A former police officer with the Hilltown Township Police Department has entered an open guilty plea to three felony counts of possession of child pornography.
Matthew Reiss, 48, of Upper Hanover Township, was initially scheduled to begin a bench trial on March 17 in front of Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Wendy Rothstein, however he instead entered an open guilty plea on the three charges in exchange for the remaining charges being dropped, court records show.
An open guilty plea means the defense and the prosecution agreed on which charges Reiss would plead guilty to, as well as which ones would be dismissed. However, there is no agreement on sentencing, meaning a judge will ultimately levy the sentence. A spokesperson with the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office said Reiss will face a sentencing cap of 11½ to 23 months in county jail, though there is no cap on the length of any probation sentence.
Court records show that Reiss will undergo a pre-sentencing investigation, a psychosexual evaluation, and a sexually violent predator assessment while awaiting his sentencing hearing. He remains free on $75,000 cash bail, with the stipulation that he have no unsupervised contact with minors while awaiting sentencing.
“No one is above the law. In this case and in every case, we follow the evidence where it leads and to whomever it leads, and we charge and prosecute accordingly,” said Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele, in a statement to North Penn Now. “The defendant plead guilty to possessing child pornography and is now awaiting sentencing.”
Reiss was an 18-year veteran of the Hilltown Township Police Department, but was placed on unpaid administrative leave following his arrest. He subsequently resigned from the department in the days after his arrest.
“I am glad that Matthew Reiss is finally accepting responsibility for his abhorrent actions and there will be a price to pay for him victimizing innocent children,” said Hilltown Police Chief Christopher Engelhart, in a statement provided to North Penn Now. “While not expected, he owes an apology to the law enforcement profession, his former co-workers, his friends, his family, and the public for his betrayal of their trust. But more importantly, he owes an apology to all of his victims, especially those who cannot speak out for themselves.”
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.
Google also provided investigators with chat logs, and in one chat, Reiss noted that he worked for a local government agency.
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.
The investigation found no connections between the child pornography and Reiss’ employment with the Hilltown Township Police Department, according to charging documents.
Court records show Reiss’ sentencing hearing has been scheduled for June 26 in front of Judge Rothstein.
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