Boise man sentenced to 19 years for distributing child pornography
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI) – 47-year-old Judd Evans Ballard of Boise was sentenced to 235 months in federal prison for distribution of child pornography by Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye.
According to court records, the investigation began after Yahoo reported that child pornography had been uploaded to two Yahoo accounts. The report was assigned to the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children (“ICAC”) Task Force for investigation. ICAC determined that the accounts belonged to Evans. ICAC obtained search warrants for the accounts and located several files of child pornography.
A federal magistrate judge subsequently issued a search warrant for Ballard’s residence in Boise. During the execution of the search warrant, ICAC located a cellphone belonging to Ballard. A forensic examination of the cellphone revealed over 1,000 images and videos of child pornography. ICAC also located evidence that Ballard had used a social media application to trade child pornography files with another individual. Ballard has previous sexual offense convictions.
Chief Judge Nye also ordered Ballard to serve a lifetime term of supervised release following his prison sentence and to pay $9,000 in restitution to victims in the images he possessed. Judge Nye also ordered Ballard to forfeit the cellphone that was used to commit the offense. As a result of the conviction, Ballard will be required to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the cooperative efforts of the ICAC, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Ada County Sheriff’s Office, Boise Police Department, Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office, and Idaho Department of Corrections Probation and Parole which led to charges.
