Valloric sentenced in case involving more than 10,000 images
Former Bellaire coach sentenced to 14-15 years
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- Former Bellaire High School teacher and track coach Shawn Valloric was sentenced to 14-15 years in prison Monday.
Valloric pleaded guilty to 52 charges involving child pornography in August.
In April, he was arraigned on 52 counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor or impaired person. The first 14 counts were second-degree felonies, while counts 15 through 52 were fourth-degree felonies.
When Valloric accepted his plea agreement in August, the state combined charges one through seven, which were second-degree felonies. Counts eight through 14 were then merged before sentencing.
Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra sentenced Valloric to a minimum of 14 years in prison with a maximum of 15 years.
Valloric also will have to register as a Tier II sex offender for the next 25 years. The registration will require Valloric to register every six months with the sheriff of the county where he lives, works or visits for the next 25 years.
In addition to the sentence, Valloric will have to pay a $7,000 fine.
Belmont County Prosecutor Kevin Flanagan said the charges against Valloric stem from his obtaining child pornography on the internet and sharing those images with other individuals across the country.
"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," Flanagan said. "We echo the judge's sentiment and believe that that aspect needs to be factored into the sentence as it was here."
On Monday, Vavra addressed Valloric before sentencing him.
He said much of the information in the case came from the presentence investigation.
"The infants, toddlers, prepubescent, and teenage children depicted sexually in the materials that you view and share, as far as the court is concerned, are all victims who suffer or may suffer physical or mental injury, and that those injuries will be worsened by their young age. Such unidentified victim was a local child. You admitted to copying her photograph from Facebook, sending that photograph to someone who likes doing what you like doing online, and then viewing the artificial intelligence-generated pornographic images of that same little girl," Vavra said.
He added that, according to Bellaire Local School District Superintendent Derrick McAfee, everyone associated with the school system has been victimized by Valloric's actions.
He said the school's staff have experienced shame, embarrassment and dismay. The students have experienced extreme episodes of sadness, confusion, mistrust and disillusionment in the entire system.
Vavra said McAfee has seen what he believes will have a broad and lasting impact on the staff, students and parents of the school district. He said the parents also have had to deal with their children coming home and trying to heal.
"As a teacher, coach, and professional, you held a position of trust in the school and the community. You were responsible for preventing harm to children rather than causing harm to children by sharing these child sexual abuse materials," Vavra said. "You admitted that you engaged in this organized activity -- a network, as it were, of people like you -- for more than 15 years, the police found multiple devices on your person in school or at your home. Also, at the athletic complex in the village of Bellaire."
He added that Bellaire police officers found four discarded flash drives containing more than 10,000 images of suspected child sexual abuse material.
Vavra said Valloric admitted to having those flash drives and attempted to discard them over the hill behind the home bleachers at Nelson Field, in hopes that the next time a flood occurred it would wash the flash drives away.
Flanagan said the reason his office asked for the sentence it did was because of the sheer volume of images possessed by Valloric.
"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 said.