Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele announced the arrest May 26, of Hilltown Township Police officer Matthew Reiss, 47, on felony charges of possessing child pornography.
On April 16, the Montgomery County Detective Bureau received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding the upload of two child sexual abuse images to a Google email account. The IP address for the gmail account was traced to Reiss’s residence in Palm, in Upper Hanover Township in Montgomery County. In addition, the cellphone number associated with the gmail account was a known phone number of the defendant’s.
Detectives served a search warrant on Google for information about the gmail account. On May 19, the investigation received 660 images, which included 10 images that were of child pornography, depicting children under the age of 13 in various stages of undress, in sexual poses and being sexually assaulted.
As part of the search warrant, chats were also provided to investigators. In one chat, the defendant notes that he works for a local government entity. (He is a police officer with the Hilltown Township Police Department in Bucks County; however, the investigation found no connection between the child pornography and his employment.)
Reiss, an 18-year veteran of the Hilltown Township Police Department, was arrested and charged with 10 felony counts of possessing child pornography. He was arraigned before District Judge Albert J. Augustine, who set bail at $75,000 cash. The defendant posted bail and was released. A preliminary hearing was set for 10:30 a.m. June 7, before District Judge Maureen Coggins.
“We were angered and shocked at the allegations and are fully cooperating with the investigation,” said Hilltown Township Police Chief Chris Engelhart. “These acts, if true, would be a betrayal of his oath as a police officer, the public trust and the trust of his fellow officers. Officer Reiss has been placed on unpaid Administrative Suspension pending an internal investigation.”
The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said it would “evaluate all Bucks County criminal cases in which Reiss played a role.”
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