FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) — A former Fayetteville teacher was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Friday (June 24) for online enticement of a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.
Evan Ballowe, 25, was also sentenced to 15 years supervised released, according to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.
Ballowe had taught 6th grade Intro to Business Communication and Technology at Owl Creek School in Fayetteville and had been at the school for three years.
A complaint filed with the U.S. District Court Nov. 16 stated Ballowe had propositioned a 13-year-old male student for sex.
In October the student in the Fayetteville School District alerted a school resource officer of inappropriate online behavior, according to the complaint. A computer tablet the student turned over to police shows that two days prior the victim was contacted on an app called Kik by a user who went by the profile name “Southern Guy,” the complaint states. Kik is a type of messaging app.
The user “Southern Guy” began the conversation by asking the student how old he was, according to the complaint. “Southern Guy” then told the victim he was 15-years-old and began encouraging him to have sex with a man, the complaint states. The conversation included sexually explicit material that included “Southern Guy” sending the victim a photo of his exposed genitalia, according to the complaint. “Southern Guy” also asked the student for nude photos, the complaint states.
“Southern Guy” told the victim he has a driving permit and could drive to Fayetteville if the victim could sneak out of the house when his parents are asleep to meet him for sex, according to the complaint. At that point the victim ended the conversation saying his parents monitor his Kik chats and “Southern Guy” told the student to delete their chat so his parents don’t see it, the complaint states.
Using information obtained from Kik and an IP address obtained from Cox Communications, investigators tracked down the user “Southern Guy” to a Fayetteville apartment where Ballowe was living, according to the complaint.
On Nov. 10, police were notified that “Southern Guy” was once again tried to contact the 13-year-old student via the Kik app, the complaint states. The following day, investigators executed a search warrant on Ballowe’s apartment, according to the complaint.
Ballowe admitted to being “Southern Guy” and to engaging in sexually explicit conversation with a 13-year-old male, as well as sending him sexual images and asking for sexual images from the minor in return, the complaint states.
Ballowe was indicted by a federal grand jury in December and pleaded guilty in February.
