Thomas de Matteis
Thomas de Matteis, 54, of Hazel Green, Ala., was sentenced on Monday by Federal Judge Sandy Mattice to serve 10 years in federal prison for coercing or enticing a minor to engage in sexual activity. Matteis entered a guilty plea to the charge in November 2016.
At the time of his offenses, Matteis was employed by NASA in Alabama. An investigation started by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and U.S.
Homeland Security Investigations revealed that he communicated online, both from his home and office in Alabama, with a law enforcement agent posing as a 14-year old girl. Matteis drove to Chattanooga, expecting to meet the 14-year-old and engage in sexual activity with her, prosecutor Terra Bay said.
In addition to the TBI and HSI, once it was discovered that some of the criminal activity occurred in Alabama using his office computer, the NASA Office of Inspector General joined the investigation.
Authorities said TBI agents found an ad on Craig's List titled "I need a petite young teenage slut (Huntsville and surrounding)."
The ad said, "If you need transportation, I can pick you up; also, I will host and if you need a place to stay I can provide that too."
A TBI agent then began corresponding with Matteis.
In January 2016, Matteis responded that he could get a "lesbian mistress" to join them.
He attached two pictures to his email. One was of a naked young female doing a gymnastics maneuver and a young female wearing a two-piece bathing suit.
In another email, Matteis said the young female could live with him at his 103-square-foot place. He said no room or board would be charged.
Matteis said in an email that he was "somewhat mentally warped" in connection with his love making. He enclosed pictures of a variety of sex toys and restraints.
A meeting was arranged in Chattanooga for Feb. 2, 2016. He was arrested after showing up at a house in Chattanooga where he allegedly was to meet the girl.
A search of his home in Alabama turned up a large number of sex toys as well as a copy of a written contract for a "sex slave."
Matteis is charged in Hamilton County General Sessions Court with aggravated statutory rape. He was recently placed under a $60,000 bond in that case.
The case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, PSC marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims.