Southold Boy Scout Leader Admits To Sharing Child Porn: Feds

SOUTHOLD, NY — New details have emerged about the case of Damon Rallis, a Southold Town employee and Boy Scout leader arrested Tuesday morning and charged with distribution of child pornography.

Rallis, a building permits examiner for Southold Town and former vice chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, was arrested at his Southold home Tuesday morning. He was released on $200,000 bond following a virtual court hearing later in the day.

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, in April.

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 executed a search warrant at his home Tuesday 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 as recently as Monday, 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 was suspended from his building permits examiner job while the town conducts its own investigation, according to Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell.

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

Rallis was a Boy Scout soutmaster 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. "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. We will continue to cooperate fully with federal and local law enforcement as they investigate this matter. Nothing is more important than the safety and protection of youth in our Scouting programs — it is our top priority."

Kathryn Casey Quigley, chair of the Southold Town Democratic Committee, said she was "blindsided, sickened, and horrified by the charges against Damon Rallis."

"I am grateful to law enforcement for their work to uncover this alleged misconduct," Quigley said in a statement to Patch."

Rallis resigned from the committee in 2019 after a controversy over him calling for a boycott of businesses supporting Republican candidates, according to The Suffolk Times.

"He has not been involved with the party since then," Quigley said.

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.

If found guilty of the distribution of child pornography charge, he faces a minimum of five years in prison.