Okolona man arrested on child pornography charges

Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Ronald Underwood, 51, usually spends his Saturdays in the press box at Okolona’s youth baseball games.  However, on a recent Saturday, he was in court charged with having child pornography.  For more than 20 years, Underwood has served as treasurer for the local league.  He also volunteers keeping score and sometimes calling the games.

Now police are trying to identify the boys in the pictures they found on Underwood’s computer.  Last week, metro police asked anyone who had a child involved with the Okolona youth baseball league to call them at 574-LMPD.  So far they say they’ve received six calls from concerned parents.  Police can’t say if any of the children in the photos have been identified.  But Underwood’s arrest is raising concerns with parents about what kind of background checks are in place for the people who deal with children every day.

Okolona youth baseball members didn’t return our calls about whether or not they have conducted background checks on Underwood. But at least one person we talked to involved with the Okolona league for more than 20 years said a check was never run on him simply because he began so long ago.

However, even if a check was run on Underwood, it may not have even found anything.  Underwood is not on the sex offender registry and doesn’t have any prior arrests in Jefferson County.