FBI Searching for Victims of Deceased Alleged Child Rapist

The FBI is searching for potential victims of a Georgia salesman accused of videotaping himself raping young girls and possessing more than 50,000 images and videos of child pornography.

Matthew John Coniglio, 46, was working as a sales representative for a food distribution center when he was arrested April 10 at his Georgia home after a Pooler police officer identified him as someone who possessed and distributed child pornography.

Investigators discovered his house held more than 50,000 images and videos stored on laptops, external hard drives and USB flash drives. Hidden in a bedside table were 56 8-millimeter cassette tapes the FBI says show Coniglio raping and molesting girls who were allegedly drugged and unconscious.

Investigators say they do not know how many different girls were attacked since many of the victims’ faces could not be clearly identified. Each tape recorded at least one assault -- some had more -- in homes and hotels, The Associated Press reports.

According to an FBI review, Coniglio lived in various locations during the past 15 years including Savannah and Pooler, Georgia; Charleston and Hilton Head, South Carolina; and Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Ten days after he was arrested in Pooler, 46-year-old Matthew Coniglio was found dead in his Chatham County jail cell in Savannah, Georgia. He had written goodbye letters to his parents and tied a cord to a vent in his jail cell before hanging himself in an apparent suicide before his trial could start.

The FBI shared exclusive details with The Associated Press Tuesday in hopes that victims will step forward and be offered help and counseling. The victims, some as young as 8 years old, may be unaware of what happened to them, the FBI said in a press release. 

The FBI’s Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force, in partnership with the Pooler Police Department, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, and the Effingham County Sheriff’s Department, is working to both identify and notify the photographed victims, according to an FBI press release.

Those who believe they may have been victims are being encouraged to come forward, not only to aid investigators, but potentially to seek services through the Victim Assistance Program. Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI's Victim Assistance Toll Free number at 1-877-236-8947. Those with information are also encouraged to fill out a confidential questionnaire or send an email to FBIvictimassistance@ic.fbi.gov.