An Annapolis man who was already on probation for possessing child sexual abuse material was sentenced Monday to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to eight new counts of the same crime.
Matthew James Freeto, 36, entered his plea in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. Judge Stacy McCormack sentenced him to 80 years and suspended all but 18, which he will serve in the Maryland Division of Correction. After his release, Freeto must register as a Tier 2 sex offender for 25 years and will spend five years under COMET supervision. COMET, the Collaborative Offender Management/Enforced Treatment program, is the state’s intensive monitoring and treatment program for people convicted of sex offenses.
The 80-year term reflects the law for repeat offenders. In Maryland, possession of child pornography carries up to five years per count for a first offense and up to 10 years per count for a subsequent one. Eight counts at 10 years each comes to 80.
“This defendant was on probation for possession of child pornography and clearly didn’t get the message the first time,” State’s Attorney Anne Colt Leitess said after the hearing. “Today’s sentence from the Court acknowledges he needed a lengthy prison term to address his disturbing penchant for child sexual abuse material. Following his release, he’ll have decades of additional time hanging over his head if he reoffends.”
How the case began
The investigation started on July 18, 2025, when Anne Arundel County police received a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The tip followed a report from Google, which said it had found numerous suspected images of minors being sexually exploited in Freeto’s Google Drive and Google Photos storage. Federal law requires online service providers like Google to report apparent child sexual abuse material to the national center, which routes the tips to law enforcement.
Google gave investigators Freeto’s phone numbers, Gmail address and date of birth. Detectives obtained a search warrant for the account and confirmed it contained child sexual abuse material.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Fox prosecuted the case. Detective Jonathan Bruce of the Anne Arundel County Police Department led the investigation.
“I want to thank Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Fox for his work in delivering justice, and Detective Jonathan Bruce for his investigation,” Leitess said.
Anyone with information about the online exploitation of a child can report it to the NCMEC CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678.
