Source: Office of United States Attorneys
ST. LOUIS – A man from Pevely, Missouri on Tuesday admitted recording his sexual abuse of a minor.
Matthew Gamel, 36, admitted that on at least four occasions, he recorded his sexual abuse of the victim. She was under 14 years of age at the time. He also acknowledged possessing more than 1,700 media files containing child sexual abuse material that he obtained online, in addition to the files documenting his abuse of the victim. Gamel pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a minor and one count of receipt of child pornography.
Gamel is scheduled to be sentenced May 22. As part of the plea, both sides have agreed to recommend a sentence of 25 years in prison.
The Pevely Police Department and the FBI investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hayes is prosecuting the case.
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 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice 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.justice.gov/psc.