New Sentencing Date For Ex-Scout Leader Charged With Child Porn: DOJ

NORTH FORK, NY — Four years after his arrest, a sentencing date has been adjourned, once again, for Damon Rallis, a longtime Southold Town employee and Boy Scout leader who was charged with distribution of child pornography, according to officials.

The date has been changed from March 11 to April 8 before Judge Joan M. Azrack, according to court documents.

A letter dated March 5 was sent to the judge asking for the extension by Rallis' attorney Jason Russo, who said he is on trial presently with a homicide case in Nassau County; he also said he has completed sentencing submissions and is just adding letters his office received on Rallis' behalf.

Russo also said, in the letter, that the trial he is working on is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Sentencing has been delayed several times, beginning in October, 2023 and most recently, was rescheduled in November to January 22 and then, to March 11.

Rallis pleaded guilty in April, 2023, according to officials.

If found guilty of the distribution of child pornography charge, he faces a minimum of five years in prison, Russo said in a past interview.

"Mr. Rallis accepted responsibility and is looking forward to moving on from this matter," Russo told Patch last year.

Rallis was released on $200,000 bond, federal officials said after his arrest.

Rallis, a former building permits examiner for Southold Town and former vice chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, was arrested at his Southold home on Feb. 23, 2021.

Prosecutors said Rallis shared child pornography on the messaging app Kik under the handle "dirtydaddy341." Rallis posted a video and photo of a nude male toddler, prosecutors said.

Michelle Groff, a special agent with the FBI, said in a criminal complaint an undercover law enforcement officer participated in a Kik chat group with several people "openly engaging in the exchange of child pornography," including Rallis.

The video and image of the toddler were connected to an IP address registered to an Optimum/Altice account leased to Rallis, according to prosecutors.

Authorities searched his home and Rallis waived his Miranda rights, prosecutors said.

Rallis told authorities he "uses the internet to view child pornography" and used Kik under the dirtydaddy431 handle, according to the complaint. He said he posted media to Kik and viewed child pornography, according to the complaint.

Rallis also admitted to installing secret cameras in his house, and one was pointed at a toilet, prosecutors said.

United States Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ordered Rallis to home incarceration with electronic monitoring, no internet access and no contact with children.

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.
Rallis was also once a Boy Scout scoutmaster and scout cubmaster in Greenport.

"This individual's behavior is reprehensible and runs counter to everything for which the Boy Scouts of America stands," Ryan DiBernardo, CEO of the Suffolk County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said in a statement to ABC7ny.com at the time. "While the arrest appears to be unrelated to Scouting, upon learning of these reports, we took immediate action to remove this individual from Scouting and prohibit him from any future participation in our programs. Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of youth in our Scouting programs — it is our top priority."