NEWS

Former teacher gets 10 years in prison in porn case

The Associated Press

BILLINGS (AP) — A former Livingston and Billings West teacher and coach has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for using aliases on social networking sites to get underage girls to send sexually explicit pictures of themselves to his cellphone.

The Billings Gazette reports U.S. District Judge Susan Watters agreed Wednesday with a defense recommendation that Scott James Nichols be sentenced to 10 years in prison, about half the low end of the federal sentencing guidelines. Nichols pleaded guilty to two counts of coercion and enticement, two counts of attempted coercion and one count of child pornography distribution.

Watters also ordered 15 years of supervised release and required Nichols to register as a sex offender.

Investigators say they found hundreds of videos and images of child pornography on computers in Nichols’ office at West High.