Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Man Gets Life Sentence for Preying on Children

Matthew Krapf, 45, of Collegeville, Pennsylvania, was sentenced today to life in prison for 10 counts, each, of using or inducing a child to pose for child pornography, use of an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor to engage in sexual contact, three counts of distribution of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.  He was also sentenced to 10 years supervised release.  Krapf pleaded guilty on Oct. 28, 2014, to all 24 counts.

Krapf met his victims online and directed the conversation to sexually explicit chats.  As early as December 2012, the defendant recorded Skype video chats, later recovered by police, that depicted the defendant directing one victim to masturbate for him.  In the months that followed, the defendant met the victim at his parent’s home and engaged in sexual conduct from their very first encounter.  A 13-year old victim met the defendant online and engaged in sexually explicit chats from the beginning of their communication, even after informing the defendant that he was just 13-years old.  The defendant videotaped his encounters and later distributed the videos over the Internet.

In October 2013, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, detectives received consent to take over one victim’s identity and corresponded with the defendant on-line and via text messaging.  The defendant, believing that he was speaking with the 14-year old victim, made arrangements to meet him at his parents’ home on Nov. 2, 2013 to have sex again.  Krapf was arrested by Montgomery County detectives after he entered the victim’s house.

When agents seized his computers, cell phones and collection of DVDs and CDs, a forensic exam uncovered more than two million images of child pornography, including more than 100 videos that the defendant manufactured of the victim teenage boys.  Krapf’s collection is believed to be the largest ever seized in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

Krapf admitted to meeting one victim on at least eight occasions during the summer of 2013 and engaging in oral sex, anal sex and digital penetration.  He also admitted that he knew the victim was just 14-years old before he had any sex with him.  Krapf told police that during the time he was engaging in the sexual abuse of this boy, he directed him to have sex with other juvenile boys, record the sex and then send the recording to him and to take nude and sexually explicit photographs of himself.  Defendant Krapf also confirmed the July 2013 sexual abuse of the two minor boys, admitting that he engaged in oral and anal sex with these boys, knowing that they were minors and videotaped the encounter.  In his confession the defendant also admitted to sexually abusing at least four other underage boys.  His abuse of these boys was over a nine year period, dating back to 2005.

“This predator used the internet to identify and begin the process of sexually exploiting his numerous victims,” said U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.  “He then took full advantage of his vulnerable victims through a series of horrific sexual assaults over several years.  His post-arrest admissions provide disturbing insight into the methods he used to entice his young victims for his criminal gratification.  The sentence handed down today is the only way to guarantee that he will never again victimize an innocent child.”

“The heinous crimes this pedophile committed are something his victims will have to deal with for the rest of their lives, but the community will now be safe from this menace,” said Special Agent in Charge John P. Kelleghan of Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) of Philadelphia.  “He will be spending his life in prison as a result of the excellent cooperative efforts of the Limerick, Pennsylvania Police Department, HSI, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.”

The case was investigated by HSI, the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office and the Limerick Township Police Department, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Rotella of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.