Accused of uploading videos of infant and toddler molestation, along with bestiality, a 34-year-old Riverton man could face up to 34 years in prison and $30,000 in fines.
Wayne Mathew Hatch pleaded not guilty April 9 and is scheduled for a July 8 jury trial in Fremont County District Court in Lander.
He faces two counts of child pornography distribution (or intent to distribute) and one count of child pornography possession. The charges follow months of Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation research into a Kik and Cash App account associated with Hatch, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case.
DCI Internet Crimes Against Children Special Agent Ryan Hieb received a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited children in late September about a suspect’s upload of possible child pornography on a Kik account.
Reader Discretion Please
The tip included three videos ranging from 1 minute to 2:20 minutes in length. One showed a toddler being raped by two men at once; another showed an early pubescent female child engaging in a lone sex act; and another showed a dog performing an oral sex act on an early pubescent female, the affidavit says.
The Homeland Security Investigations got involved, issuing a federal summons to the service providers relating to that Fremont County-based IP address in late September.
By Jan. 3, Hieb received a search warrant from U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Kelly Rankin for account content related to child exploitation in the suspect Kik account, the document says.
Kik responded one day later, handing over 161 binary unique files: eight photos and 153 videos, reportedly.
The affidavit says the collection of videos contained:
- A photo of a prepubescent child lying on a bed with her hands and legs bound with yellow rope and her genitalia exposed.
- A video of a prepubescent girl with duct tape covering her eyes being molested by two males.
- Sixteen videos of infants and toddlers being molested.
- One video of an adult female touching a toddler girl’s genitalia.
- Videos of prepubescent females having sex with dogs.
Four images involved Cash App transactions, says the affidavit.
Ledger, Name
Rankin issued another warrant to Hieb on Feb. 16, this time asking Cash App for any account content related to child exploitation on the suspected Cash App account.
Cash App complied, turning over a ledger showing multiple transactions throughout 2022 and 2023, which it allegedly linked to Wayne Hatch.
Hatch was already on probation for brining drugs into a detention facility, the affidavit says.
Rankin granted another search warrant March 18, this time authorizing agents to search Hatch’s Riverton home. There, agents seized Hatch’s phone from him, the document says.
The email address associated with the Cash App transactions was also associated with the phone agents seized, reportedly.
‘Vigilante’
Two DCI agents interviewed Hatch on March 19.
Hatch claimed he was trying to be a “vigilante” and was trying to extort and blackmail child porn sellers, the affidavit relates from the interview. He also claimed, allegedly, that he’d taken over the Kik account from someone else. Investigators countered, saying it wasn’t associated with multiple users.
He admitted to possessing multiple devices attached to Cash App, the affidavit says.
Hatch allegedly admitted to possessing the child pornography files on one of the Samsung devices he believed he no longer had, and to exchanging screenshots and paying $5 to a Cash App user for child pornography.
But he denied ever receiving those files, says the affidavit.
Riverton police then took Hatch to the Fremont County Detention Center in Lander.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
