Ex-Scout Leader Charged With Child Porn Pleads Guilty: DOJ

NORTH FORK, NY — Damon Rallis, a longtime Southold Town employee and Boy Scout leader — who was arrested and charged with distribution of child pornography — pleaded guilty Wednesday, according to his officials.

According to John Marzulli, public information officer for the United States Attorney's Office, Eastern District of New York, Rallis is scheduled for sentencing October 18 at 2 p.m.

The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and maximum up to 20 years, he said.

"Mr. Rallis accepted responsibility and is looking forward to moving on from this matter," his Bay Shore-based attorney Jason Russo told Patch.

Rallis was released on $200,000 bond, federal officials said last year.

Rallis, a former building permits examiner for Southold Town and former vice chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, was arrested at his Southold home Feb. 23, 2021.

Prosecutors said Rallis shared child pornography on the messaging app Kik under the handle "dirtydaddy341." Rallis posted a video and photo of a nude male toddler, prosecutors said.

Michelle Groff, a special agent with the FBI, said in a criminal complaint an undercover law enforcement officer participated in a Kik chat group with several people "openly engaging in the exchange of child pornography," including Rallis.

The video and image of the toddler were connected to an IP address registered to an Optimum/Altice account leased to Rallis, according to prosecutors.

Authorities searched his home and Rallis waived his Miranda rights, prosecutors said. Rallis told authorities he "uses the internet to view child pornography" and used Kik under the dirtydaddy431 handle, according to the complaint. He said he posted media to Kik and viewed child pornography, according to the complaint.

Rallis also admitted to installing secret cameras in his house, and one was pointed at a toilet, prosecutors said.

United States Magistrate Judge Anne Shields ordered Rallis to home incarceration with electronic monitoring, no internet access and no contact with children.

Rallis ran unsuccessfully for Southold Town supervisor in 2015 and Southold Town assessor in 2017. He has served as a Masonic lodge chaplain and has been involved with North Fork churches.

Rallis was suspended from his building permits examiner job while the town conducted its own investigation, according to Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell at the time of his arrest.

"We are shocked and disgusted by these charges," Russell said in a statement.

Rallis was a Boy Scout scoutmaster and scout cubmaster for Boy Scout Troop 51 in Greenport.

"This individual's behavior is reprehensible and runs counter to everything for which the Boy Scouts of America stands," Ryan DiBernardo, CEO of the Suffolk County Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said in a statement to ABC7ny.com at the time. "While the arrest appears to be unrelated to Scouting, upon learning of these reports, we took immediate action to remove this individual from Scouting and prohibit him from any future participation in our programs. Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of youth in our Scouting programs — it is our top priority."