NEWARK, Ohio — A 27-year-old Licking County man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 25 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors and soliciting child pornography.
According to the U. S. Attorney of the Southern District of Ohio, Matthew Reif, who was arrested in July 2022, victimized at least 52 minor boys, many of which he had access to through his role in a local youth church group or through Snapchat.
The exploitation occurred both in the community and online between October 2020 and July 2022. Reif pleaded guilty in December 2022 to sexually exploiting minors and possessing child pornography.
According to court documents, Reif offered gifts and money to minor boys online and, in exchange, requested the minors engage in sex acts with him or for him.
Reif posed as a girl named "Nicole" on Snapchat in order to obtain child sexual abuse material from the minors. Twelve of the identified victims indicated they sent photos or videos to Reif when they were between 14 and 17 years old, believing Reif to be a female.
The defendant also contacted minor boys he knew from the community, posing as himself and garnering their trust through his position in a Heath-area church.
Reif supervised some of the victims on overnight stays organized through the church, during which he secretly recorded the victims with a hidden camera that he placed in different bathrooms.
“Reif exploited his victims’ vulnerabilities through their religion, their financial limitations and their youth for his own perverted fantasies,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker. “For the well-being of those children whom he has already harmed, and to prevent the mental, psychological or physical damage to any additional children, Reif must be kept away from society for a significant period of time.”