Former border officer from Michigan sentenced for distribution of child pornography

A former U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer from Michigan has been sentenced for one count of distribution of child pornography, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan said on Friday.

A federal judge sentenced Scott Rocky of Center Line, Michigan, on Thursday to six years in prison. Online court records show he pleaded guilty to the charge last November.

According to the criminal complaint, an FBI agent during an investigation in April 2025 used a computer to sign into a peer-to-peer file sharing network called BitTorrent. They identified another computer using a specific Internet Protocol address connected to multiple files that had keywords or hash values related to potential child pornography. 

The agent was able to determine that someone using that computer shared about 530 files with “names consistent with names used for files containing child pornography,” the complaint said. Investigators allegedly learned the IP address of the computer was assigned to Rocky.

According to the court document, the agent found that many of the files appeared “to depict real minor children between the ages of four and ten years old engaged in sexually explicit conduct.” 

Federal investigators then searched Rocky’s home, the complaint said. They found a desktop computer that had a file name in the German language that described sexual activity involving children.  

“This sentence should serve as a warning: no badge, title, or position of public trust will shield anyone who exploits our children from facing justice under federal law,” Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office, said in a written statement. “Public trust amongst law enforcement officials is essential.”