EGG HARBOR TWP, NJ (WTXF) - An Egg Harbor Township man has been sentenced prison for distributing thousands of images and videos of child pornography via email.
Friday, a judge sentenced Thomas L. Bowen Ballard, 38, was sentenced to seven years in state prison.
Ballard will also be required to register as a sex offender under Megan's law, and will be subjected to parole supervision for life under that law.
Back on September 24 th , Ballad plead guilty to distributing more than 1,000 files of child pornography to other users.
Authorities began investigating Ballard after Homeland Security investigators investigating a foreign based website. Investigators became aware of a user, whom they later identified as Ballard, who had bragged of impregnating an 8-year-old girl, and also solicited other members of the site to trade pornographic materials containing children.
Investigators found that Ballard sent nearly 12,000 videos and images of child pornography over a two year period.
"This disturbing case illustrates the mass market for child pornography that exists in the shadows of the Internet, where deviants like Ballard trade these loathsome images and thereby motivate child predators to torture and exploit additional innocent children," said Acting Attorney General Hoffman in a statement Friday.