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.

Robert Shouse is the embodiment of evil

“Robert Shouse is the embodiment of evil,” said US Attorney Alamdar Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas.

“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.”

According to prosecution documents [PDF], the site was launched in 2018 by Shouse, who sent more than 10,000 messages via his dark-web chatrooms.

In September that year, the FBI arrested an individual associated with the site who had communicated with Shouse. Using the arrestee’s computer, an FBI special agent engaged with Shouse. Two months later, the agency obtained “credible information” regarding Shouse’s home broadband IP address and, after subpoenaing Comcast to get the physical address associated with that network address, executed a search warrant.

It turns out the house was owned by Shouse’s father, who informed agents of his son’s whereabouts. As we noted, the Feds found a load of computers, cameras, a custom-built system, and multiple hard drives containing criminal evidence, and linked it directly to Shouse after opening a file named “Personal” that contained [PDF] his US passport renewal application.

On January 22, 2019, federal agents briefly interviewed Shouse, and an arrest warrant was issued two days later. He fled the area and was added to the FBI’s wanted list. Later that month, Shouse was caught after a traffic stop in Lufkin, Texas, after reportedly driving without headlights at 0600 local time. Initially, he provided a false name. When the officer was unable to verify this identity, Shouse requested a lawyer and eventually admitted his true identity, leading to his arrest.

In addition to his prison sentence this week, Shouse will serve 10 years of supervised release, pay his victims $153,500 in restitution, and will permanently be on the sex offender register. In June, he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of attempted sexual exploitation of a child, and one count of possession of CSAM.

“In a world where technology allows child exploitation material to be spread across borders with ease, those who exploit children for their own depraved purposes must face the consequences of the harm they inflicted on their victims,” said Assistant Director Chad Yarbrough of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division.

“Today’s sentencing is more than just a punishment. It’s a message to the community that the FBI will always work with our partners to ensure there is one less predator out there victimizing the most innocent among us — our children.” ®