Press release
BUFFALO, N.Y. – U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced today that Matthew Barber, 53, of Batavia, NY, who was convicted of possession of child pornography and violating supervised release, was sentenced to serve 147 months in prison by Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aaron J. Mango and Michael DiGiacomo, who handled the case, stated that in April 2007, Barber was convicted on a federal charge of possessing child pornography and sentenced to serve 74 months in prison and five years’ supervised release. Barber’s supervised release was revoked on July 5, 2017, after he was unsuccessfully discharged from sex offender treatment. As a result of this violation, Barber was sentenced to six months in prison and five years of supervised release.
On May 20, 2020, Barber was found in possession of and using a cell phone and a USB device to view child pornography. A forensic examination of the cell phone and USB device recovered over 1,000 images and 200 videos of child pornography on the two devices. Barber was subsequently charged and convicted of possession of child pornography.
The sentencing is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Stephen Belongia; the Cheektowaga Police Department, under the direction of Chief Brian Gould; the Batavia Police Department, under the direction of Chief Shawn Heubusch; and the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, under the direction of Acting Commissioner Anthony J. Annucci.