Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
ST. LOUIS – A former St. Louis County, Missouri middle school teacher on Wednesday admitted possessing hundreds of images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.
Scott R. Ellis, 38, pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of child pornography. Ellis admitted possessing 72 images containing child abuse material on his cell phone and about 700 videos and more than 900 images in his Mega cloud storage account.
The investigation began with two cyber tipline reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child pornography in Ellis’ Google account.
Ellis is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3. The charge carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison.
The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Special Investigations investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson is prosecuting the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.