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Arizona youth volunteer facing 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor

By
FOX 10 Phoenix
Crime and Public Safety
Published July 20, 2026 6:21 PM MST
Published July 20, 2026 6:21 PM MST
CSAM tip leads to Arizona youth volunteer's arrest
CSAM tip leads to Arizona youth volunteer's arrest

CSAM tip leads to Arizona youth volunteer's arrest

An Arizona man volunteering with youth programs is facing charges for allegedly using cryptocurrency to purchase child sexual abuse material (CSAM). FOX 10's Nicole Krasean reports.

The Brief

    • An Arizona man who volunteers with kids is accused of using cryptocurrency to pay for videos depicting child sexual abuse.
    • Authorities discovered child sexual abuse material on a flash drive in his luggage following a Cybertip from Robinhood Markets.
    • Defense counsel claims the materials stem from an ethical hacking hobby, while prosecutors argue the files were saved knowingly in a folder labeled "very young."

PHOENIX - An Arizona man who volunteers with kids is accused of using cryptocurrency to pay for videos showing children being sexually abused.

What we know:

This all began as a cybertip reported by Robinhood Markets, an online trading platform that works with cryptocurrency.

Court documents reveal Matthew Hays was reportedly using this site to transfer Bitcoin and Litecoin to websites associated with child sex materials. Hays allegedly volunteered with a local career building youth program and was a youth soccer referee, although his lawyer claims he no longer is in that role.

Last week, a search warrant was granted for Hays' Phoenix residence, along with luggage he had with him during a recent trip. Within that luggage, there was reportedly a flash drive found with multiple files on them depicting child sex abuse.

Dig deeper:

During his first court appearance, Hays' lawyer argued his client had taken up a hobby of "ethical hacking" and that is the reason why dark web material and CSAM were found in his possession. Prosecutors argued the files found were saved in a way that indicates Hays was aware of the content.

"Matt was getting involved with those kinds of things, with this understanding that he's getting into the ethical hacking, and that's where we suspect that's where a lot of these allegations are coming from, because he's downloading things that he doesn't necessarily know and when you download them, there can be all kinds of information in there that you don't want to have," Hays' lawyer stated.

"I would point the court to, I believe, is the last sentence of the Form IV, where it indicates that CSAM was located in a folder with the name quote 'very young,'" a prosecutor stated.

What's next:

Hays faces 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.

Meanwhile, we have reached out to the local programs Hays associated with, and we are waiting for a response.

Matthew Shawn Hays

Matthew Shawn Hays

The Source: Information in this report was gathered from court documents, Matthew Hays' defense attorney, and the prosecutor.

Crime and Public SafetyPhoenixNews