A registered sex offender has been sentenced to a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison by U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. for possession of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross announced.
Matthew Bald, 42, of Lockport, pleaded guilty in April 2022 to having pornography involving a prepubescent minor. He had a previous conviction for sexual abuse involving a minor.
Prosecutors said that Bald had been convicted in Niagara County Court in November 2011 of first-degree sexual abuse and was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by 10 years' probation.
In November 2020, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children contacted State Police after receiving an online tip about an image of a suspected sexual performance by a child. State Police contacted the investigators at the Department of Homeland Security and the image was traced to Bald, who is a registered Level 2 sex offender.
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On Dec. 15, 2020, while his probation was still in effect, a search warrant was executed at his home and he was found with more than 600 images of child pornography on a laptop computer.
Dale Anderson
Reporter
Dale Anderson has been a Buffalo News staff reporter since 1968. He was the chief rock and pop writer for 20 years and helped establish the weekend entertainment magazine Gusto.
