Wichitan pleads guilty to collecting a million images of child porn

A Wichita man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to collecting more than a million images of child pornography, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said.

Matthew Alter, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography. At the plea hearing, prosecutors told the court that Alter became the subject of an investigation after Italian state police provided information that a computer user in Kansas was accessing a child porn website.

Investigators followed an electronic trail to Alter’s home in Wichita, where they served a search warrant and seized computer hard drives containing more than one million images of child pornography. The children photographed ranged from one to 12 years old. Investigators learned Alter had been collecting child pornography for 11 years.

Sentencing is set for April 16. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a fine up to $250,000.