Matt DeHart
Matt Paul DeHart (born June 11, 1984) is an American citizen and former U.S. Air National Guard intelligence analyst and a registered sex offender. In 2009, DeHart claimed to have received classified documents alleging the CIA was involved in the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States. DeHart claimed these documents were the cause of the government's subsequent harassment of him.

He was indicted for alleged possession of indecent images from under-aged boys in 2010 and spent 21 months in prison while awaiting trial. After being released on bond in 2012, he unsuccessfully sought asylum in Canada, claiming he had been tortured by the FBI with regards to the classified documents. In November 2015 he struck a plea bargain to serve a -year sentence. He was released from prison in October 2019.

Early life and education
As Matt DeHart's parents, Paul and Leann (married in 1978), were both members of the U.S. military, he lived and grew up in many different places: Fort Meade, Maryland (age 1–2); Wheeler Air Force Base, Hawaii (age 2–4); Prattville, Alabama (K–3rd grade), Fort Meade (4th grade); Prattville (5th grade); Birdsboro, Pennsylvania (6th grade); Randolph, New Jersey (7th – 11th grades); Washington Township, Pennsylvania (12th grade); Elmira, New York (2002–2005); and Newburgh, Indiana (2005–2010). 

From an early age, DeHart was a tech geek. He started a group called KAOS (Kaos Anti-Security Operations Syndicate) in 2000. He graduated from high school in 2002. He took classes through Corning Community College; BOCES, Horseheads New York; and IVY Tech Indianapolis, Indiana. In 2004, he spent time on 4chan, a message board which gave birth to Anonymous. Besides socializing and gaming online, DeHart developed interests in encryption, internet freedom and privacy. In 2008, he took part in Project Chanology, Anonymous' anti-Scientology campaign.

Career
In 2008, DeHart enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard, becoming an intelligence analyst. In June 2009, he was discharged from the National Guard, with an honorable discharge, as a consequence of a diagnosis of depression. DeHart says after his superiors had learned about his activism he had been offered a lump sum if he resigned but he had refused to do so.

Timeline of events

Receipt of documents 
DeHart was involved in online activities with a small group 'Anonymous Anti-Security' using the anonymity network Tor. As a part of these activities, DeHart ran a dead drop server named 'The Shell', on a computer in his bedroom. In September 2009, while monitoring the server, DeHart claims to have found an unencrypted folder containing hundreds of documents, including one detailing what looked like an FBI investigation into some particularly shady deeds by the CIA. He deleted the unencrypted folder from the server, but claims to have kept screenshots. Shortly afterwards he claims to have found an encrypted version of the same file placed on another hidden server he believes was meant for WikiLeaks.

DeHart claimed the "document dropped onto his Tor server included details of FBI's investigation into CIA's possible role in the anthrax attack". DeHart said the CIA staged the attacks to draw the US into a war with Iraq.

On January 22, 2010, DeHart claims to have received a 'pretty detailed tip' from an associate who claims they were asked about the server by the FBI related to the file from a few months previously. At this point he shut down his server entirely and claims to have destroyed its hard drives.

Initial charges and indictment 
On August 9, 2010, DeHart was brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk. On August 18, 2010, DeHart signed consent forms (such as the permission for any FBI agent and "any Canadian law enforcement", to record his phone calls with his old military colleagues) and authorized agents to assume his online identity, giving the FBI his aliases, and passwords to his e-mail accounts. Among the accounts was a Hushmail account in the name of "Fawkes".

DeHart was then transferred to Tennessee, where he spent 21 months in jail because of the child pornography charges against him.

The FBI claimed DeHart coerced two teenage boys in Tennessee into sending him nude photos and videos, and that he impersonated a teenage girl in order to acquire sexual images from teenage boys.

He was deported to the US on 1 March 2015 and handed over to FBI agents at the Peace Bridge border crossing.

Plea and sentence 
DeHart was described by one prosecutor as a "classic child sex predator".

In March 2015, he was granted assistance by the Courage Foundation, an international organisation that defends whistleblowers.

On November 13, 2015, in Tennessee, DeHart pleaded guilty to "two charges of receiving child pornography and a charge of failing to appear as ordered in court". On February 22, 2016, U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Arthur Trauger of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee sentenced DeHart to 72 months for the porn charges and an additional 18 months for fleeing the country. He was released from prison in October 2019.

DeHart has claimed wrongful prosecution, accusing the U.S. government of using child pornography as a ruse to probe his activist activities. A victim-impact statement was delivered which accused DeHart of orchestrating a hoax in the media and in court to avoid taking responsibility for damaging lives.

In 2017, his mother stated that he would "be on a sex offender's registry for 10 years". Although his conviction is in Tennessee, because his last known address was in Concord, New Hampshire, he was also required to register there as a sex offender, with a mugshot dated June 14, 2021.

See also

 Canadian immigration and refugee law
 Enemies of the State, documentary film about the Matt DeHart case

References

Further reading 
Child Porn Suspect Collapses In Court, Judy Harrison, Aug 11 2010  
Five-part feature on Matt DeHart's case by Adrian Humphreys, National Post, May 2014
Matt DeHart: Grand Jury Indictment
United States of America vs. Matthew DeHart, Criminal Complaint

External links
  Courage Foundation page for DeHart

Living people
1984 births
Anonymous (hacker group) activists
WikiLeaks
United States Air Force airmen
Corning Community College alumni
People from Newburgh, Indiana
Right of asylum in Canada
American computer criminals
21st-century American criminals
American sex offenders