A Darke County man arrested in April by the sheriff’s office on a child pornography charge, is now in federal custody on charges accusing him of threatening female players in his role as a coach to middle-school-aged softball coach and demanding they send him nude pictures of themselves.
>> Man arrested in Darke County on child pornography charge
Matthew Shoffstall, 36, was indicted June 6 by a federal grand jury on crimes described by prosecutors for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Ohio, during a pretrial detention hearing as “heinous.”
Shoffstall is accused of texting several girls he coached on a middle-school-aged softball team and demanding nude photos.
He threatened and intimidated “to coerce these minor children into complying with his demands,” prosecutors said in papers filed June 5 with the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio Western Division (Dayton).
A federal grand jury on May 28 indicted Shoffstall on one single counts of receiving child pornography, distribution of child pornography, possession of child pornography, interstate threats (extortion) and attempted tampering with evidence. The multiple-count indictment alleges the crimes occurred from March 13, 2024, through April 15, 2024.
Court documents filed in the case do not make clear whether Shoffstall is still a softball coach.
Shoffstall also is accused of “attempting to procure access to one or more minor children so he could engage in sexual conduct with them,” prosecutors said, “and he allegedly possessed, received and distributed child pornography.”
U.S. Magistrate Caroline Gentry granted prosecutors’ request to jail Shoffstall before trial, agreeing with their contention that Shoffstall “poses a significant risk of danger to the community.” Gentry, in her answer to the detention request, wrote that investigators found evidence of the allegations on Shoffstall’s cell phone, “which he unsuccessfully tried to wipe remotely.”
There were several factors that would allow Shoffstall to remain free until trial, Gentry wrote, including that he has lived in Ohio most of his life and has strong family ties to the region.
“He had a stable residence and stable employment before being arrested for the charges in this case,” Gentry wrote, noting Shoffstall has “only a limited criminal history.”
But, Gentry wrote, Shoffstall needed to be jailed prior to trial because prosecutors showed he tried to destroy evidence of his alleged criminal activity, and his “alleged conduct was undoubtedly traumatic for the victims and may have caused lasting damage.”
Gentry said the court noted that conditions requiring home confinement and the prohibiting him from using the internet “are only effective to the extent that they are obeyed. . . Neither the Court nor the Government can watch [Shoffstall] all the time and monitor his conduct. . . . the extreme risk that [Shoffstall] poses to children is simply too great to release him prior to trial.”
In the April arrest by the sheriff’s office, Detective Sgt. Chris Clark told News Center 7 the investigation into child pornography led the sheriff’s office to conduct a search warrant at an address in the 6000 block of Requarth Road in Greenville Twp.
At that time, the sheriff’s office filed a charge of pandering obscenity involving a minor.
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