Utah man suspected of downloading, sharing child sexual abuse material through torrenting

LAYTON, Utah (ABC4) — A Layton man is behind bars after downloading and sharing explicit videos of child sexual abuse online. Police believe he may possess thousands of these files.

Matias J. Rosso, 39, has been charged with 11 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony.

In August, detectives with the Layton City Police Department and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force began investigating a peer-to-peer program that was being used to share child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

One file shared on the network traced back to a particular account, later identified as belonging to Rosso, police say. The file was a video preview of multiple other videos that were for sale, with the words “2.4TB Collection” and a link to a Dark Web website superimposed.

The video showed multiple young children, ranging in age from 3 to 16 years old, according to court documents.

Investigators sought out a warrant for the associated account and found that it was linked to an IP address in Layton. Using that information, police were led to Rosso’s residence.

Officers began performing surveillance and learned that he was the subject of another CSAM investigation just a few months prior. During that time, he allegedly shared six files depicting very young children being sexually abused.

On Oct. 21, the Layton City Police and ICAC served a warrant on Rosso’s residence as he was getting home from work. When he was approached, Rosso reportedly said he knew why they were there, saying, “I think it’s because I downloaded some child pornography.”

During questioning, the 39-year-old told police that he began viewing and downloading CSAM several months prior using software to download and torrent files on his computer. However, he denied that he had been hosting or sharing the files.

Investigators seized his computer and found four explicit videos depicting minors among “potentially thousands containing CSAM.” Further forensic analysis of his computer and phone is still ongoing, documents say, and more illegal content of children may be found.

Court documents note that Rosso’s residence is immediately next door to Northridge High School, and that he has already attempted to delete CSAM he downloaded to hide evidence.

Rosso was arrested and booked into the Davis County Jail, where he is being held without bail.