KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A former teacher and assistant football coach at Heritage High School will spend 15 years in prison on a child sex charge.
John D. Morrow, 51, was sentenced Monday afternoon by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Varlan in Knoxville.
After getting out of prison, Morrow faces another 12 years on supervised release.
Government lawyers and the defense proposed the 180-month sentence in a plea agreement, and Varlan said he supported the term.
Morrow pleaded guilty as charged to attempted production of child pornography. The government dropped two other counts against him -- attempted enticement of a minor and attempted transfer of obscene material to a minor.
Morrow had worked about a year at Heritage High, in Blount County's system, at the time of his crime. He was charged in 2021.
He was ensnared in a law enforcement sting and thought he was communicating on the social media platform Kik with a 12-year-old girl who was instead a federal agent, records show.
During his online correspondence with the person he thought was 12, he asked in a message if she had had intercourse "yet". He asked for a nude photo. He sent the undercover FBI agent a shirtless photo of himself.
"To encourage the photo from Malifocent123 he sent a nude frontal picture of himself captioned: “u wanna ----- on this one?” the government's sentencing memo states.
According to federal prosecutors, his communication took place during school hours.
Throughout the messages, authorities said Morrow sent pornographic material and while talking over Kik, he indicated that he had had sexual relationships with students in the past. He may have been bragging to try to win over his online contact, authorities suggested.
Morrow, a U.S. Air Force veteran, addressed Varlan on Monday. The judge noted he had no previous criminal history and was a recovering alcoholic.
