East Texas

By CASEY KNAUPP
Staff Writer

A longtime Rusk High School teacher was sentenced Tuesday to more than six years in prison for possessing child pornography.

Harold "Bo" Earl Scallon Jr., 60, of Jacksonville, pleaded guilty April 8, admitted to possessing 196 images involving the sexual exploitation of minors. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider and must register as a sex offender.

Appearing in a red and white striped Gregg County Jail suit, the defendant asked the judge to sentence him below the 78-97 month sentencing range and place him on supervised release. He asked the judge to consider his public service as a teacher for 29 years.

But, Schneider found that the lower sentence was not warranted and sentenced him to 78 months, or six and a half years in prison.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baldwin said he believed the 78-month sentence recommended by the probation office was very fair and sufficient in the case. He said under all of the circumstances, if Scallon was released now, he may very well put people at risk.

Scallon also asked the court to consider that elderly men are not repeat offenders, and he asked the court to return him to face “those who have questions about my conduct.”

“I hurt my wife, my children and my community,” he said, adding that they had questions he needed to answer.

During the lengthy hearing, the judge brought up 18 objections Scallon filed, without his attorney, to the pre-sentence investigation report conducted by probation officers. He said the number of objections was almost unheard of and that several of them were frivolous.

The judge advised Scallon that he believed it was unwise to proceed with sentencing without an attorney, as he had done in filing his objections, and after discussion, Scallon said he wanted to keep his hired attorney Keith Brown.
Brown said he discussed the objections with his client but he did not file them because he felt they were not relevant to his sentence. He said Scallon filed the objections later without his knowledge and said it would be an understatement to say he had disagreements with his client.

One of the judge’s and attorney’s main concerns was Scallon claiming he did not file a waiver of a detention hearing, which determines whether he will remain jailed or be released on bond pending trial, in March. The judge explained to Scallon that if he lied, he would be prosecuted for perjury but after looking at the document waiving the hearing, Scallon said it was his signature even though he had no recollection of it.

Also brought up in one of his objections was the fact that Scallon, through a chat log, expressed interest in boys ages 8 to 10. Baldwin said the information was taken from his computer and was part of the background of the case.

Brown said his client showed a great deal of remorse and had substantial family support. He has no criminal history and has 29 years of public school service, he said, adding that he believed Scallon fell prey to what brought him to court. He said his client was very educated and intelligent and was angry at himself for placing himself and his family in this situation.

Schneider said he received several letters on Scallon’s behalf from his family, including the defendant’s son and daughter, as well as students and friends.
Scallon was ordered to serve five years of supervised release after prison, to have no unsupervised contact with children and to possess no electronic devices with Internet or photographing capabilities.

Scallon admitted that on Oct. 29, he knowingly possessed the pornographic pictures he had retrieved from the Internet and stored on his computer. The computer was seized from his Jacksonville home by law enforcement officers executing a search warrant.

Scallon was indicted March 4 for possession and distribution of material involving the sexual exploitation of minors. On Aug. 29, Scallon distributed computer files containing child pornography and possessed a personal computer with a hard disk containing the sexually explicit material, the indictment states.

The distribution charge was dismissed because of his plea agreement.

The government seized a laptop, two hard drives and a thumb drive.

Scallon has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, both in English.

According to school records, Scallon attended Rusk High School, where he later taught junior high and high school students beginning in 1979, according to school records.

He was certified to teach theater arts, English, history and driver’s education and, when hired nearly 30 years ago, was also qualified to drive a bus.

In 1979, Scallon taught junior high students and, in 1985, he began teaching high school.

Scallon submitted a letter stating his intention to retire from Rusk ISD at the end of May 2002, but apparently continued to teach with one-year contracts, the last signed in April 2007, according to school records.

Harold Earl Scallon
(Courtesy Gregg County Sheriff)