Ex-LI Scout Leader Charged With Child Porn Begins 7-Year Sentence In Ohio Prison: Feds

NORTH FORK, NY — Damon Rallis, a longtime Southold Town employee and ex-Boy Scout leader who was charged with distribution of child pornography, is behind bars.

According to the Office of Public Affairs for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, as of Monday, September 15, Rallis is in custody at the Federal Corrections Institution Elkton in Lisbon, Ohio.

Four years after his arrest and following months of adjournments, Rallis was sentenced in April to 84 months, or seven years, in prison, a judge said.

A sentencing memo had been submitted by the prosecution, asking the judge that Rallis be sentenced to 96 months behind bars, rather than the 60 asked for by the defense.

In addition, Rallis was sentenced to five years of supervised release and special conditions. He will also be required to register as a sex offender when he is released from prison, federal officials said.

Rallis was sentenced before Judge Joan Azrack at federal court in Central Islip. His attorney Jason Russo asked that Rallis be able to turn himself in later, explaining that Rallis' son would be graduating and he would also like time to get his affairs in order. Although the prosecution rejected that suggestion, stating that Rallis has had four years to do so, the judge said that Rallis could self-surrender on September 15.

Russo did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The conditions of his bail remained the same after the sentencing, but before he began his sentence, Rallis was able to leave the house between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., rather than 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., which were the previous conditions.

Russo also asked if Rallis could serve his time in prison at a facility in Otisville, NY, so that he could be close to his family, friends, and the support network in the community, including faith leaders who were present in the courtroom.

Azrack began the proceedings by stating that she'd read many letters of support from the community, and taken reports from probation, as well as the sentencing report, into consideration.

Russo spoke and said his client had been ordered to home confinement four years ago and had abided by all conditions, with no violations. Rallis had undergone therapy as ordered by the court and then, even after he was told he'd "fully complied," continued treatment on his own.

"Today, showed him a photo of himself, from four years ago, and he told me, 'I'm not the person I was four years ago,'" Russo said at the sentencing. "'For better or worse, this experience has had a positive impact on my life and my relationships with my wife and family.'"

Russo added that if anyone offender were worthy of a variance, it would be Rallis. "He has taken hold of his life and made incredible changes," he said. "He is a changed man, for the better."

Rallis spoke, saying that he sat before the judge, and that his possession of child pornography was "serious and deeply disturbing." He admitted to "abhorrent" behavior, and the "physical, sexual and emotional abuse" of the children in the images. "I take full responsibility for my actions and I am deeply remorseful," Rallis said.

He said he was profoundly sorry for the impact on his wife and children, for the "stigma" they had to carry in the community, as well as for the "endless media coverage," and, too, for "knowing I was capable of such behavior."

Looking back on the day of his arrest, when he was handcuffed in the back of a police car "having a breakdown," Rallis said, "I thought my life was over. Everything was collapsing around me."

He said the words of a detective, however, resonated: "What's done is done. What matters is what you do next."

However, Rallis said, he'd lost a "great job" working for Southold Town, one he'd had for many years, as well as the respect of his community in the "only place I have ever called home."

Rallis said he'd endured "childhood trauma" and experienced "severe mental disease."

Crying, Rallis said he was deeply grateful that he was able to "heal" and spend the time before sentencing in the "comfort of his own home." He also said he was grateful to the 12-step community, an "important lifeline in my darkest hour."

He said he was grateful, too, for the past four years, during which he'd undergone therapy and cultivated healthy relationships that had never before been possible, especially with his oldest son. "His support is nothing short of a miracle," he said.

He said his relationship with his wife, which he said had been fractured before his arrest, is now the strongest it has ever been.

"I stand before you today a changed man. I truly am sorry for my actions," Rallis said. "I'm ready to begin the next chapter."

And, while he said he realized the road ahead would not be easy, he said, again, that he was truly "remorseful."

Paul Scotti, Assistant U.S. Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice, Eastern District of New York said Rallis himself had alluded to his actions. He said Rallis had shared "horrific images" of toddlers, and said that the behavior had gone on for decades, since Rallis was a teenager. "That is a long time," he said.

Scotti noted that Rallis continued his behavior even when "he had so much to lose. He had a responsible job in the community, and he was a Boy Scout leader, which was troubling, because he knew he had those strong desires. It's every parent's worst nightmare."

And, said Scotti, "This is not a victimless crime." The "twisted marketplace" of child pornography, he said, keeps the most vulnerable "trapped in a perpetual cycle of victimization," knowing that forever, their worst hours could be watched online by anyone with "twisted sexual desires," at any time, forever.

Scotti's sentencing memo describes "depraved and twisted" discussions by Rallis that are among the reasons cited by the prosecution for calling for a "severe sentence."

Rallis, the memo said, pleaded guilty, pursuant to a plea agreement, to count one of a five-count indictment, charging him with distribution of child pornography.

The prosecution said in the memo that the FBI and the Suffolk County Police Department began investigating Rallis in April 2020, after being contacted by law enforcement in another district of his involvement in a chat group on "Kik" Messenger, "where the users were sharing child pornography."

As part of the investigation, an undercover agent joined the chat group, "during which time the defendant, using the screen name 'dirtydaddy431,' shared several images and videos of child pornography with the group, which included sexually explicit videos involving male toddlers with adult females," the sentencing memo read.

After a search warrant was executed at his home on February 23, 2021, Rallis agreed to waive his Miranda rights and was interviewed by agents and admitted that he was "the user of the 'dirtydaddy431' Kik account; that he viewed child pornography on Kik; he identified an image of child pornography that he had posted on Kik; that he was interested in child pornography would look to enter chat rooms on Kik with that theme; that to enter such chat rooms, he was required to share child pornography with the other users in the group; that he began viewing child pornography as a teenager and had viewed it as recently as the night before the agents came to his house," the sentencing memo read.

The sentencing memo also said that Rallis "also disclosed to members of the United States Marshals Service that he was a Boy Scouts troop leader. Forensic analysis of the devices seized from the defendant’s residence revealed numerous images and videos of child pornography, notwithstanding the fact that the defendant claimed that he would delete the images after viewing," the memo said.

Following Rallis' guilty plea in the case, local FBI agents were contacted by agents from the Department of Homeland Security in Iowa who were conducting an unrelated investigation into the sexual exploitation of children in their district, the sentencing memo said. Evidence obtained from the cell phone of a defendant in the Iowa case revealed a series of chats between Rallis and the Iowa defendant, the prosecution said.

"In those chats, the two routinely discussed their shared sexual attraction to minor children, including children as young as 4 to 7 years old," Scotti wrote in the memo.

The memo also said that the government has not been able to identify victims or verify that the defendant ever solicited and/or received sexually explicit images from minors and is asking the court, for purposes of sentencing in this matter, "to assume that the text chats with the Iowa defendant do not constitute additional criminal conduct. However, the depraved and twisted discussions between Rallis and the Iowa defendant where they discussed the sexual abuse of minors and their sexual fantasies related to young children is certainly relevant to the defendant’s history and characteristics."

That relevance led to the longer sentencing recommendation, according to the memo.Rallis pleaded guilty in April 2023, according to officials.

Scotti acknowledged that Rallis had a "troubled upbringing" but said the government maintained that it did "not outweigh" the totality of what had transpired.

Azrack said the 12 videos and 10 images, the amount of child porn found, was "not a true measure," as Rallis had admitted to deleting images. She said it was also "worrisome" that he had interacted with young girls online, asking them for images. "Child pornography victims are the most vulnerable members of society, with no means to protect themselves," she said.

Azrack said, too, that she had read all the letters and a report on recidivism which said as a defendent gets older, those statistics indicate a decline. She acknowledged that Rallis had suffered "abuse" as a child; a family member wrote that he had "come from a dark place," but told no one and had not received help. He'd also struggled with substance abuse, Azrack said.

She also pointed out Rallis' success in the progams he'd undergone, and the letters of recommendation he'd received from members of those programs. She noted, too, that Rallis had the support of his family and the many community members, neighbors, and friends who'd turned out, something that not everyone in his situation has. "You are very fortunate, Mr. Rallis," she said.

Outside the courthouse, Russo reflected on the outcome: "It's a pleasure to have Judge Azrack, who takes careful consideration of all of the factors," he said. "It's a very serious crime. My client was facing decades of incaceation and Judge Azrack carefully considered the many, many submissions we gave in — and gave what I considered very fair treatment of my client."

He added: "We appreciate the sentence. It's a harsh sentence; nonetheless, it could have been much harsher and we believe that he was treated very fairly by this court. He's going to, as he said in his statement to the judge, he's going to do his time, do what he needs to do, and continue on the positive path he's been on for four years. And he really is a different man from when he came into the system four years ago. We're hopeful."

John J. Durham, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and Christopher G. Raia, Assistant Director in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office, announced the sentence.

"The defendant possessed and distributed horrific images of child sex abuse . . . and the years he will serve in prison will both protect our communities and help to bring justice to victims who were sexually exploited as children," Durham said. “My office and our law enforcement partners will continue to work tirelessly to prosecute and seek significant prison sentences for individuals like Rallis who contribute to a depraved marketplace that causes the abuse of children to satiate the perverse demand for these disturbing images.”

"Damon Rallis violated his scoutmaster duty to serve as an ethical and moral leader by supplying obscene pornographic material to a twisted platform," Raia said. "His actions perpetuated the sexual abuse of young children without remorse. The FBI remains dedicated to holding accountable those who use the sexual exploitation of minors for personal gratification."

Rallis ran unsuccessfully for Southold Town supervisor in 2015 and Southold Town assessor in 2017. He has served as a Masonic lodge chaplain and has been involved with North Fork churches.

Rallis was suspended from his building permits examiner job while the town conducted its own investigation, according to former Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell at the time of his arrest.

"We are shocked and disgusted by these charges," Russell said in a statement at the time.