Irish children’s magician pleads guilty in US court to taking child-abuse images
Scott Jameson (46) was arrested after returning from a trip to Cambodia.
Scott Jameson. Photo: CBS Boston
An Irish citizen has who worked as a kid’s magician for more than 20 years in the US has pleaded guilty to possessing images of child sex abuse.
Scott Jameson (46) was arrested by FBI agents in 2022 after he arrived in Boston’s Logan Airport as he arrived on a flight from Asia.
US officials had stopped Jameson after receiving a tip off by Action Pour Les Enfants (APLE), an organization that works to prevent child sexual abuse, that Jameson may be abusing underage children in Cambodia.
Investigators discovered a video of a boy, between 5 and 7 years old, which they believe was made in Cambodia in his possession after his belongings were searched.
More than 100 child abuse images, including one of a boy between 8 and 10 naked from below the waist, were also discovered according to the US Attorney’s Office.
After he was arrested, Jameson admitted to making the video and transferring it to a hard drive.
Jameson was charged with one count of illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place and one count of transportation of child pornography.
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Jameson is a dual citizen of the United States and Ireland, and had travelled from Boston to Cambodia in August 2022.
Jameson regularly performed as a magician for libraries and at family events across the US state of New England, working with children from kindergarten age to eighth grade.
He will be sentenced on March 7, 2024.
The charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison, up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
The child pornography charge, meanwhile, carries a prison sentence of five to 20 years, up to a lifetime of supervised release, and a fine of up to $250,000.
