Outrage Over City Response to Child Porn Convict

Several residents expressed anger at City Council leaders Tuesday regarding last month’s discovery that 66-year-old Robert Matheson, a Sierra Madre resident, was found smuggling a large amount of child pornography across the Canadian border. Matheson reportedly had political ties to Sierra Madre, signing nomination papers and hosting fundraisers for candidates.

“The silence is disturbing,” said Sierra Madre resident Fay Angus at the City Council meeting. “What I would expect from a crime as serious as this would be… reassurance from Mayor Buchanan such as, ‘many of us knew Bob Matheson with his involvement with the community, but I want to assure everyone that none of us knew of his personal involvement with child pornography.’ Sadly, so far, there has not been that reassurance.”

Angus’ attack also seemed to be directed at Councilmember Josh Moran, who told the Star-News that though he attended functions where Matheson was present, he did not know him. Angus held up a copy of the article Moran’s statement was printed in as she made her speech.

, who happens to be running for a City Council seat in April, stood up to defend the City Council.

“I was a child abuse investigator for two years and I’ve investigated dozens of cases like Matheson’s,” said Braudrick. “The one thing that I’ve learned is that people around the predators do not know that this is going on… it’s their deepest, darkest secret.”

Braudrick finished by saying that now is not the time to start blaming people in the community for something that they have nothing to do with.

John Herrmann, another Sierra Madre resident, was appalled that though Matheson was taken into custody in October, the news took two months to reach Sierra Madre.

“This kind of stuff has got to be dealt with, and I expect out of my city government to be kept up on what is happening with people like this,” said Herrmann. “The extortion of money from a gas station is one thing, but warping the children of the next generation is an entirely different matter.”

The Council Responds

Moran responded to the comments by saying, “I’ll let it go, although I’ll say that speech sunk to new depths.” Moran said that he told the Star-News that he had “a sense of shock and repugnancy” when he found out about Matheson, though the paper neglected to print it. 

Mayor John Buchanan also responded, saying “With respect to who knew him and the guilt by association implications, I trust that the people of Sierra Madre know better than that.”

Matheson’s Sierra Madre home was searched in December, and he is currently serving a 120-day jail sentence in Nova Scotia, Canada.

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