Scott R. Ellis, Possession of Child Pornography, Missouri 2024

A former St. Louis County middle school teacher has admitted to 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 on Wednesday, May 29, 2024, in the St. Louis area.

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 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.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 3, 2024. 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.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/former-middle-school-teacher-admits-child-pornography-charge