Coggon Man Sentenced for Receiving and Possessing Child Pornography

A Coggon man who received and possessed child pornography was sentenced Friday to more than 27 years in federal prison. 

42-year old Matthew Jason Manos received the prison term after a jury verdict in March found him guilty of receipt of child pornography and possession of child pornography, including a depiction of a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age.

The evidence at trial and sentencing showed that in February 2023, law enforcement officers searched Manos’s residence in Coggon and took his cell phone. Between December 2022 and February 2023, Manos had downloaded images of child pornography. He viewed the images on his cell phone multiple times. Manos then fled Iowa, abandoning his pets in his home where the pets were later rescued by law enforcement. Manos ultimately moved to Illinois, where he was arrested in August 2023. During his arrest, law enforcement officers took his new cell phone.  Evidence showed that Manos had used that new phone to access child pornography as well.  Manos was previously convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child, lascivious acts with a child, lascivious conduct with a child, dissemination and exhibition of obscene material to minors, and indecent exposure.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.  

Manos was sentenced in Cedar Rapids to 327 months’ imprisonment and was ordered to make $3,000 in restitution to a victim in the case. He must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term. 

Manos is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.