Mountain Home News: Local News: Mecham gets 20 years for child porn (11/30/09)

Lorrie Elmer Mecham, 69, of Mountain Home, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court to 20 years in prison, followed by ten years of supervised release, for receiving and possessing sexually explicit images of minors, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Mecham was convicted by a federal jury in June after a four-day trial.

The investigation began in August 2007 when Mecham's wife became suspicious that he was using his computer to obtain child pornography from the Internet. After finding a cooler filled with hundreds of floppy discs and CDs hidden in the crawl space of their home, she contacted Mountain Home Police, who found sexually explicit images of children on one of the discs.

According to court documents, the FBI investigation showed that Mecham had a long history of child sexual exploitation, including a conviction for child molestation in Georgia in 1987, in which he admitted molesting two girls, ages seven and nine.

In imposing a 20-year sentence, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge noted that Mecham possessed more than 12,000 child pornography images, some of which depicted very young girls being sadistically abused.

Lodge also commented on Mecham's pattern of activity molesting young girls, some of whom were in the courtroom to hear the sentence. "You sentenced those victims to a lifetime of hurt, humiliation, sordid memories and fears... Your motive was nothing more than lust and greed," said Lodge.

For more details see this Wednesday's Mountain Home News.

Look at that picture of him... it really says alot.. he can't look straight at the camera, he looks off to the side....

-- Posted by workingbee on Wed, Dec 2, 2009, at 9:55 PM

Now that this piece of human filth has met justice, lets all take a moment to say a prayer for the BRAVE lady that put an end to his depravity, that she may be healed after this event. We love you Joan.

-- Posted by Godfrey on Wed, Dec 2, 2009, at 4:26 PM

Child molestation & child murder should be automatic death. The convicted should be taken to a designated area & anyone in the community that has been charged with child abuse or neglect should be made to sit on the front row & witness the execution as a reminder of what they will face if their actions continue

-- Posted by vark on Wed, Dec 2, 2009, at 12:01 PM

He should have been shot. (They'll erase this one too).

-- Posted by bazookaman on Wed, Dec 2, 2009, at 5:29 AM

My thoughts and prayers are with his very brave wife and the victims of his abuse. God bless you all.

-- Posted by outtathere on Mon, Nov 30, 2009, at 8:00 PM

May this person, using this term loosely, never see the outside world except for through a security fence.

My hat off to the fine lady that turned him in and did not attempt to overlook the terrible acts he committed.

-- Posted by Old guy on Mon, Nov 30, 2009, at 7:45 PM

Thank god his wife had enough courage to turn him in. What a sick human being. Thank God he is in prison now. May God bless his victims and grant them some peace and heal them.

-- Posted by airforcewive on Mon, Nov 30, 2009, at 2:43 PM