RAPID CITY, S.D. — The U.S. attorney for the District of South Dakota announced May 17 the sentencing of a New Underwood man convicted of receipt of child sexual abuse material.
Matthew Bowman, 35, was sentenced to five years and 10 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Bowman will also be required to register as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) St. Paul, the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office and the Rapid City Police Department.
Bowman was indicted for receipt of child sexual abuse material and possession of child sexual abuse material by a federal grand jury in November 2023. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 24, 2024.
The charge stems from Bowman receiving child sexual abuse material between September 2020 and July 2022. Investigators found images depicting child sex abuse, and some of the images depicted children appearing as young as four to six years old. Bowman’s child sexual abuse material collection was reported to law enforcement through a cyber tip from Google Drive and Google Photos.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse, launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by the U.S. attorneys’ offices and the DOJ’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children, as well as identify and rescue victims.
HSI St. Paul oversees offices in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
HSI encourages the public to report crimes and suspicious activity through its toll-free tip line at 877-4-HSI-TIP. Callers may remain anonymous.
Learn more about HSI’s mission to increase public safety in your community on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSISaintPaul.
About HSI
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security, responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of over 10,000 employees, assigned to 235 offices within the United States, and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents the Department of Homeland Security’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.