Child pornography conviction send Grand Island man to prison for over 50 years

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. -- After a child pornography conviction, more than 50 years in prison was given to a Grand Island man.

Acting U.S. Attorney Susan Lehr said 34-year-old Scott Meyer, of Grand Island, was sentenced in federal court in Lincoln on Friday. He was convicted for conspiracy to produce child pornography and production of child pornography. Meyer will serve 624 months in prison. After, he will spend the rest of his life on supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system. Meyer has to pay $11,250 in restitution as well as a $9,000 special assessment which will contribute to funds established for victims of these types of crimes.

Court documents state that an investigation by the FBI began in July 2022 in an attempt to identify children in a series of child porn images which were being shared online. The files were associated with Meyer and Scott Simmons. Simmons was previously sentenced to 60 years in prison on July 6 for the same case.

Officials said a search warrant was used at Meyer’s and Simmons’ home on Aug. 25, 2022. The residence was where many of the child exploitation files were made. Several electronic devices were taken from the home. Meyer was at the home during the search and agreed to be interviewed. He admitted that he and Simmons had engaged in photographing and recording prepubescent boys in a sexually explicit manner. He admitted that these images and videos were made at their home and other locations to include multiple hotels. Four child victims were identified and interviewed by child advocate interviewers.

According to authorities, they examined Meyer’s and Simmons’ personal cellphones and found that each phone had more than 400 files of child porn. A large majority of these files found on the phones were original productions of the minor victims in this case.

Court documents state that Meyer was previously convicted in 2013, for two counts of sexual assault of a child in the first-degree in Hall County District Court. Meyer and Simmons met while both were serving sentences for child-sex offenses in Nebraska. Meyer and Simmons distributed the images and videos they made of the victims in this case on the Tor network using encrypted forms of email to hide their identities. They also directly shared the files they made with at least one person they met while serving their prior sentences.

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.