Greenbrier County Man Sentenced to Federal Prison for Sex Offense Involving Minor

 BECKLEY, W.Va. – Matthew David Lambert, 26, of Renick, was sentenced to 100 months in federal prison for attempted receipt of child pornography. Upon release from prison, Lambert will serve a 25 year term of supervised release and be required to register as a sex offender.

“Each and every day my team works tirelessly to protect West Virginia’s children from predators like Lambert,” said United States Attorney Mike Stuart.  “And we seek justice for all victims through prosecuting cases this.”

Lambert previously admitted that from on October 31 to November 1, 2019, he communicated via a social messaging application with a minor he believed to be a 14-year-old girl he understood to be located in Lewisburg. Despite knowing her age, Lambert repeatedly asked her to send him sexually explicit photographs of herself. When the purported minor refused, they agreed that they would meet at a hotel in Lewisburg, to engage in sexual activity, and Lambert would record a video of this sexual activity on his cell phone. On November 1, 2019, Lambert traveled to a hotel in Lewisburg in order to engage in sexual intercourse with the purported 14-year-old girl and was placed under arrest.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s West Virginia Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which includes task force officers from the West Virginia State Police, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Office, and the Ashland (Kentucky) Police Department, with additional assistance from the Greenbrier County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Rada Herrald handled the prosecution. United States District Judge Frank W. Volk imposed the sentence.

These cases were prosecuted as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative of the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorney’s Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 5:19-cr-00295.