Virginia Man Sentenced To Over 19 Years’ Imprisonment For Production Of Child Pornography

HARRISBURG - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today that Hollis Lee Ball, age 45, of Virginia, was sentenced on September 24, 2018, by United States District Court Judge John E. Jones, III to 235 months’ imprisonment followed by a life term of supervised release for production of child pornography.

According to United States Attorney David J. Freed, between March 5 and 11, 2017, Ball contacted two minor children in Pennsylvania through an Ipad application known as “Musical.ly.”  Ball used his access to the minor children through Musical.ly to persuade one of the children to send him exploitative images.    

Ball was previously convicted of a sex offense and was on the sex offender registry in Virginia when he committed the offense. 

This case was investigated by the Lower Paxton Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Chelsea Schinnour prosecuted the case.

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."

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