A perverted soccer coach posed as a women online and persuaded his young players to send him nude pictures of themselves.
Matthew Anthony, 32-year-old coach living in England, created two fake female social media accounts he used to approach young boys on Instagram.
Anthony allegedly began some of the conversations by asking the boys if they had ever "seen their friends naked," and then requested the nude photos, DailyMail.com reports.
His victims were under the impression they were talking to a woman and ended up sending Anthony their explicit pictures.
According to DailyMail.com, Anthony had accumulated "hundreds" of sexually indecent images aside from the photos of his athletes. Police discovered his disturbing archives after raiding his home.
Police reportedly searched his computer and found additional images of babies that were as young as 6 months old.
Anthony admitted he was guilty and was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court. The coach was also handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and has been banned from working with children.
His defender, Hamish Noble, claimed Anthony's sexuality had been a "troubling area for him" since he discovered he was gay at age 15.
In court, Noble said,
He knows he has done dreadful things and that they've had a great impact on his victims' lives. He was frank in his police interview to a degree.
He continued,
He knows the impact of what he's done, and he has lost his good character in a significant way. He expresses his real remorse for what he did.
Regardless of Anthony's troubled past, Judge Paul Glenn noted the severe impact he had on his victims, DailyMail.com reports.
Referring to the victims' families, Judge Glenn said,
You goaded them into sending you more material by calling them cowards when they wouldn't. It has had a profound impact on the victims and their parents.
The boys who sent their coach naked photos of themselves reportedly felt "stupid" and "embarrassed," but received justice when Anthony was put behind bars.
