Jefferson City Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Sexual Exploitation of a Child

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – A Jefferson City, man has been sentenced in federal court for the sexual exploitation of a child.

Wilbert Ballard, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, to 15 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Ballard to 15 years of supervised release following incarceration. Ballard will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison and will be subject to federal and state sex offender registration requirements, which may apply throughout his life.

On December 3, 2024, Ballard pleaded guilty to producing child pornography.

The investigation began on June 11, 2023, when Jefferson City Police Officers were contacted by an individual who had found video evidence of the defendant engaging in sexually explicit conduct with a six-year-old child.  Officers performed an extraction on Mr. Ballard’s cellular phone and located the video described by the witness.  Based upon the video, the child may have been asleep while the act was being done and the video created.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Turner. It was investigated by Jefferson City Police Department.

Project Safe Childhood

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc . For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab "resources."