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| Robert Verch has been charged with furnishing porn to minors (courtesy Republic Monitor) |
A member of the Billings school board has been charged with five counts of furnishing child pornography to minors.
Prosecutors in Christian County filed the misdemeanor charges today (04-11-12) against, Robert "Rob"Verch, 43, according to chief assistant prosecutor Chris Lebeck.
According to the probable cause statement, authorities were called to Billings High School on February 7, 2012, after an adult informed them that Verch had sent him pornographic images to his cell phone. The man told investigator's that Verch had also included juvenile students in the mass message.
The images that Verch allegedly sent from his cell phone on February 6th were of bare breasted women and other pictures showing full frontal nudity.
"During questioning he (Verch) stated that he had forwarded MMS (multi media messages) that he received to groups of people that included five students at Billings High School." Four of the five students were minors, according to court records.
Verch was elected to the school board in April of 2006 and won re-election to his seat earlier this month.
Cynthia Brandt, superintendent of the Billings School District said, "There is nothing in Misouri law that constitutes removal of a board member due to misdemeanor charges being filed against someone. The school district needs to see how the charges are resolved before I can comment."
Verch is scheduled to appear in court on May 22nd.
14 comments:
This comment is in regards to Rob Verch in Billings....I Know Rob. I have received some of these text messages. Yes I agree they should not have been sent to students especially minors. But these were forwarded mms to him from others. He should have used better judgement in who received these, but his intentions were not to be devious and provide minors with porn or to exploit minors. I know that he would not have done this with the intention to hurt others. He obviously used poor judgement and should have thought where these could have ended up. Sorry that this has effected people as it has. He is a good person and has a wonderful family. The Rob I know took something meant as a joke went way to far and became bigger than he imagined. Criminal I don't believe so. Stupid....yes
So he showed bare breasted pics to some high school students? Big deal, kids in elementary school who watch any type of television these days have seen the same thing and most likely had their parents sitting on the couch next to them. Let's not go out and crucify this guy in the media and make it sound worse than it is.
It was a bad choice...nothing more, nothing less. He will likely end up with a suspended sentence and probation if he gets a good attorney.
If his judgement is this bad what kind of bad judgement calls does he make on the board.
He made a minor mistake , big deal people.......grow up already
What happened to zero tolerance? This school picks and chooses who the rules apply to. He made a bad decision but he should be held accountable. If this act had been perpetrated by someone else, someone not in the "group", the charges and community outrage would have been much more serious. Sending pornography to minors, especially when the connection is school based, should bring a harsher punishment. The school board's inaction is deplorable, but consistent with past behavior.
He gets what he desereves.I know Rob,too and even if it was a joke or misjudgement why would anyone want someone who gets these kind of degrading messages on the school board?None the less someone who "accidentally" forwards them to students.Bravo,Verch.
No one is perfect, we all make mistakes. Rob Verch is a family man, active in his community, and takes great pride in each. Living the, 'middle-class' dream. Yet, I often felt he carried himself as though he was 'better' than most, in this small town. I would expect better from someone that presented himself like that. I bet this has been a humbling experience foe him and his family. I would have more respect for him, if he would step down.
This whole thing is a huge load of CRAP. Just because he was on the school board doesn't mean he is a stand up member of the community. On top of his horrible judgement with pornographic materials, his brother is a womanizer from what I hear recently. They are a "what lies beneath" family and no amount of people vouching for Rob's character will fool a judge. Where's the support for Jamie?! He's a great guy who was watching out for kids more than Rob was.
Well said.^
Obviously someone on our communities school board should have more integrity and have better things to do than look at porn and accidentally send it to minors. I talk to people in this community everyday that proclaim their last name like they are royalty and I think peoples ego in this town is a big load of crap. Step down from the school board rob you will be forgiven for this but we'd highly prefer not to have you representing kids in billings.
Agrees. ^
Rob was easily overlooked in school. I always thought that had something to do with how he portrays his life now. Some buy into it, but most of us either laugh or ignore it. He's an alright person dealing with his short-comings I reckon. There's a few of them like that here. I imagine that's miserable.
I only know some of the Verch family, and I am happy that I do know them. They are good people. This town is full of gossipers and jealous people.
The gossip I heard was this whole mess started with someone who's kid wasn't getting enough playtime on the bb team. The text's were funny too him, until things didn't go his way.
The Verch children are respectful, well rounded good Christian kids, who are being raised right.
They are making good choices in raising thier own children, and I trust them to help make the right decisions for the kids in this school.
If given the chance I would vote for Rob again.
Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
I do not know this gentleman, but If it went to trial and I was on the jury...NOT GUILTY!!! The unclothed human body is neither offensive nor pornographic. Charging this man with this crime makes about as much sense as ...you might as well charge a woman with sexual assault for breast feeding her child. He sent a picture of a boob to some young men in high school. I don't know the ages of the recipients of the photos, but in Missouri, you are an adult at 17 not 18. The law protects people against child abuse to the age of 18. My father was a Springfield Police Officer for 30 years until his death a few years ago. He bought my brother and I a subscription to Playboy I was about 10 my brother 12 years old. No one I know would even consider that odd. Now that I think about that, he probably did that so we wouldn't go steal them from some store. Well we went and stole Hustler and Penthouse. Life goes on. Boys like girls. A man can marry a man now in alot of states and that's no problem. Send a picture of a womans bare breast to a young man and the state will lock you in a cage with murderer's and rapists, child molesters. Christian County prosecuter and Sheriff's investigators need to stop worshiping the devil stop laying man with man. It's not okay. The people of this state don't believe there is anything sick or perverted with a male being interested in a female. That is the way it's supposed to be. Homosexual idiots. And don't even realize it. Live up to your County's name for God's sake. Homosexual sex education will be next.
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