Michigan-based Elvis impersonator indicted on more child sex charges in Erie federal case

Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News
·3 min read

An Elvis impersonator from Michigan has been charged with three more felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor in a case that is being prosecuted in U.S. District Court in Erie.

The defendant, Matthew J. Chantelois, is accused of enticing a runaway 16-year-old girl to make sexually explicit videos and images in late 2023 through January 2024. The case started on Jan. 24, when Pennsylvania State Police said troopers found Chantelois with the girl, who was naked, in a motel room in Summit Township.

Chantelois, 45, now faces a total of six charges as a result of a superseding indictment returned on Tuesday and filed on Wednesday. He faced a total of three charges in the original indictment, returned in February.

Of the six charges, four are for sexual exploitation of a minor and are related to the allegations involving the sexually explicit videos, according to court records. Three of those charges are new.

Elvis Presley impersonator Matt King, whose residence is in Dearborn Heights, Michigan and whose real name is Matthew J. Chantelois, performs on June 2, 2023, during a "Hot Wheels" First Fridays promotional event in the city of Adrian, in southwestern Michigan. Chantelois has been charged in federal court in Erie with six counts related to the sexual exploitation of a minor.

The other two charges were also in the original indictment. They are the felonies of using a computer or other electronic device to transport images of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct and possession of images of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The superseding indictment expands from one to four the number of allegations involving the production of the sexually explicit videos. The original indictment contained one allegation spanning from October 2023 to January 2024, and the superseding indictment contains three more allegations spanning from separate dates in November 2023 to Jan. 24.

Each of the sexual exploitation counts carry a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison if Chantelois is convicted. The computer-related count carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. The possession count carries a sentence of up to 10 years.

Another arraignment is scheduled for Chantelois

Chantelois, of Dearborn Heights, near Detroit, pleaded not guilty to the original charges at an arraignment in March. His arraignment on the charges in the superseding indictment is scheduled for May 2 before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo at the federal courthouse in Erie.

Chantelois has been in prison since his arrest in Michigan in February in the federal case. He declined to object to his continuing pretrial incarceration when he waived a detention hearing before Lanzillo in March.

Chantelois' stage name is Matt King, after the king of rock and roll, the famous appellation for Elvis Presley, who died at 42 in 1977. As an Elvis impersonator, Chantelois traveled the United States and Mexico and performed on ocean cruises for more than 32 years, according to his website and a 2017 article in the Detroit Free Press. Court records do not indicate whether he was traveling for a performance when he was charged with the sex crimes.

Case started with discovery in motel room

The federal charges against Chantelois are related to his arrest in Summit Township on Jan. 24, when Pennsylvania State Police said they found him around 4 a.m. with a naked 16-year-old girl in a room at the Motel 6 on Schultz Road. The motel is off the Route 97 exit for I- 90.

State police said troopers started looking for the girl, from Schroon Lake, New York, in the Adirondacks, after state police in New York reported on Jan. 24 that she was a runaway and was believed to be with Chantelois. Police "pinged" Chantelois' cellphone to track him.

The girl told Pennsylvania state police she had sex with Chantelois in the motel room, had been drinking vodka he provided and had sent him nude photos of herself, according to arrest records. Police said Chantelois met the girl via social media months earlier.

State police charged Chantelois with corruption of minors, interference with the custody of a child and furnishing alcohol to a minor. The FBI then got involved, leading to the federal charges.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Elvis impersonator indicted on more charges in Erie PA child sex case