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Ex-coach gets 7 1/2 years in prison for child porn
YOUNGSTOWN
A former Austintown Middle School girls basketball coach has been sentenced to 71/2 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor and five counts of pandering sexually oriented material involving a minor.
Rex A. Bosley, 60, of Rita Avenue, Austintown, drew the sentence Wednesday from Judge Shirley J. Christian of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Each count is a felony for which the maximum penalty is 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.
The judge sentenced Bosley to 15-consecutive six-month prison terms, one for each count, but imposed no fine.
“Consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime and to punish the offender,” Judge Christian said.
In the plea deal, the prosecution dropped 35 additional counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and recommended a 10-year prison term.
Bosley, who has no prior criminal record, was charged with having the pornography Aug. 12, 2015, the day a police officer searched his home and seized a computer after Bosley consented to a search.
Bosley was hired by the Austintown school district in November 2014 to coach the seventh-grade girls basketball team. He was not otherwise employed by the district, which fired him Aug. 18, 2015.
Officials said none of the pornographic images police found involved students on the team or in the school district.
“I’m truly a changed man,” an apologetic Bosley told the judge, adding he has undergone mental-health and spiritual counseling since he was charged.
“It’s hard living with shame and knowing I hurt and let so many people down,” he said, adding he worked at General Motors Lordstown for 32 years after serving in the Air Force.
Bosley’s lawyer, Damian Billak, said Bosley does not present a risk of re-offending and asked that Bosley be put on probation because, he said, Bosley’s needs for his life-threatening heart ailment cannot adequately be met in prison.
Young children were abused to produce the child pornography, Judge Christian said of the preteen victims.
“If there was no demand for people doing this, there would be no supply of people abusing children to get these videos,” she added.
“These are horrifying. They’re graphic. They’re rape of little kids,” Jennifer McLaughlin, an assistant county prosecutor, told the judge, who viewed some of the images.
Bosley will be on probation for five years after he leaves prison. He must register in person as a sex offender with the sheriff twice a year for 25 years.
The judge received more than 40 letters of support for Bosley from his pastor, family, friends and co-workers.