Amarillo high-risk offender admits to trading images of infants, toddlers
Over 1,300 images recovered during search, documents show
AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) - A registered sex offender living in Amarillo pleaded guilty to two federal charges involving images of children younger than 12.
Matthew Albert Tate, 56, is marked as a high-risk offender who is required to register as a sex offender for life.
In April 2025, a Texas Department of Public Safety special agent and task force officer for Homeland Security Investigations began looking into reports of images and video showing child sexual abuse that were traced to an IP address in Amarillo.
The agent found that Tate was the only person living at the address associated with the IP address. The court documents say that Tate’s phone number was listed as the phone number on the account itself.
In May, HSI and DPS agents executed a search warrant on Tate’s home. Law enforcement interviewed Tate during the search.
The documents state that Tate “acted shocked and confused that law enforcement was at his residence searching for evidence of trafficking in child pornography.”
He showed agents where his phone and cell phone were and provided them with the passcode to his cell phone. He also denied any knowledge of file sharing platforms.
One of the external hard drives taken from Tate’s home would later be shown to have 1,326 total files of child pornography on it. The files are described as “involving prepubescent minors, infants and toddlers.”
Agents left Tate’s residence and secured an arrest warrant. They returned a short time later and found Tate in the bedroom, unresponsive.
Agents performed life saving measures and were able to get Tate medical attention.
While the agents worked to resuscitate him, they found a handwritten note next to him.
In the note, which is described in the documents as a suicide letter, Tate discusses being molested as a child and expressed his intent to take his own life.
After Tate was medically stable and discharged from care, law enforcement booked him into Potter County Detention Center on a parole violation.
He was previously convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child, possession of child pornography, and two counts of indecency with a child by contact in February 2000. The victim is listed as a 6-year-old female.
He was released on parole in 2021 and registered with Amarillo Police Department.
Agents interviewed Tate two weeks after his arrest. In that interview, he admitted to trading child pornography online and that he owned the laptop and external hard drive seized in the search of his home.
Tate was booked into Randall County Jail on his federal charges in September 2025.
He pleaded guilty in federal court on December 30. Due to his prior convictions for similar sex crimes involving children, Tate’s punishment for his federal offenses will be enhanced.
His sentencing will be set at a later date.
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