Child sex abuse website administrator sentenced to 30 years in prison

Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The administrator of a child sexual abuse website was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department announced.

"Robert Alexander Shouse, 37, of Houston, was identified by law enforcement in 2018 as an administrator for a CSAM website on the dark web that facilitated the sexual exploitation of minors while keeping secret the identities of the perpetrators," a release from the Justice Department said.

As administrator of the website, Shouse managed the content on the website and allowed participants to post images and links to explicit sexual material of children. At least 4,000 images depicted the sexual exploitation of babies and toddlers, documents said.

In addition to allowing users to post images, the website provided forums where they could discuss the sexual abuse of children.

"Robert Shouse engaged in horrific sexual abuse of minors, created child sexual abuse material involving those minors and facilitated the trafficking of thousands of sexually explicit images and videos of minors through a dark web site that he controlled," said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division.

Authorities searched Shouse's residence in 2019 and seized computer hard drives and other electronic devices containing more than 117,000 images and more than 1,100 videos depicting children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including anal and vaginal penetration, masturbation, sadistic and masochistic conduct and lewd exhibition of genitalia. Over 4,000 images depicted the sexual exploitation of babies and toddlers, the release said.

Shouse reportedly knew at least seven of the minor victims personally, including one whom Shouse began to abuse when the victim was 9 years old, behavior that continued for six years. The perpetrator provided money and gifts to the victim's family, prosecutors said.

"Shouse created over 925 images and 33 videos of child sexual abuse of this minor. In some of these images, Shouse made the victim wear a dog collar," the release continued.

The release said Shouse also secretly recorded two other minors, one in a bathroom and another in a bedroom, and solicited other minors online for naked photos.

Shouse pleaded guilty in June to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

In addition to his prison sentence, Shouse was ordered to serve 10 years of supervised release, pay $153,500 in restitution to the victims, and register as a sex offender.