Cherryvale man pleads guilty to child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking

Austin Ballew, 21, of Cherryvale, Kansas, pleaded guilty on December 17 to five counts of sexually exploiting a child and three counts of sex trafficking of a minor.  Ballew admitted that he used Facebook to pose as an African American teenager to communicate with minor females in southeast Kansas towns.

An investigation began when a victim’s parents contacted the Independence Police Department in Kansas. Investigators learned that Ballew, calling himself Deandre Johnson, was soliciting other minor females for sex acts and child pornography.

Ballew offered victims money and marijuana to send him sexually explicit videos of themselves. He also threatened victims that he would make their videos public unless they kept cooperating with him.

His sentencing is set for March 23. Parties in the case have agreed to ask the court for a sentence somewhere in a range of 15 years to 25 years in federal prison.

(Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Kansas)

~ Posted by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today   /   Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter