Carthage businessman sentenced to 10 years on child porn charge

(From the U. S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri)

A Carthage man was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Jerry Batchelor, 52, from Carthage, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to 10 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Batchelor to supervised release for the rest of his life following incarceration.

On Jan. 11, 2016, Batchelor pleaded guilty to receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet. Batchelor utilized a peer-to-peer file-sharing network to obtain and trade images and videos of child pornography between Aug. 10, 2012, and April 4, 2014.

A search warrant was executed at Batchelor’s residence, on Howard Street in Carthage, on April 7, 2014. A desktop computer was seized, along with three portable hard drives, a thumb drive and an SD card. Images and videos of child pornography included prepubescent minors as young as approximately two years of age, and sado-masochistic images. Investigators also found videos taken by Batchelor, who secretly videotaped adults in the bathroom in his residence.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney James J. Kelleher. It was investigated by Jasper County Sheriff’s Detective Tim Williams, who was assigned to the Southwest Missouri Cybercrimes Task Force, and the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crimes Task Force.

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The original filing of charges against Batchelor, the former owner of Benchwarmers Neighborhood Restaurant and Sports Pub in Oronogo, was posted on the April 6, 2015 Turner Report:

The owner of a now-closed Oronogo, Mo., restaurant has been indicted by a federal grand jury for receiving and distributing child pornography over the Internet.

Jerry Batchelor, 51, of Carthage, Mo., was charged in an indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo., on April 1, 2015. That indictment was unsealed and made public today upon Batchelor’s arrest and initial court appearance.

Batchelor was the owner of Benchwarmer’s Neighborhood Restaurant and Sports Pub in Oronogo. The federal indictment alleges that Batchelor received and distributed child pornography over the Internet between Aug. 10, 2012, and April 4, 2014.