Meeker County Man Receives 35 Year Prison Sentence for Creation and Distribution of Child Pornography

(KNSI) – A Minnesota man with a history of child sexual abuse will spend the next 35 years behind bars after being sentenced for producing child pornography involving a victim younger than 13 years old.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, between summer 2023 and January 2024, 47-year-old Scott Wayne Laney sexually abused someone under the age of 13. Laney created images of the abuse and then distributed the images to others online. He was already a registered sex offender when this happened. In 1999, Laney was convicted of sexually abusing an 11-month-old infant in Mille Lacs County.

U.S. District Judge Donavan W. Frank, who handed down the 35-year sentence, called this “one of the worst child exploitation cases” he had encountered during his years on the bench.

“Laney is a predator in the purest and most dangerous sense,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joseph H. Thompson said. “The 35-year sentence he received is both a measure of justice and a permanent warning to others. We will not allow repeat abusers to cycle through our system and leave a trail of trauma behind them.”

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, the Meeker County Sheriff’s Department and the Meeker County Attorney’s Office all helped in the investigation.

___