Sask. Man pleads guilty to child pornography charges in US

WASHINGTON – According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Matthew Norman Ballek, 32, of Saskatchewan, pleaded guilty Friday to a federal child pornography charge stemming from the distribution of child pornography to an undercover law enforcement officer in January 2024.

Ballek has been in custody since his arrest on February 7th. He now faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The announcement regarding the man originally from Outlook came from U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves; Acting FBI Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber ​​Division; and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

At the beginning of the year, the defendant, a World Bank employee, was offered a settlement. He remained in custody because the U.S. Attorney’s Office described Ballek as a serious flight risk because he is a Canadian citizen on a G4 work visa in the U.S. and has no family or other ties to the United States.

According to Ballek’s LinkedIn, at the time of his arrest, he had been living in Washington, D.C. for two years, working as a financial risk specialist for the World Bank. His LinkedIn also said he worked as a senior finance specialist for the Bank of Canada for five years and served as a program manager for LGBT capital markets to “develop LGBT+ talent.”

According to his social media, he is originally from Outlook, Sask.

Ballek pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of possession of child pornography. The Honorable Reggie B. Walton has scheduled a sentencing hearing for March 21, 2025.

According to the lawsuit documents, in January 2024, a member of the FBI-MPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force covertly monitored an online dating application, according to the DOJ. Law enforcement has learned that the application is sometimes used by individuals who have a sexual interest in children.

Ballek contacted the undercover agent and expressed interest in child pornography, believing he was communicating with a pedophile. Ballek later sent the undercover agent three video files via an encrypted messaging application. These video files showed adult men raping small children and prepubescent boys. Ballek was arrested on February 7 in the District of Columbia. The FBI seized and forensically examined Ballek’s phone, which contained ten unique videos and at least 21 unique still images depicting child pornography.

In addition to a prison sentence, Ballek must pay mandatory restitution of at least $3,000 to each identified victim. Statutory penalties for federal crimes are determined by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, the DOJ warned in its media release, emphasizing that any penalty will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

In addition, Ballek must register as a sex offender and face deportation proceedings and other adverse immigration consequences following a prison sentence.

According to the Department of Justice, this case is filed as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched by the Department of Justice in May 2006. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Investigation Department’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better identify individuals who exploit children over the Internet, to arrest and prosecute as well as identify and rescue victims.

This case was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office and the MPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force consists of FBI agents as well as other federal agents and detectives from Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. The task force’s mission is to investigate and bring federal charges against individuals involved in child exploitation and human trafficking.

-With files from Lisa Joy