Show-Me State Times

U.S. District Judge Matthew T. Schelp has sentenced a former middle school teacher from St. Louis County, Missouri, to seven years in prison for possessing child pornography. The teacher, Scott R. Ellis, 39, was found with hundreds of images and videos containing child sexual abuse material.

Ellis has been ordered to pay $90,500 in restitution to 12 victims identified in the material he collected. Following his release from prison, he will be subject to supervised release for life.

The investigation revealed that Ellis had 72 images of child sexual abuse material on his cell phone and about 700 videos and more than 900 images stored in his Mega cloud account. His Google account activity led to two cyber tipline reports being sent to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

In February, Ellis pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of child pornography. At the time of his offenses, he was teaching at Rogers Middle School in the Affton School District and had previously worked at Hancock Place School District in St. Louis County.

The FBI and the St. Louis County Police Department Bureau of Special Investigations conducted the investigation into this case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jillian Anderson prosecuted the case.

This case 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 involves federal, state, and local resources working together to locate offenders who exploit children online and rescue victims.

For more information about Project Safe Childhood, visit www.justice.gov/psc.