A Whitman resident and former leader of the Boy Scouts was sentenced to prison for child exploitation offenses.
Prosecutors say 25-year-old Matthew Murphy was sentenced in federal court in Boston for sexually exploiting children using the social media app, Snapchat.
Murphy was sentenced Monday to 33 years in prison, and 10 years of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual exploitation of children last year.
The investigation started after police learned that Murphy was posing as a teenage girl, and used a Snapchat account to extort nude photographs from a middle school boy.
Investigators found evidence of similar extortion involving dozens of other minors in the area. Murphy knew some of the children and their families through his local connection to Boy Scout Troops.
Federal prosecutors credit the Whitman Police Department for their valuable assistance in the investigation.
