Dean P. Worthington, 52, who resigned from the Police Division in October, pleaded guilty in November in Common Pleas Court to three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

The images of child pornography found on the cellphone of former Columbus police sergeant Dean Worthington were so disturbing to a Franklin County judge that they nearly swayed his sentencing decision.

"If I sentenced out of emotion, you would get a hefty prison sentence," Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott told Worthington at a Thursday hearing.

Instead, Serrott imposed 90 days in the county jail, a $5,000 fine and placed Worthington on probation for five years.

Worthington, 52, who resigned from the Columbus Division of Police in October, pleaded guilty in November to three counts of pandering sexually oriented matter involving a minor and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material.

The Franklin County prosecutor's office and the court's probation department recommended prison. But Serrott said other factors, including Worthington's genuine remorse, a low risk that he will re-offend and his struggle with alcoholism at the time of the offense, guided his sentencing decision.

However, if Worthington violates probation, the judge warned that he will go to prison for nine years, "no doubt about it."

The conviction also means Worthington must register as a sex offender every six months for 25 years.

At the time of his indictment in July, Worthington was the police division's spokesman. The 22-year veteran resigned three months later under "dishonorable status," but remains eligible for his state pension.

Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Rausch argued that prison was appropriate, saying that Worthington should be held to a higher standard because he was a law-enforcement officer and served as "the face" of the division.

"We have more than 1,800 officers representing the city of Columbus, and he's made their jobs even harder by sullying and tarnishing that badge," she said.

Rausch noted that, in federal court, possession of child pornography carries a mandatory minimum of five years in prison. "Prison happens all over the state" for these offenders, she said.

"There's a lot of probation, too," the judge replied.

"There is, your honor, absolutely," she said. "However, prison would not be disproportionate in this case."

Worthington was contrite when given an opportunity to speak in court.

"That fact that I contributed to this crime is just indefensible," he said. "I cannot believe I contributed to the victimization of those kids. And I failed a lot of people, your honor... Anything that I offer to you will sound like an excuse, and there’s absolutely no excuse for what I've done. I own it. Any label or anything that I have to be known as from here on, I own it."

He told the judge that he "was in a very, very dark place for a very long time, and I poured alcohol all over it thinking that it would just go away, and it didn’t."

Among the terms of his probation are continued counseling related to his offense and treatment for his alcoholism, random urine tests, and no access to the internet.

The judge and Rausch both said that, although Worthington didn't create any of the images he possessed, he was part of the market for child pornography that leads to children being victimized.

Local investigators received a tip in May from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a child-pornography image that had been uploaded to Tumblr, a social media site, through a blog that belonged to Worthington. In July, investigators obtained Worthington's personal cellphone, which contained the uploaded image and other images and videos depicting child pornography.

Serrott said he reviewed the images before the hearing and called them, "disturbing, upsetting… These are really little kids, a lot of the images. I just don’t understand the deviancy. But it’s an addiction, I guess, it’s a disease, and you’re working on it."

jfutty@dispatch.com

@johnfutty