LOS ANGELES (KNX) — A former Redondo Beach resident was behind bars Wednesday on federal child sexual exploitation charges for targeting girls on the internet and enticing them to “engage in masochistic abuse for his sexual gratification,” prosecutors alleged.
Matthew Christian Locher, 31, was ordered detained Tuesday afternoon at his arraignment in L.A. federal court. Locher pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment that charged him with sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a child for the purpose of producing a sexually explicit visual depiction, among other offenses.
According to court documents, Locher is accused of targeting girls who suffered from mental health issues, including depression, suicidal thoughts, and anorexia. Through internet conversations, Locher allegedly groomed his victims to engage in self-mutilation and, eventually, to become his “slave” or “pet.”
Locher was accused of enticing two of the minor victims to send him images of themselves committing acts of self-harm, which included cutting their breasts, according to the indictment. He also allegedly used racial epithets to devalue one of his victims.
Prosecutors allege Locher enticed a third victim — a 12-year-old girl — to run away from her Ohio home and travel to California to engage in illegal sexual activity with him. Prosecutors added the victim set a fire in her family’s home before leaving for California in an unsuccessful attempt to kill her parents, a plot allegedly encouraged by Locher.
He was arrested on Jan. 10 in Indianapolis, where he relocated last summer soon after federal authorities executed a search warrant at his California residence, prosecutors said. Following his arrest, federal authorities transported Locher to California and he made his first court appearance Tuesday in L.A..
According to a search warrant that was unsealed following Locher’s arrest last month, he allegedly “enticed, encouraged, and instructed the victims to produce child pornography and child sexual abuse material in the form of sexually explicit images and video recordings of themselves to send to Locher over the internet, including through the use of Discord,” a voice and text chat platform.
If convicted, Locher could face up to life in federal prison, and a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment, for each of four counts of enticement and attempted enticement of a minor to engage in criminal sexual activity, prosecutors said.
The three counts of sexual exploitation and attempted sexual exploitation of a child in the indictment each carry a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in federal prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment.
The remaining charge of receipt of child pornography carries a potential penalty of 20 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison.
Locher’s trial is slated for April 19.
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