Matt Bandy
Autobiography

My name is Mathew George Bandy, and my mother and father have always been there for me. In 1991, my sister was born and through the years, we have always done things as a family. This family doesn't stop at my mother, father and sister, though — my grandparents on both sides are always involved in our lives. We are blessed to have aunts, uncles and cousins living in the same area. This has allowed us to spend a lot of time together. One of my fondest memories is when my Grandma and Grandpa took our entire family — their three children and all of their grandchildren — to Disneyland. Disneyland has always been my favorite vacation spot, but the joy of having all of my cousins and family there made this trip especially enjoyable. This is still one of the best memories I have of my grandpa, who has since passed away. My grandparents on my fathers side had the same sort of trip with all of their children, 14 people in total went on a vacation to celebrate Mimi and Opa's 50th anniversary.

I started high school with a lot of anticipation and I looked forward to the years ahead. I joined the wrestling team during my freshman year and had a lot of fun. About a month into practices though, my back started to hurt. After a few MRIs, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. This caused me to have to sit out of the rest of my freshman year. While I was recovering, I taught myself to play the guitar. After 6 epidurals and physical therapy, I was able to get back to my life. I went back to school and took it easy. I had many friends and I would spend lunch breaks playing guitar in the hallway.

On the morning of my midterm finals, the police raided our house. I started having panic attacks after the ordeal and found it impossible to sit through classes. I dropped out of school and was home-schooled for the rest of the year. I returned to high school for my junior year. During that year, I participated in the high school production of "Harvey". I had the lead role and I am still getting compliments on my performance. I had the time of my life while participating in the play and made some very close friends. Most recently, due to the stress of the legal battle and its effect on my body and mind, I decided to drop out of my senior year in high school and, instead, go for a G.E.D. in the very near future. I'm also planning to go to community college.

I spend a lot of time with my family. We enjoy watching movies and sports. One of my favorite times of the year is football season; my family and I pick games and watch them together on Sunday. We also go on many vacations and have a great time together. I enjoy listening to music and collecting old vinyl records. Some of my favorite music is classic rock from bands like Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Led Zeppelin. I also like the classic Nintendo videogames, such as the 8-bit Castlevania, Mega Man, and Metroid series. I have not been able to enjoy these things due to what I am going through, it is a huge burden. I am looking forward to getting my life back.

The last thing I ever expected to happen was to be not only accused of a horrible crime I didn't commit, but then to voluntarily go public and help lead a crusade so that people will be made aware of what is going on in the technological nightmare known as the World Wide Web. It hurts me to know that there are people out there who have to spend time in jail for the crime of being hooked up to the Internet.

Thank you for visiting this website and I hope that each of you who read this volunteer to be part of the solution too.
 

Jeanne Bandy
Autobiography

My name is Jeanne Bandy. I was born in Chicago in 1956. While I was growing up we lived above my parents' bakery. It was a peaceful and sheltered time in my life, of which I have wonderful memories. In 1974, after I graduated from high school, my family decided to live their dream and moved the entire family to Arizona.

This was a challenging time for me, because over the course of the summer of 1974 I developed a severe onset of Rheumatoid Arthritis. The disease moved quickly and within a couple of years, several of my joints were totally destroyed. Although my illness was progressing, I attended Arizona State University, spending my spring breaks on joint replacement surgeries. I was twenty years old when I underwent my first surgery — a total hip replacement — and wrist, fingers, and knee surgeries followed. After each surgery, I would go back to school and thanks to loving support from Gregory, (who was my boyfriend at the time) and my family I would finish the semester. I received my B.S. in business in 1979, and after graduation Greg and I married.

For the next few years I worked at Hughes Air Craft as a Buyer purchasing micro electronics while putting Greg through medical school. After Greg graduated from medical school he went into residency, and I went back to ASU to work on my Masters' Degree in counseling. This took longer than I anticipated because we decided to have a family. Matt was born followed by Katie, so six years and two babies later, I received my Masters'. Greg was still working hard in residency and completed his training in 1991.

We were finally through all the schooling and training and were looking forward to a normal life. Well, it didn't exactly turn out the way I expected. Our lives were hectic to say the least. Between Greg's ER schedule and the kids' schedule, sometimes I could hardly remember which day of the week it was! I put aside my goals for a while to give my attention to the most important thing in my life — our family. I did, however, teach religious education classes for our church, and Self-Help classes for the Arthritis Foundation.

Even though we were busy, the years that followed were wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed raising Matt and Katie and seeing to it that my family was happy and well-taken care of. We have a large extended family here in the Valley and the years flew by, filled with many happy events, family vacations and holiday celebrations.

Then our whole world came tumbling down on an early December morning when the police raided our home. Since then, there has been nothing but fear and anxiety in our lives. We have spent the last two years in lawyer's offices and court trying to protect Matt. This case has done severe damage to our family's world, a world that Greg and I worked so very long and hard to build.

We are going public with our story because Greg and I do not wish for any other family to go through this nightmare. It has exhausted us emotionally, financially and physically. We feel compelled to stand up for those who may not be able to do so on their own. The system is broken, and no family should have to go through what we have. We adamantly agree that child pornography is horrific, and there must be laws to protect children, but at the same time, we can not allow innocent people (or, in Matt's case, a child himself) to go to jail and be labeled a sex offender when their only crime was to own a computer. So we are taking a big risk by going public, but hopefully we will make a difference. People must become aware of these laws that endanger all of us, especially our children who are the most vulnerable.
 

Gregory Bandy, M.D.
Autobiography

My name is Gregory L. Bandy M.D. I was born in Findlay Ohio in 1956, the oldest of three children born to two very loving and supportive parents. My sister Cyndi lives with her husband and two children in Colorado, and my brother Carl lives in Ohio with his wife and two children.

My father is a now retired cardiologist and his schooling (college, med school, internship, residency, fellowship and "pay-back" to the public health service) required moving about quite a bit between 1956 and 1968 before we settled in Phoenix when I was twelve years old. I graduated from Camelback High in 1974, then attended Arizona State University where I graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1979.

In 1976 I met the love of my life, Jeanne, and we were married on June 9, 1979. We have two wonderful children: Matthew, who's now 18 and Kathryn, who is 14.

[I]t only takes 15 seconds to compromise an "unprotected" computer.       — Paul Davis, CISSP-certified IT Security strategist

I graduated from ASU with a B.S. degree in Geology and began working towards my Master's Degree in Geophysics at Stanford University in Sept. 1979, but after just a few months there I had a change of heart and withdrew from the program to go into medicine.

I graduated from medical school at the University of Arizona in 1985 and chose general surgery as my specialty. I entered internship and residency training at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix in 1985 until October 1987 when I finally "saw the light," resigning from the program. I worked in the ER in Parker, Arizona until June 1989 and again entered internship and residency, this time in Internal Medicine. I completed the three-year internal medicine program in June 1992, and accepted a full-time position as an ER physician at Tempe St. Luke's Hospital soon thereafter. I stayed at St. Luke's until August 2005, when I accepted a position at Maryvale Hospital in Phoenix as an ER physician, a position I still hold. I remain "on staff" at TSL where they have told me I'm welcome back at any time.

Somewhere along the way I took up running as a sport. I started dabbling in it in 1976 as a bet that my father (who was then 39) could train for a month and I would go out and beat him in a one-mile run without training. The whole family went down to the track to cheer dad on — to no avail on their part — when I beat my dad's time by ten seconds. From there on I was hooked. I estimate that I've logged somewhere over 20,000 miles. At the peak of my running I ran a 2:35:53 marathon in 1984, and the month before that I finished 48th out of 10,000 runners in a 10K. Unfortunately, I no longer run due to a partially torn hamstring tendon which has now taken almost two years to heal, but I also enjoy golf, reading novels, playing chess, fishing, and of course, spending lots of time with our family.

Some of the highlights of our family times include our fifteen-year traditional Christmas parties, Fourth of July Parties, and holiday and birthday get-togethers with our extended family. We also had season tickets to Cardinal football games for 9 years (OK, so it wasn't all good times), Sundevil tickets, Coyote hockey season tickets, Diamondback season tickets (including in 2001, when they were the World Champions), and the occasional Suns game. We always took two family vacations per year and usually three with the immediate family that often included grandparents as well.

Then in the early morning hours of December 16, 2004 my life, and that of my family, changed forever. Three policemen pulled me from bed at gunpoint and led me outside where my family was quarantined while they "secured the area." (Keep in mind that our family consists of middle-aged physician with an arthritic wife and two teenage children.) Thankfully, the area was "secured" and we were able to re-enter the house. I'm reluctant to go into details of the allegations here; however, suffice it to say this could have happened to anyone, and actually will continue to happen at random throughout society until common sense and new laws are both employed and enacted.

We have now spent two years defending our son on charges he adamantly denies (he's successfully passed two independent polygraphs) and we have multiple expert witnesses willing to testify to the fact that there are a multitude of ways this could have happened (none involving my son).

Sincerely,

Gregory Bandy

Letters of Support

Below are a small cross-section of the many letters of support received by The Bandys or their attorney, Ed Novak, in support of Matt's and the Bandy Family's fine character. Others were written to Arizona legislators in a desperate attempt to find some state official who would listen, to no avail.

We plan to also feature supportive comments from visitors to this site. If you are moved to comment "for the record," please use the Contact Us page.

January 25, 2007

I am a fellow Ahwatukee resident. I wanted to thank you for using your horrible experience to enlighten others about the potential life altering risks of being on-line. I am very sorry that you had to through what you did, but know that your efforts to get the message out will help spare other unwitting victims from the same fate.

Please feel free to use my comments in any way that you may find helpful. You may also post my name along with my comments if you wish. This is truly an amazing and shocking story both in terms of an example of a blatant abuse of power by the prosecuting attorney and in terms of the underhanded means with which the true criminals victimize and devastate others (i.e., the children in the pornographic pictures as well as Matt and his family).

Mark Mercer
Ahwatukee, AZ

January 24, 2007

I am just writing to let you know that others out here have heard about what has happened to Matt . I know this won't be much solice for you now, but I hope that Matt's and your whole families suffering helps those like him in the future. I hope that you and your family tell your story again when the prosecutor comes up for re-election.

Hank Bennett
Newberg
OR

January 19, 2006

TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

My name is Amanda Stem, and I am a Private First Class in the United States Army. It has been brought to my attention that Matthew Bandy's, whom I have been friends with for many years, character has been questioned. I have known Matt since 1998, I believe. Our families have been great friends and have partaken in wonderful vacations together in Mexico and Nevada. We have celebrated Christmas and birthdays, Fourth of July and Thanksgiving together as families. I even baby sat him and his sister a few times. He has a great sense of caring and humor put together for a winning combination. He would never do anything to hurt someone physically or mentally. He loves his family with all his heart and is truly a great person. I am currently stationed here in Mosul, Iraq, at Fort Courage and therefore cannot present my testimony in person. If you have any further questions, I can be reached by email at (email address omitted by editor to preserve Private Stern's privacy).

January 5, 2006

Mr. Edward Novak:

I have known Matthew Bandy for approximately the last ten years. During that interval, I have had the opportunity to observe him in numerous settings including providing professional care for him when he had been injured at school and was seen in the emergency department for an initial assessment and at subsequent E.R. visits when he experienced flares of pain secondary to that initial injury. I also observed him on numerous occasions when he and his family would stop at the department while out for social or sports events and observed his interaction with his family, the department staff and myself.

While Matthew always impressed me as a somewhat shy and reserved young man, and in spite of what may have been reluctance to express himself, I always found him to be kind, courteous, cordial and even at times humorously entertaining. I recall specifically being impressed with how he maintained his composure even though in obvious pain during his initial ER evaluation for a school related injury. Matthew has always been warm, approachable and considering during the settings in which I observed him. Over the years I have had numerous discussions with his father about him and his response to his chronic injury and its impact on the family and his ability to attend school and learned that Matthew was a steady achiever and found ways to overcome the obstacles his physical malady presented.

In summary, I have observed Matthew Bandy for ten years in a variety of settings, professional and social, and always found him to be a warm and pleasant young man and never observed anything that raised concern that he was anything other than a typical Valley teenager interested in the activities of most young men his age.

Mark E. Sexton, MD.
Phoenix Emergency Physicians
Scottsdale, AZ

September 13, 2006

Dear Mr. Ed Novak,

I am writing to inform you of my knowledge and relationship with Matthew Bandy. I have been a close friend of his family for over twenty years and have known Matt since he was born. He has been a member of a loving family unit that exhibits a closeness that is seldom seen in this modern day of hectic hurry. His extended family, to include Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are all loving and caring. He has always been the same, very loving and caring. He strives to do what is expected by society and has a strong sense of conscience. He willingly accepts tasks and strives to put a bit of "Matt" in everything that he works hard at (he has an intelligent sense of humor that makes seven adults think). His music, books and television viewing exclude the harsh language and acts that permeate modern entertainment both by training and voluntary choice. Matthew shows the utmost respect for all people, animals and personal property. He trusts society to respect him in the return and it would be a blow to him to experience trespass. I would be proud to have Matt as a son and consider him to be almost that.

Robert R. Bartos
Phoenix, AZ

January 18, 2006

To whom it may concern:

I met the Bandy family in 1991. I met Dr. Bandy at Tempe St. Luke's Hospital, working the Emergency department. I have been a Registered Nurse in the ER for 27 years. Dr. Bandy is a very kind, compassionate person, who is very efficient and knowledgeable in emergency medicine. He is a huge asset to the ER, builds comradery and works as a team member. Soon after meeting Dr. Bandy, I met his wife Jean and children Matthew and Katie. They would bring dinner to Dr. Bandy at work and the whole family became friends to the ER.

Tempe St. Luke's is well known for treating all co-workers and patients as "family." Dr. Bandy began having parties inviting the entire ER and families for summer gatherings of swimming, basketball, volleyball and Christmas parties with Santa there for all of the children. This has become an annual event to date and has made many memories for all who were a part.

Matt and Katie were a welcoming pair and played well with all. Matt was always including other people by sharing his toys and games. He often would give up his turn while playing video games just so his guests could play. The Bandy family has strong Christian values. I feel Matthew has had great parental guidance and supervision. I would like to give Matthew special recognition for being a part of his family and for the future to be an active part in his community. I have total faith and confidence in Matthew's integrity.

Sheila Bryant
Tempe, AZ

10 January 2006

Re: Matthew Bandy

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with pleasure I take this opportunity to give support to the character of Matt Bandy. I've known him since he was a toddler and have watched him grow into a fine young man. His father Dr. Greg Bandy and I have worked together in the Emergency Department at Tempe St. Luke's Hospital for many years and although the time spent with Matt has been episodic he has always been courteous and conversant. At no time did I observe any behavior that would not make a parent proud. I've also noted an excellent relationship between Matt and his parents Jean and Greg.

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information.

James R. McEown, MD, FACEP
Morrison Vein Institute

November 11, 2006

We have known Matt for all his life. Even as a small child he was considerate and thoughtful of others and he has continued these traits even as a young man. He is very respectful and kind. If he thinks someone is in need he is there to help. In grade school, he would help the disabled children with their lunches instead of going out to recess.

He is very giving. One year while we were all on vacation it was our son's birthday and our son saw a video game he wanted. Of his own volition, Matt decided to get the game and enlisted the help of his cousin to help pay for it. Even though Matt is older than our children, he always includes them and makes them feel welcome. On a deep sea fishing expedition, Matt allowed our son to be the one to reel in the first catch which made a real impact on our son.

He has had some disabling health issues with a serious back injury. Through it all he kept an upbeat and positive attitude. He is also a very forgiving person. His friends as a joke pushed him and made him fall, re-injurying his back at which time he had to miss numerous weeks of school. He never blamed his friends or got upset with them. In spite of his constant back pain, he was able to keep up in all of his class work. He is a dedicated and hard worker. Matt has never had an easy life due to his back, but he has always made the best of it. Never once have we heard a word of complaint.

Sincerely,

Carl and Heather Bandy (his uncle and aunt)