A Texan who ran a forum on the dark web where depraved netizens could swap child sex abuse material (CSAM), and chat freely about abusing kids, has be

Scumbag gets 30 years in the clink for running CSAM dark-web chatrooms, abusing kids

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2024-12-14 16:30:05

A Texan who ran a forum on the dark web where depraved netizens could swap child sex abuse material (CSAM), and chat freely about abusing kids, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

An FBI probe in 2018 identified Robert Shouse, 37, of Houston, as the administrator of a Tor-hidden CSAM exchange on which miscreants could message each other with links to other sites hosting vile images, videos, and erotica.

Not only that but after swooping on his home addresses in 2019, agents found more than 117,000 CSAM images and 1,100 videos, including more than 4,000 involving babies or toddlers, on his seized personal computers and storage drives.

The Feds also learned Shouse befriended and sexually abused one child for years, produced hundreds of instances of CSAM with the boy, and gave money and gifts to this victim's family. It's said Shouse personally knew as many as seven minors that he created illegal imagery of. He also, according to the FBI, among other crimes secretly recorded two other minors, and asked two others to send him naked pictures of them.

"He used money and gifts to sexually abuse a nine-year-old child for six years. He used his computer skills to target hundreds of children, stealing their innocence and shattering their lives. In essence, there was nothing he wouldn’t do to satisfy his sick fantasies. Today’s sentence helps ensure that Shouse’s fantasies won’t become another child’s nightmare for decades to come."