PHILADELPHIA — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.

PHILADELPHIA – United States Attorney David Metcalf announced that Isaiah Matthews, 28, of Chester, Pennsylvania, entered a plea of guilty before United States District Judge Michael M. Baylson yesterday to two counts of manufacture and attempted manufacture of child pornography, two counts of use of an interstate commerce facility to entice, and attempt to entice, a minor to engage in sexual conduct, five counts of receipt of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography, offenses arising from his sexual exploitation of five minors, ages 11 years old to 15 years old.

The defendant was arrested on a criminal complaint and warrant in January of 2025, charged by indictment in April 2025, and by superseding indictment in May of this year. 

As detailed in court filings and statements, Matthews enticed and directed two minor victims, who were under the age of 18, to photograph and video record themselves engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

In addition, from about November 20, 2022, through about January 7, 2026, Matthews knowingly received visual depictions whose production involved the use of all five minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. On January 7, 2025, Matthews also possessed child pornography. 

The defendant is scheduled to be sentenced on March 9 and faces a maximum possible term of life imprisonment, with a mandatory minimum of 15 years’ imprisonment, and five years up to a lifetime of supervised release. 

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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the 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 projectsafechildhood.gov.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, FBI Baltimore, and FBI Philadelphia’s Newtown Square Resident Agency and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Catherine S. Dos Santos and David J. Ignall.