IFN Staff

A western Iredell County resident faces 10 felony charges in connection with the possession of child sexual abuse material following an in investigation by the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.

Sheriff Darren Campbell announced the arrest of  Matthew Scott Sells, 38, of Old Mountain Road, Statesville, in a news release on Tuesday.

The Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation on January 10 after receiving information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding an individual in Iredell County who was possibly in possession of child sexual abuse material, Campbell said.

The investigation was assigned to ICSO Special Victims Unit Detective E. Lane, who identified Sells as the suspect, according to the news release.

The investigation included search warrants being obtained for online email accounts belonging to Sells. While executing the search warrants, the detective recovered evidence of Sells being in possession of several files of child sexual abuse material, the sheriff said.

During an interview with Detective Lane, Sells confessed to the crimes, according to the news release.

During a search of additional electronic devices belonging to Sells, detectives located thousands of digital files containing child sexual abuse material, Campbell said.

Based on all of the evidence collected in the case, Detective Lane obtained a warrant charging Sells with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Sells was arrested on Sunday, March 22, and transported to the Iredell County Detention Center, where he was issued a $250,000.00 secured bond by Magistrate Russell.

The investigation is ongoing, Campbell said, and additional charges may be filed.