[May 23, 2012] Former Walmart security officer sent to prison on child-porn charge Tweet May 23, 2012 (The Columbus Dispatch - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A man caught videotaping a 9-year-old boy in a Walmart restroom was sentenced today to nine years in federal prison for receiving child pornography. U.S. District Judge Peter C. Eonomus also ordered Okey Belcher, 29, to spend 25 years on supervised release after he completes his prison term. Grove City police arrested Belcher on Dec. 5 after a boy told his father that someone had videotaped him with a cellphone in the store restroom at 1693 Stringtown Rd., Grove City. The boy and his parents were at the court hearing but did not make a statement. Investigators from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement searched Belcher's home and found 700 images and 100 videos of child pornography on his computer and iPod Touch. The images included prepubescent boys and girls as well as sadistic, masochistic or violent conduct, which increases the severity of the offense under federal law. Belcher, of Hibernia Drive on the East Side, told investigators that he had tried several times to record boys in Walmart restrooms. He was an undercover security officer at the Grove City Walmart. He pleaded guilty in February after signing a plea agreement with prosecutors. The charge carries a minimum prison sentence of five years. Belcher's attorney, public defender Steven S. Nolder, had asked the judge for a seven-year prison sentence and 10 years of probation. The government had recommended a sentence of 17 to 22 years in prison. According to Belcher's sentencing memorandum, he has "an innate fear of rejection" stemming from a childhood spent with an alcoholic father who threatened to kill Belcher's mother and with a mentally handicapped half-brother who sapped his mother's attention. By high school, Belcher weighed more than 400 pounds and turned to the Internet and child pornography to escape his problems, the memorandum says. After Belcher was caught at Walmart, he realized he could get help for his problems, which include drug abuse. "Having had months to reflect about this case, Okey is thankful that he was caught," according to the memorandum, written by Nolder. ___ (c)2012 The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) Visit The Columbus Dispatch (Columbus, Ohio) at www.dispatch.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]