Sex offender faces federal charge for child porn; lower court charges dismissed

DRIGGS — The registered sex offender who was accused of abusing Boy Scouts in the early 2000s is now facing federal charges for child porn.

Dennis Joe Empey, 67, was originally charged on Aug. 20 after hospital staff reported explicit images of children on Empey’s phone to authorities on Dec. 26.

He was charged felony possession and distribution of child pornography, two felony charges of child sexual battery through solicitation, and two misdemeanors for disseminating materials to minors.

These charges have been dismissed in favor of the federal charge, filed on Nov. 25, in which the 67-year-old man faces one count of advertising or promoting child pornography.

If he is found guilty, he faces five to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Empey was one of the men involved in a high-profile lawsuit in the early 2000s involving The Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus of Latter-Day Saints, where he was alleged to have sexually assaulted children in the scouting program.

RELATED | Driggs man arrested for child pornography once accused of abusing Boy Scouts

Empey is a registered sex offender, which stems from charges in Provo, Utah, in 1991, according to the Idaho Sex Offender Registry.

According to the federal court documents, on Sept. 18, 2024, he was advertising or promoting a visual depiction of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

The documents for his lower court charge state that on that date, Empey engaged in a conversation with an individual, later identified as 17 years old. In the documents, it states Empey was speaking with other minors from other countries, including one from Nigeria.

In the conversation, Empey had sent the 17-year-old a photo of himself when he was much younger and asked for the teen’s photo. After getting the photo, Empey allegedly told him he was handsome and that age was great for explicit reasons.

The documents state Empey had sent the 17-year-old an explicit video of him allegedly engaged in a lewd act when he was 17 years old and in high school. Empey allegedly asked if that “helped” the minor and referred to him as a “sweet friend.”

Empey later asked 17-year-old to send a video or photos of his naked body to help him.

The 17-year-old messaged Empey that he was at school, but once he had the data, he would send him that explicit content.

RELATED | Registered sex offender charged after hospital worker reports seeing child porn on his phone

On May 8, after hospital workers reported him to law enforcement, Empey was interviewed by detectives with the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, who asked him about the conversation he had with other 17-year-olds.

When told by the detectives that he had allegedly sent the 17-year-old pornographic materials and asked them to create their own explicit content, Empey said that was not right and was something he shouldn’t have been doing.

He had told detectives that it was the other way around — that the 17-year-old had been sending him explicit images — and that it was a standard occurrence on Telegram.

A telephone pretrial conference has been scheduled for Empey at 4 p.m. on Jan. 6 before Chief District Judge David C. Nye.

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