An Idaho pastor faces 13 criminal charges related to child sex abuse material (CSAM) after allegedly using anonymous messaging accounts to exchange exploitative images, including AI-generated images. Matthew Masiewicz of Sovereign Grace Fellowship in Nampa was taken into custody on Tuesday.
Editor’s note: This article contains information about child sex abuse that some readers might find disturbing and/or triggering.
Masiewicz is charged with six counts of distributing CSAM via an anonymous messaging app, six counts of possessing pornographic material, and one count of altering an image using AI.
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Each count of distribution carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison, and each possession count carries up to 10 years. The charge related to AI also carries up to 30 years.
Masiewicz reportedly denied any physical contact with children but admitted to using AI to alter images to create CSAM.
Any reference to Masiewicz has been removed from Sovereign Grace Fellowship’s website, but on a now-scrubbed page profiling Masiewicz, the Idaho pastor described himself as “one of the refugees from California.”
According to the website, Masiewicz began attending Sovereign Grace Fellowship in 2012 and was installed as its pastor in 2020. He is married and has six children along with three grandchildren.
“This is a place where God’s Word is honored and proclaimed, where people are loved and instructed, where the Lord is worshipped in Spirit and in truth,” wrote Masiewicz. “This church is my family, a loving and warm family that seeks and serves Jesus Christ. God is doing a wonderful work here and it is such a blessing to be a part of it.”
The church’s Facebook page appears to have been deactivated.
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Investigators began looking into Masiewicz’s online activities in August, and they believe that they uncovered crimes dating back to March. The Idaho Crimes Against Children agency was notified after six files of CSAM were sent over online messaging app Kik.
