PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- A Portland city employee was arrested Monday and is accused of viewing child abuse images in chat rooms online, according to court documents.
As first reported by The Oregonian, 39-year-old Matthew Thomas Hoyt who works for the City of Portland was arrested near Gabriel Park in Southwest Portland, according to a federal complaint filed on Tuesday.
The affidavit by a federal agent claims Homeland Security was first alerted to Hoyt's activities on April 23 by a group performing an undercover operation on an unnamed chat application.
The affidavit said that they were alerted to a person with the username "mth" who claimed to have access to a minor girl, labeled as Minor 1 in the documents, and wanted to see her sexually assaulted.
An undercover Homeland Security agent said they began talking with "mth" on the chatting app and that they were sent an image of Minor 1. When "mth" was asked if he watches child pornography to "get u by," "mth" responded by saying, "Yes, of course."
On June 19, Homeland Security said they learned the IP address of the "mth" account and connected it to Kaylinn Distasio who lives in northeast Portland. Upon a search of law enforcement databases learned that Distasio is also known as Kaylinn Hoyt and is married to Matthew Thomas Hoyt.
The documents also point out that Hoyt's initials are M.T.H. -- the same as the username from the chatting application.
Upon talking with Portland police, Homeland Security said they learned that they had received five CyberTipline reports about Hoyt dating back to October 2023. Hoyt wasn't identified by name. However, they did receive a phone number that was connected to Hoyt through police databases.
A search for the phone number online also revealed that Hoyt was a Clackamas Little League softball coach in 2021, the documents said.
Looking through the CyberTipline reports, the Homeland Security agent said they found images and videos that fit the definition of child pornography.
On June 24, after a warrant had been signed, Hoyt was detained at Gabriel Park near his Portland city-owned work vehicle, and according to the documents Hoyt had two phones at the time, one work-issued and the other, a personal phone connected to the number which had been monitored by Homeland Security.
Hoyt was interviewed by investigators and according to the documents said that he was in chat groups that discussed sex with minors however he was not in sexual contact with any minors.
When asked about the photos of Minor 1, specifically photos of her wearing only a shirt or just in a towel, the documents said that Hoyt claimed that he thought the photos were "cute" but not sexual. The documents also said that Hoyt claimed his sexual interest in minors began 6-7 years ago.
While searching through Hoyt's phone, investigators said they found multiple chat applications and they found numerous chats related to child pornography as well as other forms of pornography. The documents also said that many photos were found in his phone's trash.
Hoyt is set to appear in court in July for the crime of receipt of child pornography and possession of or accessing with intent to view child pornography.
