Cabot man says guilty of exploitation of child

Arrested after online chat, judge told

Nearly four weeks ahead of his scheduled jury trial, a 27-year-old Cabot man pleaded guilty Wednesday to a single count of sexual exploitation of a child by a parent or guardian and agreed to serve 25 years in federal prison, where parole is unavailable.

U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright accepted the plea on the condition that if she ultimately wants to sentence Matthew Hiner to a longer prison term, he may withdraw the plea and go to trial on four child-pornography charges, three of which were tentatively dismissed in exchange for his plea.

When asked what the government was prepared to prove in a trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristin Bryant told the judge that when Hiner was arrested in August of 2013, he admitted engaging in sexual activities with a 5-year-old boy who visited him on occasion, as well as a friend’s sons, who were ages 8 and 11, and taking pictures of himself and the 11-year-old engaging in sex acts. Bryant didn’t say whether Hiner’s friend was aware of the activities at the time.

She said Hiner was caught by an undercover officer in Washington, D.C., who as part of a child exploitation task force, communicated

with Hiner on Aug. 22, 2013, in an online chat room called “incest.”

Calling himself Daddy-looking4fam, Hiner posted a message saying, “I’m a single 25-year-old active bi dad of a 5 year old son from usa.”

The undercover officer, pretending to be interested in a possible meeting, asked questions about the kinds of activity “Daddy” engaged in with the child, and Hiner responded in detail. He also wrote, “I’m looking for a like-minded family to merge with and raise a very loving and active family with.”

The conversation then moved to a private chat room, where Hiner revealed that the boy wasn’t with him at the time but would be visiting him on a certain date in September, and he provided his phone number so his correspondent could reach him then, Bryant said. Hiner then sent a photograph of himself, fully clothed, which Bryant said agents matched to his driver’s license photograph after tracing his Internet protocol address to his grandmother’s house in Cabot.

Bryant said Hiner also posted still images of a prepubescent boy’s genitalia, followed by an image of himself performing a sex act on the same boy, and another image of a young boy, clad only in a diaper, touching an adult male’s genitalia.

Bryant said agents searched a public database and found a photograph of the boy, fully clothed, with his mother, which enabled them to identify the child. In the photo, the boy was holding a pumpkin.

Hiner’s attorney, Lisa Peters of the federal public defender’s office, told the judge that Hiner has other charges pending in state court, so he didn’t want to admit to any of the allegations except those involving the first count of permitting exploitation by a parent or guardian.

The other charges are enticing a child to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing child pornography, possessing child pornography and distributing child pornography. An indictment alleges that the acts behind the charges were committed on various dates between June of 2012 and August of 2013.

The charge to which Hiner pleaded guilty, admitting to permitting a child to engage in child pornography, is punishable by a minimum prison sentence of 15 years and a maximum of 30 years, to be followed by probation of 5 years to life.

Hiner, a large man with curly red hair and wearing a bright pink jail uniform, stood in front of Wright and gave clear, firm answers to the judge’s questions.

The judge said she will set a sentencing date after federal probation officers complete a pre-sentence investigation and prepare a report to aid in sentencing. If Wright rejects the plea agreement after reviewing the report and Hiner withdraws his conditional plea, he will be scheduled for trial. The trial was set to begin June 29.