The former head baseball coach at a Birmingham’s George W. Carver High School has been sentenced to federal prison for sending obscene material to a minor.

U.S. District Judge Madeline H. Haikala sentenced Richard Pope, 57, to 54 months – 4 ½ years – in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

As a condition of his release, according to U.S. Attorney Prim Escalona and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge Felix Rivera-Esparra, Pope must now register as a sex offender.

The sentence followed Pope’s guilty plea to three counts of transmission of obscene material to a minor.

Pope was initially arrested on state charges in September 2020. He has since been indicted on the state charges, but no trial date has been set.

According to the federal plea agreement, Pope was a graphics art teacher and baseball coach at G.W. Carver High School. In March 2020, Pope messaged a minor on Facebook.

During the chats, authorities said, Pope engaged the minor in sexually explicit conversations and sent the minor obscene images.

At the time of his arrest, Pope was in his seventh year at the high school. He taught Introduction to Television Production, Television Production, Photography/Editing and Studio Operations. He was also the head coach for the Rams’ baseball team.

Pope’s biography said he previously worked as an anchor/reporter at a Birmingham television station and said he was the video director and summer camp director at Sixth Avenue Baptist Church.

“This sentence sends a strong message that those who abuse their positions of trust with our children will be prosecuted and punished,” Escalona said. “My office, along with our law enforcement partners, will work to ensure that our schools are always safe for our children.”

FBI Birmingham’s Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force investigated the case along with the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. Assistant U.S. Attorneys John M. Hundscheid and R. Leann White prosecuted the case.

“Pope betrayed the trust granted to him in his position as a teacher and now will pay the consequences for his actions,” Rivera said. “The public can rest assured that the FBI will always be vigilant in pursuing those who choose to prey on our most vulnerable, especially our children.”