Broadcast journalist Lawrence Matthews, who said he had received explicit child pornography as part of his job as a reporter, was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in prison for obtaining pornography over the Internet.

The case has been described by some as a key case for First Amendment rights in cyberspace. Matthews maintained he transmitted and received sexually explicit photographs as material for a free-lance article he planned to write for Esquire magazine.

U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams Jr. rejected his argument, saying there was not enough evidence to show Matthews was working on an article.

'It is immoral'

"What he did is not only criminal and illegal, but it is immoral," Williams said.

Williams said Matthews not only broke the law by distributing child pornography, but also violated the journalist's creed by transmitting what the judge called "garbage."

Williams also sentenced Matthews, 55, to three years of supervised probation and fined him $4,200.

Matthews, a Silver Spring resident whose booming voice has been familiar to Washington radio listeners for 31 years, said he was stunned at the sentence, especially because the judge agreed with a psychological evaluation describing Matthews as lacking the tendencies of a pedophile.

Matthews' attorney, Beth Farber, who works in Baltimore's public defender's office, said they are considering filing an appeal, which could delay prison time for up to a year.

Matthews' wife, Molly, said as she left the Greenbelt courtroom that she wants the trials and public scrutiny to be over. Matthews, however, said he would appeal.

Journalistic achievements

During a hearing in Greenbelt yesterday, Williams commended Matthews for his achievements in journalism, which include winning the George Foster Peabody Broadcasting award in 1983.

But Williams told the father of an 8-year-old son that he will not be permitted be alone with children until his probation officer deems it acceptable.

"I feel embarrassed. I feel foolish. I feel like sometimes you go after these things and they're not there," Matthews said while testifying about his unsuccessful attempt to find an interesting child pornography story while surfing through cyberspace.

In 1995, while a news anchor for WTOP radio in Washington, Matthews broadcast a three-part series on the availability of child pornography on the Internet. He said he continued his involvement in the Internet because he was curious about what was being done to stop the exchange of photos and advertisements of child prostitutes online.

While on the stand Friday, he compared his actions to a "stakeout."

Matthews, who is temporarily an editor at National Public Radio, spent hundreds of hours staring at the screen of his computer in America Online chat rooms and sending e-mail for what he calls the sole purpose of "looking for something I could hang a story on."

During hours of conversing in sexually explicit language in chat rooms, Detective Manuel Rodriguez of the Metropolitan Police in Washington said Matthews sent and received about 200 photos of underage females posing or engaging in sexual contact.

AOL chat room

Yesterday, Rodriguez described the conversations he had with Matthews while posing as underage girls in the "Preteen" chat room on America Online.

"Every time we were in a room he was asking to be listed," Rodriguez said.

Listing is a way to be sent photos. Rodriguez, the case agent for the investigation, said he received 15 photos from Matthews.

Matthews pleaded guilty to two counts of transmitting and receiving child pornography.

Pub Date: 3/09/99