District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan on Tuesday announced additional charges have been filed in a child pornography investigation.

Matthew Christopher Schutter, 53, of South Whitehall Township, is charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse of children – dissemination of photographs, videotapes, computer depictions, films.

Schutter was taken into custody Tuesday and bail was set at $500,000 straight by Magisterial District Judge Jacob Hammond. A copy of the complaint and affidavit of probable cause is also included. Schutter is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 9:45 a.m. Feb. 12, 2024 in Central Court. The complaint was filed by Lehigh County Detective Scott McCulloch.

Dissemination of images of child sexual abuse is a crime that can be graded as a felony of the third degree punishable by up to seven years in jail and a fine of $15,000 or a felony of the second degree punishable by up to 10 years in jail and a fine of $25,000.

The more serious charge of felony of the second degree is applied when it is alleged that the images include “any touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of the person for the purposes of arousing or gratifying sexual desire in any person” or when the child depicted in the image is under the age of 10 years old.

In the allegations filed today, 12 counts are graded as felonies of the third degree and 28 counts are graded as the more serious felonies of the second degree.

If convicted of all the charges, Schutter faces a maximum sentence of 364 years in prison and a maximum fine of $880,000. If convicted, Schutter would be required to register as a sex offender or at least 25 years and potentially the rest of his life.

In November 2023, Schutter was charged with 20 counts each of Sexual Abuse of Children – Possession of Child Pornography 1st Offense and criminal Use of a Communications Facility; both felonies of the third degree. He was released on bail on that case earlier but that bail was revoked on Feb. 5, 2024.

On June 2, 2023, Google Inc. identified two child sex assault videos on their servers and filed cyber tips with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The tip included that the videos were uploaded by an email address associated with Schutter and Google provided additional details identifying Schutter as the owner of the account.

A search warrant was served Aug. 21, 2023, at Schutter’s home and a tablet and cellphone that belonged to Schutter were analyzed by detectives at The Officer David M. Petzold Memorial Digital Forensics Laboratory of Lehigh County located on the campus of DeSales University.

As the investigation continued, additional child sex assault videos and images were found to have been shared on the tablet device via Telegram Application. Those videos and images were shared by Schutter to others.

After his initial arrest in November for Possession of Child Pornography, detectives at the Petzold Digital Forensics Laboratory continued their investigation. Ultimately, they were able to access encrypted files on the tablet device seized in August. Once unencrypted, the tablet device provided evidence that led to the allegations filed Tuesday, that Schutter not only possessed child pornographic images, but that he shared them repeatedly with others.

He was a candidate for Penn Forest supervisor in 2011, Jim Thorpe School Board in 2013, Carbon County Sheriff in 2015; state representative in 2016; and Jim Thorpe School Board in 2017. He was elected to Penn Forest auditor in 2013 and served until he left the area in 2018. Schutter ran as a Libertarian candidate for South Whitehall commissioner in 2021 and state representative in 2022. He’s been charged with numerous prior offenses, mostly for disorderly conduct and related offenses. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a Carbon County detective in 2016. In 2020, he was removed from a Lehigh County meeting for causing a disruption.