A federal judge sentenced a 29-year-old Stonington man to five years in prison and five years of supervised release on Monday for soliciting child pornography.

Matthew X. Smith, who had pleaded guilty to the charge in February, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jeffery A. Meyer in New Haven. Smith is required to report to prison on June 26.

Authorities said Smith was using the Kik social media platform in August 2021 when he contacted an undercover FBI employee who was posing as a 14-year-old.

Smith sent sexually explicit messages, requested the undercover FBI employee to send him sexually explicit pictures and discussed meeting the undercover agent to engage in sexual conduct, court documents show.  Authorities said Smith also used a different Kik user account to exchange sexually explicit exchanges with the undercover FBI employee in 2020.

Smith was then arrested by New London police during a scheduled meeting between Smith and the FBI employee posing as the 14-year-old.

This prosecution is part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood Initiative, which is aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse and exploitation.  For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

To report cases of child exploitation, please visit www.cybertipline.com.