Overview
- Authorities detained 41-year-old Matthew Hays when he returned to Phoenix and charged him with 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after executing search warrants on July 19.
- Investigators say the probe began when Robinhood Markets alerted Homeland Security and local officers on June 5 about cryptocurrency purchases tied to addresses associated with child sexual abuse material.
- Police seized Hays’s electronic devices and found a flash drive with multiple files showing children being abused, including files described in court papers as depicting infants, and forensic review of more devices is ongoing.
- Hays’s lawyer told the court he practices “ethical hacking” and that explains the material investigators found, while prosecutors say the way files were saved suggests Hays knowingly possessed them.
- The case used standard cybertip channels through NCMEC and the Arizona ICAC task force and has prompted questions about how trading platforms, crypto tracing and forensic reviews can lead to further charges and affect community organizations tied to the accused.