In Tennessee, a man was sentenced to an unprecedented 438 years in prison on Tuesday for a series of sexual offenses against six children over a 13-year period. Matthew Cody Ball, 36, was found guilty in March of ongoing sexual abuse of a minor, nine counts of child rape, among other charges, involving victims as young as 4 years old.
Ball faced trial in Sumner County, TN, where prosecutors detailed his criminal activities, which began as early as 2011 and involved assaults on children in both Tennessee and Texas.
The sentence, handed down without the chance of parole, is the longest ever imposed in a child sexual abuse case in Sumner County, just short of a life sentence without parole, according to District Attorney Thomas Dean on Facebook. Ball could not receive a formal life sentence or the death penalty due to the time frame of his crimes, Dean noted. His victims will have to accept nearly 500 years as justice.
Ball was arrested in 2024 after a 10-year-old girl reported inappropriate contact. During a forensic interview, the girl provided a detailed account of the abuse she suffered from Ball over six years, starting at age four, Dean explained. Following the arrest, five more victims came forward. The jury reached a guilty verdict after just 20 minutes of deliberation, as reported by WSMV.
