Pennsylvania Man Sentenced for Interstate Travel to Have Sex with a Child

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Matthew Kilgus, age 30, of Berwick, Pennsylvania, was sentenced July 15 th , 2026, to 70 months in federal prison for a charge of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct. First Assistant United States Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the Albany Field Office for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, made the announcement. In August 2025, during an operation targeting child predators, Kilgus responded to an online advertisement on a website known for prostitution and the trafficking of underage children. As part of his guilty plea, he admitted he contacted the advertiser and arranged to pay $300 to have sex with who he believed was a 13-year-old child. On August 27, 2025, Kilgus traveled from his home in Pennsylvania and paid an undercover agent $300 in cash to carry out the planned encounter. “Law enforcement must remain unwavering in our commitment to identifying and stopping child predators,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III. “This defendant traveled across state lines fully intending to exploit what he believed was a 13-year-old child. Thanks to the decisive actions of our partners at the FBI, his intentions were exposed and stopped, and he will not be able to endanger any children for a very long time. We will continue to use every available tool to protect children and seek long prison sentences for offenders like Kilgus.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Craig L. Tremaroli stated: “Mr. Kilgus devised a disturbing plan to travel from Pennsylvania to the Northern District to have sex with a child he believed was a 13-year-old. Thanks to the swift actions of the FBI’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, the only trip he’ll be taking for a while is to federal prison. The FBI remains deeply committed to aggressively investigating and holding accountable these dangerous predators who are looking to harm our children.” Chief United States District Judge Brenda K. Sannes also sentenced Kilgus to serve a 10-year term of supervised release to begin after Kilgus is released from prison. Kilgus will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release. FBI’s Albany Division Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case, with assistance from the New York State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Gillis prosecuted the case. Project Safe Childhood is a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit https://www.justice.gov/psc .