LOGAN — A 23-year-old Logan man was arrested for allegedly downloading child pornography from a popular chat app, according to law enforcement. Samuel Jeffrey Ballard was booked into the Cache County Jail Thursday, Nov. 30 after law enforcement served him a warrant and found multiple pictures and videos on his smartphone.
According to an arrest affidavit, Logan City Police officers received a cybertip on Nov. 14, describing how various child exploitation material had been detected on a popular chat program called Discord. The files depicted a 7 to 9-year-old female child being sexually abused.
Officers later tracked the user account to Ballard. They obtained a search warrant, where they located additional child porn uploaded to a Google Photos account, registered in his name.
On Thursday, police contacted Ballard and took him into custody for questioning. They also seized his cellphone, where they reportedly located additional child pornography in a hidden, password protected folder.
During questioning, Ballard admitted to owning the user accounts for the chat app and Google Photos. He suggested that he randomly received the child porn but did not search it out.
Police confronted Ballard about the material found on his smartphone and Google account. The suspect reportedly told police, “he needed help and hated himself for what he was participating in,” the probable cause statement read.
According to jail records, Ballard was booked temporarily on suspicion of 10 counts of aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor, a first-degree felony; and 10 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. Formal charges are pending the completion of officer’s investigation.
Individuals arrested and charged in complaints are presumed innocent unless or until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.