School Custodian Sentenced for Sexually Abusing Child

By City News Service:

An Inland Empire man who photographed and videotaped himself sexually abusing a child was on his way Tuesday to federal prison to begin serving a 23-year sentence.

Matthew Frazer, 39, of Yucca Valley in July admitted one count each of distributing and possessing child pornography as part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips on Friday imposed a 276-month prison term during a sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in downtown Riverside.

Frazer was arrested Jan. 31, following an investigation by the FBI, Riverside Police Department, San Bernardino Police Department and Riverside and San Bernardino County sheriff’s departments.

According to prosecutors, Frazer was a custodian for the Morongo Unified School District, but the victim was not a student at any of the schools to which he was assigned, said Thom Mrozek of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The acts of child molestation came to the attention last year of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which obtained “pornographic images depicting a young female being abused by a white male,” Mrozek said.

The material was turned over to the FBI, which spent several months attempting to identify the man in the pictures, ultimately succeeding, according to Mrozek.

Investigators later confirmed that the victim fell prey to the defendant in 2010 and 2011, when she was 6 and 7 years old. More than 250 Internet users downloaded the explicit images that Frazer took of the child, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Her relationship to the defendant, if any, was not disclosed.

(Image via Shutterstock)