St. Charles County Man Who Hid Camera in Bathroom Sentenced to 16 ½ Years for Child Pornography

ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Thursday sentenced a St. Charles County, Missouri man who received and distributed child pornography via social media and placed a hidden camera in a bathroom to record nude minors to 16 and one-half years in federal prison.

Scott A. Falkner, 38, will also have to pay $21,000 to victims depicted in the child sexual exploitation material. 

A search of the Walker's home on March 21, 2021 led to the discovery of 423 images and 91 videos containing child sexual abuse material on his cellphone, all but five of which Falkner had downloaded. Falkner admitted creating those five videos by secretly recording girls ranging in age from 10 to 17 in his bathroom.

The investigation was triggered when Falkner sent six files containing child pornography via Kik Messenger, leading to a tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Falkner pleaded guilty in January to a felony charge of receiving child pornography.

“We are proud to have such strong law enforcement partnerships to be able to bring child predators like Scott Falkner to justice,” said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. “Unfortunately, exploitation of children is so despicably prolific, the FBI relies on task forces where local law enforcement officers are deputized as special federal officers to help address such crimes.”

The case was investigated by the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force and Missouri Internet Crimes Against Children in partnership with the FBI St. Louis Child Exploitation Task Force. 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.