2 Witnesses Help Send Missouri Teacher to Prison

This is an example of what happens when brave people are not afraid to speak up when they see something that's wrong. A Missouri teacher will now spend 7 years in prison and be under observation the rest of his life when he's released all because two witnesses were willing to submit a tip to help save children.

The FBI in St. Louis, Missouri recently shared this story which is about a teacher who did very bad things, but it's also a tribute to two anonymous tipsters who helped authorities bring this abusive behavior to a stop.

The United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of Missouri shared more details of what happened and how witnesses helped stop crimes against children. Scott R. Ellis, 39, a former St. Louis County middle school teacher was sentenced to 7 years in prison for possessing hundreds of images and videos containing child sexual abuse material. Investigators found 72 images of child abuse images on his cell phone along with 700 videos and 900 images on his cloud-based internet account. In February, he pled guilty to one felony count of possession of child pornography. He was a teacher at Rogers Middle School in the Affton School District at the time of his crimes and had previously taught at Hancock Place School District in St. Louis County. The judge also ordered that he pay pay $90,500 in restitution to 12 victims. Once he has completed his prison term, he'll be under supervised release for the remainder of his life.

The FBI and St. Louis County prosecutors were apparently alerted by two tips given to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Two heroes that knew something had to be said and done to stop a villain who was near many children.