The fact that the test indicated that Matt was telling the truth wasn't taken into account.Īnd that's when the Bandy family really began to fight back. The Bandy family contends that Thomas was on a mission and that his desire to convict was so strong that he ignored important evidence - like the fact that Matthew passed a lie detector test. "They just had it built in their mind that this kid is guilty, and we're going to make sure that he's convicted. "They didn't care that I denied it, they just kept on asking me and kept on thinking that I did it," he said. Matthew Bandy found himself outmatched in the national campaign against child pornography - harsh laws designed to keep track of pedophiles and punish them severely. The police and the district attorney had the incriminating photos from the Bandys' computer and the prosecutors were determined to send Matt away. Matt's clean reputation, his good grades and protective family could not stand up to the cold fact that child porn was on that computer. Yet, the evidence submitted by the Phoenix police department did not identify a specific user. "That was the basis for the search warrants issued by a court." "The computer had accessed a 'Yahoo' account where there was child pornography," Andrew Thomas, Maricopa County district attorney said. What is so frightening about Matt's case? It could happen to anyone. They just had it built into their mind that this kid is guilty."
"They just kept on asking me and kept on thinking that I did it. "They didn't care that I denied it," Matthew said. "I thought his chances of winning were probably 20 percent," said Novak. Novak said that the pictures alone were practically all the evidence the police needed. And even though there was no proof that Matthew personally downloaded those nine pictures, it would be difficult to prove his innocence. Matt's dreams had been destroyed and his mother was crushed. I don't want to disappoint anybody, but I just can't go on anymore.'"
"He said 'Mom, I'm hurting,'" said Jeannie. The stress of the situation got so bad for Matthew that he told his parents the charges hanging over his head made high school impossible. The shy young boy could not explain how such pictures appeared on his computer hard drive. "If they found out that I was wearing an ankle bracelet all of a sudden they would be wondering, why are you wearing that? And I had no good answer for them." He wore longer pants to hide the ankle bracelet, but he was scared he would be discovered. Matthew was in an awful predicament, and he tried to keep his house arrest a secret. "When they asked me have you ever looked up or uploaded or downloaded erotic images of minors, I was just taken aback and…I said, 'No,'" says Matthew. Yahoo monitors chat rooms for suspicious content and reported that child porn was uploaded from the computer at the Bandys' home address. According to the warrant, nine images of young girls in suggestive poses were found on the Bandy family computer. Greg Bandy was handed the search warrant and informed that the central suspect was Matthew. "And then there police officers with guns pointed at me, telling me to get downstairs." "The first thing I thought was, someone's trying to break in our house," Matthew said. Police officers stormed into the house with guns pointed. It was still dark…there was this pounding at the door," Jeannie Bandy said. It has been two years since police officers stood at the doorstep of the Bandy home with a search warrant bearing a devastating charge - possession of child pornography. In an exclusive interview with "20/20," the Bandy family reveals how the world as they knew it came crumbling down, and how Matthew's life has since changed. One December morning two years ago, Matthew's life took a dramatic turn. What was Matthew Bandy accused of? Jeannie and Greg Bandy were shocked to discover that their son was charged with possession of child pornography. But after I was accused, everything changed." "We went on vacations and had a lot of fun together," Matthew said. I sound like a boastful mom, but I guess the biggest thing is that he could always make me laugh." "He was a happy-go-lucky kid," said his mother, Jeannie Bandy. He actually liked hanging out with his family. 12, 2007 - Sixteen-year-old Matthew Bandy was about as normal a teenager as you could find.