Download: RSS | Email Alerts | Podcasts | Mobile
FOX16 Poll
What's on Now
1:00PM Tigerland
Colin Farrell gives a star-making performance in this gritty and powerful Vietnam War drama. He plays a rebellious private who is among the raw recruits going through brutal training at a simulated battlefield---the last stop before the real war.
What's on Tonight
6:00PM American Idol Rewind
7:00PM Cops
7:30PM Cops
8:00PM America's Most Wanted
9:00PM Fox 16 News at 9
10:00PM Wanda Sykes Show
Follow FOX16 on Twitter

Local Radio Traffic Reporter Arrested for Internet Stalking

Reported by: David Goins
Email: dgoins@fox16.com
Last Update: 12/21/2007 9:32 am
Print Story |
Set Text Size SmallSet Text Size MediumSet Text Size LargeSet Text Size X-Large
Play Video
All Video
An internet sex sting catches a Little Rock radio personality trying to arrange a meeting with someone he thought was only 14.  Charles Ballard, 27, goes by the name “Deputy Dave” on KARN radio and is in the White County jail facing multiple felony charges.  Ballard also brought his six month old daughter with him.

Co-workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, tell FOX16 News Ballard was quiet and nice.  He’s now the latest arrest for White County's undercover sex sting squad.

According to detectives, Ballard, 27, came from Little Rock to Searcy for sex with a 14-year old girl.  Instead, chief deputy Jeremy Clark says he met up with police at a still secret, pre-arranged location.  

"Our detectives moved in on him while he was still sitting in his vehicle and he fled," Clark says.

Clark was there.  He says Ballard took off and then stopped.  That's when Clark and another detective caught up to the car.

"I walked up and looked down at what he was looking at and there's just a precious little baby girl and my heart just sunk of the possibilities of what could have happened," Clark says. 

Ballard faces six felonies including internet stalking of a child and sexual indecency with a minor.  Clark says internet sex cases and strategies to catch predators evolve each day.  It’s not just online chatting anymore.  Agencies are also making use of peer networking sites like MySpace and even text messaging, which played a big role in last night's arrest.

"Actually our detective that was working this case had his cell phone number and was able to call him and say 'you need to pull over, you're just making this worse', and actually just talked him into pulling over," Clark says.

After the latest arrest, Clark says he can't predict who's a potential predator.

"We're catching five in three months.  I think that's great but what are we not catching," Clark says.

The 6-month old girl is in DHS custody.  Her mother came to pick her up, but was arrested as well on unrelated charges.

Copyright 2007 Clear Channel Broadcasting. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Add a Comment
Add Video Comment
(0) Comments
Save/Share Story
diggreddit
newsvineGoogle
del.icio.usYahoo!


The links below are paid advertisements. FOX16 is not responsible for their content.

Most Popular

You could be reading this on your iPhone or Google Android phone. Click to learn more.

  This site is hosted and managed by Inergize Digital.