Raymond Cody Scott, 34, of St. James was arrested March 10 at his residence in the 500 block of E. James Blvd. He is charged with allegations of eight counts of promoting child pornography, all class B felonies, and seven counts of possession of child pornography, also class B felonies.

Scott was taken into custody at the Phelps County Jail, where he remains. Bond was set at $500,000, cash or surety, with added conditions:

• Defendant shall not violate the law.

• Defendant shall appear as ordered in this case until it is disposed. 

• Defendant shall not possess a firearm or other deadly weapon.

• Defendant shall consent to a search of his person, residence, vehicle or possessions upon request of a law enforcement officer or the OCCS office supervising defendant.

• Defendant shall have no contact with any child under 18 years of age.

• Defendant shall be supervised by OCCS, Inc, and shall report to the OCCS office in Rolla no later than 9 a.m. on the first business day following his release on bond. Bond supervision shall be at defendant’s expense.

• Defendant shall follow all directives of OCCS and the officer supervising his bond.

• Defendant shall submit to GPS monitoring, at defendant’s expense.

• Defendant shall have no access to the internet.

Scott appeared in custody by WebEx to a confined docket hearing on March 13, where he pleaded not guilty. A bond review was conducted and modification was denied. A second bond review hearing is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on March 24 at the Phelps County Courthouse. 

According to a probable cause statement filed by Detective Sgt. Shawn Hedge, an investigation by the South-Central Missouri Computer Crimes Task Force was initiated on Feb. 10 after 13 CyberTipline reports originated from Google, Microsoft and the messaging app Kik.

The reports alleged that a user had uploaded, distributed and/or stored files suspected to be child pornography with child sexual abuse material. 

Search warrants were served for the user and content of each account. Law enforcement located over 500 files of suspected child pornography and evidence that Scott sought and traded sexually explicit images of minors, including requests for those of specific ages of children.

The 25th Judicial Circuit Associate Court then authorized a search warrant for Scott’s residence and electronic storage devices for evidence of possession of child pornography. On March 10, the task force made contact with Scott at his home.

“Scott stated he expected law enforcement to find him and speak with him about ‘minors’ from the internet, and then immediately invoked his constitutional rights,” a press release from the South-Central Missouri Computer Crimes Task Force reads.

Scott told investigators that his phone and laptop had been stolen by a friend in January, though the alleged theft was never reported to police. When officers interviewed the friend, he denied stealing or using any of the devices.

Hedge’s report also says Scott’s family was present during the search warrant. They allegedly denied use of any of Scott’s devices or knowledge of any of his passwords.

Phelps County Sheriff’s Department and the St. James Police Department assisted in the investigation.

Prosecuting Attorney Taylor Banholzer filed a felony complaint which says that Scott is considered a “prior and persistent offender.” Between 2015 and 2019, he has been convicted of two counts of possession of a controlled substance and three counts of domestic assault in the first, second and third degrees.

“Scott is a danger to every minor child in the community and beyond its borders,” Hedge wrote in his report. “Scott views files of children being sexually exploited or sexually abused. Scott’s choice to search, view, share, download images and videos of child sexual abuse material is continuous victimization of the minor victims. Scott’s behavior creates new victims of child sexual exploitation by creating a demand of files to be produced by other offenders.”