A federal jury in Austin has convicted a 55-year-old Cedar Park man of producing child sexual abuse material, capping an investigation that stretched from a hotel room in Hawaii to a bedroom closet outside Austin. Scott Joseph Kopas was found guilty on three counts of production of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography following a trial in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.
The case first drew local attention when FBI agents searched Kopas's Hawaii hotel room while he was on vacation, arresting him there, according to Hawaii News Now. Trial evidence later showed that federal agents executed synchronized search warrants at that Hawaii hotel and at his Cedar Park residence, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The coordinated timing meant Kopas could not access or destroy evidence at either location before agents arrived.
Hidden Cameras and Digitally Altered Images
Federal prosecutors presented trial evidence showing Kopas produced the abuse material using hidden cameras installed in bathrooms and a bedroom at his Cedar Park home, a suburb near Austin, per the Justice Department. Investigators also found that Kopas digitally created additional child sexual abuse material depicting two minor females by editing their faces onto existing images of nude adults and children. FBI agents recovered several computers and digital storage devices containing hundreds of thousands of explicit images, according to court documents cited by the same outlet.
During the search of Kopas's bedroom closet in Cedar Park, agents found photos of three child sex dolls that trial evidence proved he had purchased from a company in China, the Justice Department reported. The items were cataloged during the execution of the search warrant at his Texas home, adding a layer of physical evidence to the digital files agents seized.
A Camera Found Years Earlier
Trial evidence also revealed that years before the federal search of his home, a minor female victim found a camera hidden in her bedroom and turned it over to local police. Kopas later admitted to installing it during an unrelated civil deposition, according to the Justice Department, meaning the admission came under oath in a civil proceeding rather than a criminal one — a detail that surfaced again once federal prosecutors built their case.
Detained Without Bond Since Last Fall
Court records show Kopas was indicted in October 2025 and arrested on October 8, 2025, then ordered detained without bond, according to CaseMine. A U.S. magistrate judge denied his March 2026 motion to reopen his detention hearing, ruling that a proposed new residence did not qualify as new material evidence warranting his release. He remained in custody through his trial, which concluded with his conviction on Wednesday.
Decades in Prison at Stake
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2251, a federal conviction for production of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison per count, with statutory maximums reaching up to 30 years or life, per the Justice Department's own sentencing guidance. Federal child pornography sentencing does not allow for parole or early release below those statutory floors. A sentencing date before a federal district judge has not yet been scheduled.
Part of a Broader Federal Push
The prosecution was brought under Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide Justice Department initiative created in May 2006 to coordinate federal, state, and local law enforcement resources against online child sexual exploitation, led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and the department's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. The multi-jurisdictional investigation required direct coordination between FBI field offices and U.S. Attorney's offices in Texas and Honolulu, allowing agents to execute search warrants in both Hawaii and Texas while Kopas was traveling.
The Western District of Texas has processed several major child sexual abuse prosecutions in 2026, including the January guilty plea of a former Austin ISD elementary school teacher on federal CSAM possession charges, who faced up to 20 years in federal prison following a state police investigation. Kopas's conviction adds to that pattern of federal enforcement activity focused on the Austin metro area, though his case stands out for the geographic reach of the investigation that ultimately brought him down while he was hundreds of miles from home.
