Greensburg man sentenced to prison in child sexual exploitation case

A Greensburg man is headed to federal prison for more than two decades after being convicted of convincing a young Oklahoma girl to send him sexual pictures and videos over the Internet.

According to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, 26-year-old Matthew Hostetler has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to sexual exploitation of a minor. The case began in 2020 when deputies in Winnebago County, Oklahoma began investigating an internet chat group for men seeking sexual images of children.

Police identified Hostetler posting videos and photos of a then 11-year-old girl. FBI agents and Greensburg police officers served a search warrant at Hostetler’s home, in April of 2021 seizing his cell phone. He bragging to other group members that he had spent two months convincing the girl to believe she was in love with him and that he had coerced her to send him the sexual materials.

The Oklahoma girl, who lives with her grandparents, told investigators that Hostetler told her not to talk to her grandparents about the activities. And he threatened her if she didn’t send him the images and videos.

U.S. Attorney Zachary Myers said that pedophiles use online services such as Kik and Snapchat to prey on children, using lies and manipulation to sexually exploit them. He urges parents and guardians to talk with children about their online activities and to make sure the children have trusted adults they can turn to.

After his prison sentence is finished, Hostetler will be on supervised probation for 30 years and will have to register as a sex offender.