Charges and case status
Matthew Francis, 29, of Allentown is being held in Lehigh County Jail on $100,000 bail after being charged with felony counts involving sexual abuse of children, possession of child sexual abuse material and criminal use of a communication facility, according to NBC10 Philadelphia. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Sept. 18 before Magisterial District Judge Karen Devine, Daily Voice reported.
The charges are allegations, and the case has not been resolved. The available reports do not include a response from Francis or an attorney representing him.
What prosecutors say investigators found
The investigation began after Pennsylvania State Police received two Sept. 4 referrals from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children involving uploaded videos, according to prosecutors cited by NBC10 Philadelphia. Investigators linked the phone number used for the uploads to Francis and traced related internet activity to his apartment, the station reported.
The broader ICAC workload
The verified figures available for this story are national rather than Pennsylvania-specific. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Internet Crimes Against Children program includes 61 task forces representing more than 6,200 federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies nationwide. Those task forces conducted nearly 347,000 investigations and made more than 17,000 arrests in 2025, according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. The figures describe the program's national workload and do not provide a Pennsylvania-only total.
Prosecutors alleged that the files involved the sexual abuse of children. Investigators searching Francis' apartment on Sept. 11 found at least two additional videos, according to The Morning Call. Court records, as described by Daily Voice, say Francis told investigators he possessed the images and stored them in a secured cellphone folder.
Phantoms suspend Francis
Francis had been listed by the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in a fan-engagement position titled “Manager of Fun,” according to Daily Voice. The team said it suspended him after learning of the case, is cooperating with police and has a zero-tolerance policy, NBC10 Philadelphia reported.
The organization declined to provide Francis' employment dates or further details about his role. References to him and the title were removed from the team's website by the afternoon of Sept. 11, according to Daily Voice.
