St. Louis Man Charged with Possession and Transportation of Child Pornography
| U.S. Attorney’s Office March 07, 2011 |
On February 24, 2011, Daniel Lee Scalf, 31, of St. Louis, Missouri, was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in East St. Louis, Illinois in a two-count indictment charging him, in count one, with possession of child pornography, and, in count two, with transportation of child pornography, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today. According to that indictment, the violations took place on January 26, 2010, and January 25, 2011, in Madison and St. Clair Counties, Illinois.
Trial has been set for April 19, 2011. If convicted of possession of child pornography, Scalf faces a term of imprisonment of not less than 10 years up to 20 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a term of supervised release of five years to life. If convicted of transportation of child pornography, Scalf faces a term of imprisonment of not less than 15 years up to 40 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and not less than five years to a lifetime term of supervised release.
An indictment is merely the method by which federal charges are lodged. A defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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 United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), 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.projectsafechildhood.gov.
The case was investigated by the Collinsville, Illinois, Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Metro East Cyber Crimes and Analysis Task Force. The case is assigned to Assistant United States Attorney Angela Scott.