Ryan Leslie Matthews will find out in August how long he will go to prison for after admitting he produced child pornography when he shot videos of himself sexually abusing a 3-year-old girl sometime between 2006 and 2007.

Federal prosecutors say Boise police seized more than 200 optical discs containing thousands of illegal images and videos from Matthews’ home on West Targee Street in December — including video of the now 39-year-old Matthews having illegal sexual contact with the toddler.

Matthews pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a charge of producing sexually explicit images of a minor in connection with the case. That crime is punishable by up to 30 years in a federal prison, with a 15-year-mandatory minimum. Matthews will be sentenced by Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill Aug. 30.

The investigation began with a tip generated by the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) in August that Matthews had been downloading child porn from the internet, according to U.S. Department of Justice reports.

Boise police searched Matthews’ home in December and found the optical discs, more than 500 printed pictures, and evidence that Matthews had recently done computer searches for subjects including “Child Molestation: The six steps to grooming” and “How to molest a child,” according to reports.

When first confronted by police about the web searches, Matthews said he was curious but denied ever molesting a child. Police later found the video of the 3-year-old girl, and Matthews admitted to molesting her while he was babysitting, according to reports.

The case was investigated by Boise Police and ICAC with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations. Those agencies work together as part of Project Safe Childhood, which was created in 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate child sexual abuse cases.

For more information on Project Safe Childhood, check out the website at www.usdoj.gov/psc.