Chipley man convicted on hundreds of counts of child pornography

PANAMA CITY – A Chipley man could be facing several life sentences after being convicted Tuesday of more than a 100 sex crimes he perpetrated and documented on his cell phone.

Scott Ernest Allen, 35, was found guilty as charged of 127 charges after the one-day trial. He was arrested in September 2016 after a child reported that a man slid a cellphone under a dressing room at stall in an attempt to record her changing clothes. Officers later discovered numerous disturbing videos on Allen’s phone, including him sexually battering an infant. Allen could now face mandatory life in prison, three life sentences and an additional 580 years in prison for 127 combined counts in the case, including capital sexual battery on a child under 12.

According to police reports, the case came to light August 2016 when Lynn Haven Police Department responded to the Goodwill, 1610 State 77, to a call of a man sliding a cellphone under a dressing room stall in an attempt to record a girl changing clothes, according to police reports. The girl spotted the phone and walked out of the changing room to tell her father, who summoned the store’s management as the man fled.

“She went and told her dad, her dad told an employee, but the guy left the other changing room and exited the store before any contact was made by either her dad or the employee,” officers reported. The child “stated the guy stared at her while he was walking out of the store; she then went back in the changing room and changed back into her own pants.”

But security video, a good description of the vehicle and a fast food receipt left inside the changing room led officers to Allen. He was arrested in September and a search of his vehicle revealed several computer storage devices and computer discs, officials wrote.

With Allen wanted on video voyeurism charges, officers obtained a search warrant for the devices, on which officers reported they found images of child pornography and bestiality, as well as photos of Allen committing sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. Some of the recordings dated back more than a year, officers reported.

Allen initially was charged with video voyeurism, possession of child pornography and sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. LHPD then filed 116 counts of possession of photographs or videos that depict sexual performances by a child under the age of 12.

 He was convicted as charged Tuesday in the case and will be sentenced July 17.