, of victimizing at least 52 minor boys, some to whom he had access through his role in a local youth church group. The actions took place in person and online between October 2020 and July 2022.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Morrison sentenced Reif on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Columbus. Reif pleaded guilty to the charges in December.

"Reif exploited his victims’ vulnerabilities through their religion, their financial limitations and their youth for his own perverted fantasies," U.S. Attorney Kenneth Parker in a statement. "For the well-being of those children whom he has already harmed, and to prevent the mental, psychological or physical damage to any additional children, Reif must be kept away from society for a significant period of time."

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Prosecutors also accused Reif of posing as a girl on the social media app Snapchat to get teenage boys to send him photos or videos and offered them gifts and money to engage in sex acts.

A traveling surgical technician, Reif lived during the week in Jeffersonville, Indiana, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky, where he had a storage unit containing several digital media devices, such as a USB drive and SD cards, according to the Justice Department.

Reif also contacted boys he knew from the community and whose trust he garnered through his position at a Heath church, prosecutors alleged in court documents. He would then screenshot photos and videos sent via Snapchat. In addition, prosecutors claimed Reif recorded some of the victims with a hidden camera during overnight stays.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark man sentenced for sexually exploiting minors through Snapchat