CT man sentenced to 5 years in prison for sending sexually explicit messages to FBI agent posing as 14-year-old girl

A 29-year-old man from Stonington was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Monday after pleading guilty to charges of child exploitation.

Matthew X. Smith was convicted of sending sexually explicit messages to an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a 14-year-old girl on the messaging app Kik in the summer of 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Court records show that Smith arrived at an arranged location in New London on Aug. 18, 2021, to meet who he thought was a teenage girl and was arrested by local police, federal officials said.

Smith had also shared sexually explicit messages with an online covert employee from the bureau in 2020, records show.

Smith pleaded guilty to soliciting child pornography in January and appeared in court in New Haven on Monday, where he was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffery A. Meyer in New Haven to 60 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release, federal officials said.

Smith, who is currently released from custody on a $100,000 bond, is required to report to prison on June 26, federal officials said.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.