A Staplehurst man is arrested on federal charges. At 11 p.m. on Thursday, March 24th, the Seward County Sheriff’s Office served a federal arrest warrant on 35 year old Matthew A. French at his home. French had been federally indicted on four counts of production of child pornography and one count of receipt of child pornography.
Investigators with the Seward County Sheriff’s Office and Butler County Sheriff’s Office opened the case in May of 2021 after a school in Butler County reported intercepting inappropriate emails to a student. French was arrested in September of 2021 and released on bond. However, Seward County continued to investigate and that led to the discovery of local victims.
Due to the severity of the criminal violations, the case had been turned over to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.