Webb City Man Indicted for Transporting a Minor for Illicit Sex

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Webb City, Mo., man was indicted by a federal grand jury today for transporting a minor across state lines for illicit sex.

Ricky Raymond Ball, 49, of Webb City, was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Springfield, Mo.

Today’s indictment alleges that Ball transported a minor under the age of 17, identified as “Jane Doe,” across state lines for the purpose of engaging in illicit sexual activity.

Dickinson cautioned that the charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ami Harshad Miller. It was investigated by the FBI, the Southwest Missouri Cyber Crime Task Force, the Webb City, Mo., Police Department and the Kansas Highway Patrol.

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."