Kentucky Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Advertising Child Exploitation Material Following HSI Cybercrime Investigation

BOSTON — A Kentucky man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for advertising child sexual abuse material on the dark web.

Scott Allison, 59, of Glasgow, Kentucky, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to 15 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release. Allison was also ordered to pay restitution of $100,000. After a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New England investigation, Allison pleaded guilty to one count of advertisement of child pornography in September 2023. He was initially charged by criminal complaint in the Western District of Kentucky in November 2021 and subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston in December 2021.

“Scott Allison is a predator who used the exploitation of children as currency to further his horrific enterprise,” said HSI New England Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol, “He and others used the perceived anonymity of the dark web as a safe haven from the public and from law enforcement. As Allison and many others have and will find out, the dark web is no match against the will of law enforcement to protect our children.”

In April 2021, during an HSI cybercrime investigation, Allison was identified advertising and posting links to child sexual abuse material, including images of boys as young as approximately two years old, on a website on the dark web for which he served as a moderator. Allison used at least two different usernames on various websites on the dark web. On one website, Allison was responsible for moderation, which included greeting and socializing with guests, reviewing messages and images, and ensuring the website’s safety and success.

During a search of his home in November 2021, HSI special agents found an external hard drive plugged into a computer in his bedroom which was found to contain approximately 130,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse material. Allison also had the content or text of approximately 108,000 posts to child sexual abuse websites saved on his computer. Additionally, a box containing boy’s underwear, diapers and condoms as well as a silicone mold of a boy’s buttocks with partial genitalia were also found during the search.

“Mr. Allison deserves to be behind bars for a very long time. He is a reprehensible cog in market built around the shameful and devastating abuse of innocent children,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “There is nothing worse. He regularly advertised the sexual abuse and exploitation of kids thinking he wrapped in the cloak of anonymity in his online world. He also possessed literally hundreds of thousands of images exploiting children on his computer. Child pornography is not a victimless crime — it is an all too active marketplace that thrives on real abuse inflicted upon real children. Each time a sexually explicit image or video of a child is viewed, accessed, possessed, received, sent or produced, that child is being revictimized. Today’s sentence should make that message clear. Our office and our federal, state and local partners will never cease in our efforts to relentlessly pursue those who engage in this market.”

Krol, Levy, HSI Nashville Special Agent in Charge Rana Saoud and U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky Michael A. Bennett made the announcement. The Queensland Police Task Force Argos in Australia provided significant assistance with the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Mackenzie Duane and Luke A. Goldworm of the Criminal Division are prosecuting the case.

HSI is a global leader in the fight against child exploitation. Last year, HSI special agents dedicated 1.2 million case hours toward investigating child exploitation. This heinous crime harms the most vulnerable in our society: Our kids. As technology evolves and more people have access to the internet, children are at a greater risk than ever. HSI’s special agents and analysts around the world are dedicated to countering this threat.

Report suspected child exploitation to the HSI tip line at 877-4-HSI-TIP or through the CyberTipline on the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's website.