A former candidate in last year's election for State Representative in the state's 132nd District has been arrested for possession of child pornography, police officials said Wednesday.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin and South Whitehall Township Police Chief Glen Dorney announced the arrest of Matthew Christopher Schutter, 53, of South Whitehall Township, after a child pornography investigation.
Schutter was the Libertarian party candidate for the 132nd District -- which represents parts of Allentown and South Whitehall Township -- in last year's elections.
He has been charged with 20 counts of possession of child pornography and related offenses.
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Officials said he was arrested on Wednesday afternoon.
Schutter's arrest, law enforcement officials said, followed an investigation that began in June after Google identified videos of suspected child sexual assault on their servers and filled tips with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This information, officials said, showed the videos were uploaded by an email address associated with Schutter and Google provided additional details that, police claim, showed Schutter as the owner of the account.
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A search warrant was executed at Schutter's South Whitehall Township home on Aug. 21, and, officials claim that search produced additional child pornography images and videos on devices that allegedly belonged to Schutter.
Schutter, officials said, is expected to be arraigned sometime this afternoon.
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