The Sconi

Chadwick M. Elgersma, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Scott Chier from Middleton, Wisconsin has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for possessing child pornography. The sentence was handed down by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson and includes 15 years of supervised release following the prison term. Chier is also required to pay $45,000 in restitution to his victims after pleading guilty on April 30, 2025.

The case began when law enforcement received information linking an IP address associated with Chier to the distribution of child pornography. A search warrant executed at Chier’s residence in Middleton on July 27, 2022, uncovered images of child pornography on electronic devices owned by him. Following his indictment by a federal grand jury on August 3, 2022, the case experienced delays due to a legal issue addressed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

During sentencing, Judge Peterson emphasized the seriousness of Chier’s conduct due to the nature and distribution of the images and his prior conviction for similar offenses. The sentence aims to protect the public and deter future criminal activity by Chier.

The charge resulted from an investigation conducted by multiple law enforcement agencies including the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation and police departments in Waukesha, Hartford, and Middleton. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julie Pfluger and Elizabeth Altman prosecuted the case.

This investigation was part of Project Safe Childhood (PSC), a national initiative aimed at combating child sexual exploitation and abuse by leveraging federal, state, and local resources to locate and prosecute offenders while identifying and rescuing victims.