July 17, 2012
A Wichita man has been sentenced to 72 months in federal prison for possession of child pornography.
Matthew Alter, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. At an earlier plea hearing, prosecutors told the court that Alter became the subject of an investigation after Italian State Police provided information that a computer user in Kansas was accessing a child porn Web site.
Investigators followed an electronic trail to Alter’s home in Wichita, where they served a search warrant and seized computer hard drives containing child pornography. The children photographed ranged from 1 to 12 years old. Investigators learned Alter had been collecting child pornography for 11 years.
At sentencing, Alter disputed prosecutors’ contention that he possessed approximately 1 million images of child pornography, saying the number probably was between 300,000 and 400,000.
