A former officer with the Hilltown Township Police Department was sentenced to county jail time Friday
following a guilty plea for possession of child pornography.
Matthew Reiss, 49, of Upper Hanover Township, was sentenced by Common Pleas Court Judge Wendy Rothstein to 11-1/2 to 23 months in county jail — the maximum allowed under the charges — followed by three years of supervised probation.
According to Carl Hessler Jr. in The Reporter, Judge Rothstein told Reiss, "Many people view this as a victimless crime. Nothing could be farther from the truth. … What is more disturbing is you were a police officer.”
"There needs to be accountability for your horrific conduct,” she added.
"I am pleased that this case has finally come to a
resolution and that Matthew Reiss has been held accountable for his
abhorrent behavior," said Hilltown Police Chief Christopher Engelhart, in a statement provided to North Penn Now on Monday. "However, I am disappointed that Reiss did not
formally apologize to all those negatively impacted by his actions,
particularly his nameless child victims.”
The investigation began in April 2021, when members of the Montgomery County Detective Bureau received a cybertip from the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding two images of child sexual abuse that had been uploaded to a Gmail account.
Investigators said that the IP address for the Gmail account was traced to Reiss’ home in Upper Hanover Township, and the phone number associated with the account was known to belong to Reiss.
Investigators served a search warrant on Google for information about the Gmail account. On May 16, 2021, Google provided investigators with 660 images from the account, of which 10 showed children under the age of 13 in various stages of undress, in sexual poses and being sexually assaulted, according to the criminal complaint.
Hundreds of additional images and videos were recovered from a hard drive in Reiss’ basement during the execution of a search warrant on his home in May 2021. Investigators said the images and videos depicted the sexual abuse of children between infancy and prepubescence, with at least 84 of the files depicting toddlers and infants and at least six of the files depicting sadism and sexual violence towards children.
Reiss, an 18-year veteran of the Hilltown Township Police Department,
was placed on unpaid administrative leave following his arrest in May
2021, and subsequently resigned from the department. The investigation found no connections between the child pornography and Reiss’ employment with the Hilltown Township Police Department, according to charging documents.
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