Charleston Man Sentenced to 25 years for Production of Child Pornography

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA —Scott Ashley Cascone, 48, of Charleston, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for production of child pornography.

Evidence presented to the Court showed that on November 18, 2015, a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agent working undercover in a chat room observed an individual with the user name “unclebaddy” post a web link that contained a child pornography video. The IP address matched the residence of Cascone. During the investigation, HSI agents also learned that Cascone was being investigated by the West Virginia State Police for having online sexual communications with a 14-year-old West Virginia girl. Follow up investigation by HSI determined that on three occasions Cascone enticed the minor to produce sexually explicit images of herself, and to text the images to Cascone. HSI agents ultimately executed search warrants on Cascone’s residence and Dropbox account and found numerous images and videos of child pornography. Cascone was interviewed and admitted to electronically sending sexually explicit images of himself to the minor and receiving sexually explicit images of the minor.

Senior U.S. District Judge Margaret B. Seymour sentenced Cascone to 300 months in federal prison, to be followed by a lifetime term of court-ordered supervision.  Judge Seymour also ordered Cascone to pay $27,500 in restitution. There is no parole in the federal system.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the U.S. Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the 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 sexually exploit children, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit http://www.justice.gov/psc.

The case was investigated by HSI and the West Virginia State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Dean H. Secor prosecuted the case.

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