ADA: Defendant’s 3 Ex-Girlfriends From Other States Testified, Alleged Offenses From 5 Other States Presented During Sentencing Hearing
A 54-year-old Illinois man, described by prosecutors as “a guy comparable to the one depicted in Netflix’s special ‘The Tinder Swindler,”’ received the maximum sentence for failure to appear in court on a May 2020 stolen vehicle charge during a hearing held this week in the 8th Judicial District Court.
While the charge may seem like a simple one — the defendant didn’t make a June 9, 2021, court appearance as scheduled — Assistant District Attorney Zach Blackmon said the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s Office learned soon after they received the initial May 2, 2020 case that factors involving Matthew Roy Person tend to be complicated. The Illinois man has been accused of crimes in six states, including Texas and Illinois.
“Much like something out of a movie or novel, the case involved a guy comparable to the one depicted in Netflix’s special ‘The Tinder Swindler,’” Blackmon noted, adding, “in short, Matthew Person has been conning various corporations and people, mainly women, for decades. His motive is largely unknown and one can only speculate why this man did the things that he did. His actions span across the country, including crimes committed in Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas.”
Person was arrested May 2, 2020, by a state trooper on Interstate 30 for driving a Jeep that Hertz Rental Car had reported stolen out of Dallas Love Field airport. He was indicted in November 2020 for the offense of Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle, a state jail felony offense.
While Person appeared in court several times asking for new court dates in order to hire an attorney, Person missed his June 9, 2021 court date. Thus, he was indicted for bail jumping and failure to appear (FTA).
“In Texas, an FTA is a third degree felony, and unlike the state jail felony UUMV, the FTA could be enhanced to be punished as a second degree felony because Mr. Person had been to prison in Illinois. He ultimately pled guilty to the FTA and the UUMV was dismissed pursuant to Section 12.45 of the Texas Penal Code. Sentencing was set for December 5, 2022,” Blackmon noted.
While that all seems pretty routine, the ADA said the case was anything but. From the outset of this case in 2020, the DA’s Office began to receive numerous communications from many people who had been involved with Matthew Person.
“This included family members, ex-girlfriends, the husband of Mr. Person’s ex-wife and mother of Mr. Person’s children, a real estate agent of Mr. Person’s, and law enforcement agencies across the country. In short, I learned that Mr. Person is a man who has been stealing jewelry and using the credit cards of the women he dated. He met most of these women online through dating sites like Match.com, Tinder, and Bumble. He would end up stealing from each of these women thousands, and sometimes tens of thousands, of dollars. Seven women told eerily similar stories of the theft, deception, and evil perpetrated upon them by Mr. Person,” the ADA explained.
The DA’s Office learned Person had spent time in an Illinois prison in 2015 “for stealing and pawning his then-girlfriend’s jewelry and using her credit card.” Blackmon said Person’s criminal record also included being caught in Georgia attempting to steal a Jaguar from a dealership in 2021. The airport in Nashville, Tennessee too was working on a stolen car case in which Person was a suspect, Blackmon noted. Person was arrested in South Carolina in 2021 for having yet another stolen vehicle and bench warrants, while Ohio and Illinois each were working cases involving two victims who testified in the FTA sentencing hearing Dec. 5, 2022, in Hopkins County.
“In short, it did not take me long to realize I had a true monster on my caseload. I quickly got to work, which involved gathering evidence from various agencies and speaking to many women and other people who had been victimized by Mr. Person. I made it clear that I would not be making any plea offers to Mr. Person other than pleading guilty to the FTA and going before Judge Northcutt for sentencing. I knew the only proper sentence was the absolute maximum: 20 years imprisonment with a $10,000 fine. The stories these women were telling me had to be heard, and these women deserved the opportunity to confront Mr. Person and hold him accountable. And that’s exactly what they did,” Blackmon reported.
As part of Person’s open plea, 8th Judicial District Judge Eddie Northcutt was able to consider everything in the State’s file when determining the sentence for Mr. Person. The DA’s file on Person included witness statements from conversations between the DA’s Office and the alleged victims from other states, evidence obtained from the various agencies, and Person’s jail phone call, according to the ADA.
Northcutt heard testimony from the three women, including “tales of jewelry and family heirlooms being pawned, credit cards being abused, and lies upon lies upon lies told to them by Mr. Person,” according to Blackmon.
“Ultimately, we were able to show Judge Northcutt just what kind of individual Mr. Person was: an evil monster. Not only had Mr. Person conned many women, but he had attempted to con the 8th Judicial District,” the ADA reported.
On June 23, 2021, Person was alleged to have produced a photoshopped text message, which Person presented to the court in an attempt to explain his missed court date on June 9, 2021, Blackmon reported. The text was supposed to be from American Airlines, showing his flight from San Antonio to Dallas was canceled.
Blackmon said that explanation had two issues, however. Blackmon described the alleged text as a terrible photoshop job. Also, during his interview for a presentence investigation report (PSI), Person claimed to be living in Ohio when his flight was canceled; in June 2021, however, he claimed to have been in San Antonio, Texas.
Northcutt sentenced Person this week to the maximum sentence, 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, on the failure to appear/bail jumping charge.
“Justice was served in Hopkins County, and this should serve as a message to any criminal that this is no place to commit crime,” Blackmon said.
The ADA credited the conviction and stiff sentence to “the incredible collaborative effort between the victims, out of state agencies, and our office. This case was massive, and so, it was an all hands on deck situation in the 8th Judicial District Attorney’s office. Cindy Caviness, our Executive Assistant, played a vital role organizing and maintaining the ever-growing file. Susan Fisher, our Victim Assistance Coordinator, was alongside me in nearly every interview we conducted with the many, many victims left in Mr. Person’s wake. Robert Stout, our Investigator, did an outstanding job tracking down the files maintained by out of state law enforcement agencies in a short amount of time. The attorneys in our office, especially our elected DA Will Ramsay and First Assistant Matt Harris, provided me with mentorship and encouragement the entire way. And last, but certainly not least, the three women who traveled across the country to relive their nightmare were absolutely indispensable,” Blackmon stated.
