Cristian Eduardo Mattus Piccardo, a 52-year-old resident of San Francisco, has been sentenced to nine years in federal prison for possession of child sexual abuse materials. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria issued the sentence, which includes an order for Mattus to pay restitution.
Mattus had entered a guilty plea on July 11, 2024, to one count of possession of child pornography under 18 U.S.C. §§ 2252(a)(4)(B) and (b)(2). His indictment by a federal grand jury occurred in July 2023, followed by a superseding indictment in December 2023. According to his plea agreement, Mattus admitted to possessing over 4,000 videos and more than 2,000 images of child sexual abuse materials. These materials were obtained via peer-to-peer file sharing software from the Internet and included content depicting infants and toddlers as young as two to five years old. Additionally, Mattus confessed to actively searching for such files and uploading over 2,000 files for others to access online. He acknowledged that among the victims was the minor daughter of a family friend.
Judge Chhabria also imposed a supervised release period of ten years following Mattus's prison term. As part of his sentencing conditions, Mattus is required to register as a sex offender. He is scheduled to begin serving his sentence on May 12, 2025.
The announcement was made by Acting United States Attorney Patrick D. Robbins alongside Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent in Charge Tatum King.
Assistant U.S. Attorney George Hageman led the prosecution with assistance from Helen Yee. The case stemmed from an investigation conducted by HSI.