A Hampton resident, Ryan Matthew Bieber, was found guilty by a federal jury on six counts related to the transportation of child sexual abuse material. Evidence presented in court showed that between August 2020 and November 2021, Bieber uploaded several files containing explicit images involving adults and children. The investigation began after Google deactivated Bieber’s account and submitted a CyberTipLine report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Bieber is scheduled to be sentenced on December 18. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years and could receive up to 20 years in prison. However, federal sentences are often less than the maximum allowed, with the final decision resting with a federal district court judge who will consider sentencing guidelines and statutory factors.
The conviction was announced by Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Dominique Evans, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office; and Steve R. Drew, Chief of Newport News Police, following U.S. District Judge Elizabeth W. Hanes' acceptance of the verdict.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Devon Heath and Peter G. Osyf are prosecuting the case.
This prosecution is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative started by the Department of Justice in May 2006 to address child sexual exploitation online by coordinating efforts among federal, state, and local agencies to find offenders and help victims. More details about Project Safe Childhood can be found at www.justice.gov/psc.
Court documents related to this case are available through the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia or through PACER under Case No. 4:25-cr-5.
