A former middle school teacher from St. Louis County, Missouri, has admitted to possessing child pornography. Scott R. Ellis, aged 38, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one felony count of possession of child pornography. He confessed to having 72 images containing child abuse material on his cell phone and approximately 700 videos and over 900 images in his Mega cloud storage account.
The investigation into Ellis began following two cyber tipline reports made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children regarding child pornography found in his Google account.
Ellis is set to be sentenced on June 3. The charge he faces carries a potential penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Special Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.
This legal action is part of Project Safe Childhood, an initiative launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006 aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse nationwide. The project brings together federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet while also working to identify and rescue victims.
For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.
