Back on Thursday, August 7th, Curry County Sheriff, John Ward, was notified of an arrest warrant that had been entered in Montgomery County, Texas for an individual in Curry County.
Sheriff Ward was informed that the arrest warrant was the result of an Internet Crimes Against Children operation in Montgomery County, Texas, and that the suspect was reportedly engaging in criminal activity at his residence here in Curry County.
Sheriff Ward was also informed that the suspect had immediate access to young children that were believed to be at risk, prompting an urgent response.
Sheriff Ward and a deputy were accompanied by a Gold Beach Police officer as they responded to the residence in the unincorporated area of central Curry County.
The suspect, 32 year old Matthew Arthur Anderson, was taken into custody quickly and without incident and taken to the Curry County Jail where he is currently lodged.
In the following days, Curry County Sheriff’s personnel worked in collaboration with members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in Texas, the Oregon Department of Human Services – Child Welfare, the Oregon Department Of Justice, the Medford Police Department, Crescent City Police Department, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Medford and Wally’s House of Curry County.
Through these investigations it has also been learned that this individual has been in contact with numerous children in multiple jurisdictions through his previous employment and additional warrants to search and seize evidence were written and follow up interviews were conducted.
Subsequently, Anderson has additionally been charged with Possession Of Materials Depicting Sexually Explicit Conduct of a Child in the First Degree, Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, Private Indecency and Attempting to Use a Child in Display of Sexually Explicit Conduct. He remains in custody in the Curry County Jail.
These cases are very complex and require many hours. We know that with our current staffing level, committing the time to cases like these undoubtedly affects our ability to respond to some of the lower level calls for service, but these cases are of the utmost importance and are an absolute threat to public safety in our community. We want to thank all of the agencies mentioned above for their collaborative effort during this investigation.
