Mother to Seattle child porn maker: One child was too much Offender heads to prison; police still can't crack computer

One child hurt is enough.

That was a mother’s message to a federal judge moments before he decided how many years a Seattle man – Matthew Chase Keyes – should spend in prison for sexually assaulting her 8-year-old son.

Of course, Keyes, 37, had hurt more than one child, at least vicariously.

A collector, distributor and producer of child pornography, Keyes was caught in December with 1,300 photos of children being abused or displayed. Also in his collection was at least one video showing him sexually assaulting the woman’s drugged boy.

But even as Keyes was being marched off to federal prison Friday, investigators remained at a loss as to the extent of his predatory activities.

While they recovered one video from a camera, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agents have yet to crack the encryption on a home computer taken when Keyes was arrested. Despite apologies tearful and profuse, and a guilty plea earlier in the year, he hasn’t given up the code.

“There’s a lot we don’t know about Mr. Keyes,” Ellsworth said. “It’s impossible to know what the defendant’s collection consists of.”

In April 2010, a Canadian detective observed “DREADH4SH” sharing images of pre-pubescent boys through a peer-to-peer service, which allows users to share files directly between computers.

Several of the images showed boys between the ages 6 and 10 being bound or raped by adult men. The investigator was able to capture thumbnail images of 1,300 picture files, most of which were child pornography. Writing the court, Ellsworth noted Keyes labeled one folder “best of the best.”

On Dec. 15, agents raided the Seattle home of Keyes’ mother, where he lived, and seized several computers, external hard drives and cameras. Confronted by investigators, he admitted to possessing child pornography but described himself as “only a gatherer, not interested in touching.”

That, they soon learned, was a lie.

Two weeks passed before investigators reviewing items taken from Keyes’ home discovered two incriminating videos showing Keyes in bed with a young boy. The unconscious boy is exposed in both videos; in one, Ellsworth told the court, the child appeared to have been drugged as he failed to wake up when Keyes molested and performed oral sex on him.

“It defies common sense to think that the boy in the second video was not sedated in some manner, as anyone whose genitalia were being repeatedly fondled and fellated would presumably have at least some involuntary physical reaction,” Ellsworth told the court.

Keyes’ mother was able to identify the boy as a friend of her grandson who had stayed at her home in the spring of 2010. The boy’s parents confirmed the identification, Ellsworth said, and asked that prosecutors ensure Keyes do “as much time as possible.”

Ellsworth noted that, while the boys are similar in appearance, it’s impossible to say whether both videos show the same child.

For his part, the identified victim doesn’t remember either attack. Whether he will one day or learn of it by other means remains an open question of the sort that keeps his parents on edge.

“I pray that my son never finds out what this man did,” the boy’s mother said.

What else Keyes was up to – what images he acquired, which other children he may have preyed upon – is also unknown, though investigators expect to find out one day.

Encryption software installed on Keyes computer has thus far thwarted attempts to discover what is held there. Despite his tearful apologies as he asked for treatment, Keyes hasn’t helped investigators open up his stash of child pornography.

Without access to the computer, agents can’t determine whether Keyes was “hands-on” with other children, or if he shared those videos with other pedophiles, Ellsworth said.

“It is entirely possible that these videos have entered the global cesspool of traded images and, therefore, that (Keyes) has contributed ‘new material’ to the ongoing exploitation of child victims throughout the world,” said Ellsworth, an attorney with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At base, whatever Keyes – a man who pleaded guilty as charged without the benefit of a plea agreement – hoped to hide remains hidden.

It won’t remain so forever, though, Ellsworth said. Agents are adjusting their tactics, trying new techniques and continuing their work. It may be days or years, she said, but the machine will eventually open.

The boy’s mother said she knows her son was among many children victimized – at least through shared photos – by Keyes.

“I know there’s more children out there, and I feel sorry for them and their families,” she said. But, she continued, “one is enough.”

Addressing the court, the boy’s father seemed to relish the idea of Keyes’ stay in prison. The man also thanked God for the strength not to kill Keyes himself, for the ability to let the justice system run its course.

“I came here as the voice of my 9-year-old son,” the man said. “Mr. Keyes is here for one reason only, and that’s because he got caught.”

“Mr. Keyes can’t hide at his mom’s house anymore,” he continued. “Now he’ll sleep in the bed he made. … We will see who will be crying like a child now.”

Tearful and standing in court, Keyes will in a few years only be able to move by wheelchair due to a degenerative neurological disease.

Keyes, his voice soft and choked, suggested the key question before the court was why he molested the child and horded images of others doing the same. Apologetic, he offered no answer.

“I don’t believe I’ve had the tools made available to me yet … to know why,” said Keyes, dressed out in the tan scrubs that will be his uniform while in federal custody.

“I’m so sorry, and I’m not the type of person who goes out looking to hurt people,” he continued. “I’ve seen despicable things, and I’ve done despicable things. I’m so sorry.”

Defense attorney Kyana Stephens said Keyes deserved the prison sentence he will receive but suggested the court’s goal should be to see him “returned to the community different, fundamentally different, than how he went in.” Treatment, she said, best accomplishes that goal.

“Mr. Keyes cannot stay in his place of shame,” Stephens said. “Mr. Keyes must move beyond the shame, as the community must move beyond the rage.”

U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo S. Martinez ultimately sentenced Keyes to 17½ years in prison, nearly three years above the minimum sentence but 4½ fewer than prosecutors requested.

Calling the encrypted files “very troubling,” Martinez noted that too little is known about what exactly Keyes was up to. The judge then offered a few kind words to the boy’s parents.

“I’m sorry this happened to your son,” Martinez said. “Don’t let this define you.

“Don’t let this define your son, either.”

Following the sentencing, U.S. Attorney for Western Washington Jenny Durkan said she hopes the sentence “acknowledges the harm of his acts and seeks to ensure he never hurts another child.”

Keyes remains in custody at the SeaTac Detention Center pending his transfer to a Bureau of Prisons facility. At his attorney’s request, Martinez asked that he be sent to a prison in Butler, N.C., or Tucson, Ariz., both of which have intensive sex offender treatment programs.

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Levi Pulkkinen can be reached at 206-448-8348 or levipulkkinen@seattlepi.com. Follow Levi on Twitter at twitter.com/levipulk.