A 30-year-old Pennsylvania man received a 70-month federal prison sentence on July 15, 2026, after traveling across state lines to meet someone he believed was a 13-year-old child for paid sex, according to federal authorities.
Matthew Kilgus, of Berwick, Pennsylvania, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge Brenda K. Sannes on a single count of interstate travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct. In addition to the prison term, Judge Sannes ordered Kilgus to complete 10 years of supervised release once freed and mandated that he register as a sex offender.
The conviction stems from an August 2025 sting run by the FBI’s Albany Division Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, with assistance from the New York State Police. During that operation, Kilgus answered an online post on a website commonly linked to prostitution and underage trafficking.
Court records show Kilgus admitted during his guilty plea that he reached out to the advertiser, agreeing to pay $300 for a sexual encounter with a minor he thought was 13. On August 27, 2025, he drove north from his home in Pennsylvania into New York, where he handed $300 in cash to an undercover law enforcement agent posing as a contact to carry out the transaction. He was taken into custody at the scene.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney John A. Sarcone III and Craig L. Tremaroli, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albany Field Office, announced the sentence jointly.
“Law enforcement must remain unwavering in our commitment to identifying and stopping child predators,” Sarcone said. “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.”
“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,” Tremaroli said. “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.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Gillis handled the prosecution for the Northern District of New York.
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