Residents Gather for Vigil at Porn Convict's Home

Shirley Moore's glasses reflected flickering candlelight away from her eyes, but they couldn't stop the tears that welled up when she talked about the reasons she and others met for a candlelight vigil in front of porn convict Robert Matheson's home on a chilly Wednesday night.

"I think people needed, or I certainly needed, some kind of an outlet to express grief. Whatever happens to this man will happen to this man, he's brought it on himself, and I'm sure he will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," she said. "But, it's the boys ... when you have 2,800 images and video and these stories on your computer, how many boys does that equate to? How many kids have been f--ked up?"

Moore was one of a dozen Sierra Madre residents who banded together in front of Matheson's house to offer support for victims of child pornography, which

Canadian authorities arrested Matheson during an October visit to Nova Scotia, when a search of his laptop uncovered an  Matheson is currently serving a 108-day sentence in Canada. 

The vigil came only two nights after agents from

The vigil was the brainchild of a reader of the Sierra Madre Tattler blog, and one of the gathering's organizers was John Crawford, the Tattler's editor. Moore said following the reader's suggestion, she talked to some others, "kinda grabbed a day and said, 'Let's do this.'"

Vigil attendees chatted among themselves about facets of the Matheson case--such as how Matheson was singled out in Canada because of the--as well as aboutheir daily lives and the breath-chilling weather.

The occasional Sierra Madre Police Department vehicle rolled by and greeted them. A faint, amber light could be seen inside the Matheson home, and a car was parked in the driveway.

Shocked

John Herrmann said he was "shocked" when he first heard about Matheson's issues in Canada.

"As the facts came out more, I got angrier that this process was going on for months, and this is the first we're hearing about it," said the 69-year-old Sierra Madre retiree.  "This is textbook stuff, right out of the aberrant psychology textbooks. I'm here to support those children who have had their childhoods taken from them by the click of camera and God knows what else."

Anita Delmer, another resident, said she felt disgust when she heard the news about Matheson, as well as his apparent lack of remorse when he noted that photography was a "hobby" of his. Her thoughts then turned to the child victims, saying that, if she could, she would tell them that "it's not their fault. They are innocent in this."

Moore, sitting on the candle-adorned curbside in front of Matheson's house, said she felt compelled to at least wish for the child porn victims to find peace. She said her mantra for the candlelit night was "Let this light guide you to a better future."

"I've seen people pray and send love to people who are sick, and they get better," she said. "I'm hoping that the energy that's generated here tonight will go out to those people, to all of those boys and that even if they get an inkling of it, they'll know somebody cares about them. It's such a hopeless situation, that they need it."

Other Matheson stories

Porn Convict Has Sierra Madre Political Ties

U.S. Man, 66, Jailed for Having Child Porn on Laptop

A Few Additional Observations on the Matheson Matter