Today, Judge Vavra imposed a prison sentence of 14-15 years on Shawn Valloric, a former high school teacher and coach, for possessing and sharing child pornography, according to Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan.
Flanagan said that the investigation began with a tip from the Internet Crimes Against Children. The Belmont County Sheriff’s Office, working in conjunction with the Bellaire Police Department, not only executed a search warrant on Mr. Valloric’s property but went to his place of work to interview him, according to Flanagan. It was during this interview that they received a full confession.
Flanagan said the sheriff’s department did an incredible amount of work tying the possession and sharing of child pornography to Mr. Valloric. When our deputies went to talk with him, we believe Mr. Valloric knew that his activities were now known to law enforcement, and that he would soon be exposed, according to Flanagan.
Flanagan noted that the charges against Valloric stem from getting child pornography on the internet but additionally sharing those images with other individuals across the country. Flanagan said that none of the images originated from this county or anywhere close to here but that his office views each of the children in these photos and videos as victims, regardless of where they are from. “Judge Vavra has said in previous cases that these are not victimless crimes. In order to have these images, a child, somewhere, had to have been sexually abused. We echo the judge’s sentiment and believe that that aspect needs to be factored into the sentence as it was here,” said the prosecutor.
Flanagan also added that the thorough investigation did not yield any evidence of a sexual relationship or abuse involving students during Mr. Valloric’s tenure as a coach or teacher. Our officers were very vigilant on this issue, said Flanagan.
Flanagan said that the reason that his office asked for the sentence that they did was because of the sheer volume of images possessed by Mr. Valloric. Flanagan added, “Every child porn case is disturbing, and we are seeing more of them especially given the aggressive and more sophisticated nature of the investigations. With this case, though, our officers uncovered more images and video than any other case ever handled in Belmont County. That was one of the reasons why we asked the Court to impose such a high sentence.
Flanagan ended by saying that assistant Prosecutor Josh Norman worked closely with Det. Steve Stan and Det. Jordan Blumling of the Sheriff’s Office in order to get the conviction in this matter. “They understood the magnitude of the case and what was at stake. They deserve to be commended for their efforts,” according to Flanagan.
