Former Buffalo Island Central basketball coach Brandon Ballard pled guilty to computer child pornography and was sentenced to 12 years, with seven years suspended, in Pike County Circuit Court.
According to police reports, on Dec. 6, 2018, Kirby school officials told authorities that a 15-year-old male student received inappropriate Snapchat messages from Ballard who had coached the boy in basketball camp in Kirby that summer.
The report said the boy and Ballard had been sending messages back and forth since the camp in July 2018.
“The juvenile said that the messages were normal until around the end of October or beginning of November 2018 when Ballard sent him a Snapchat message with the picture of his penis and asked him to send one back stating that he would give him $1,000 and a new pair of basketball shoes,” the report said. The juvenile said he didn’t tell anyone initially but later informed a teacher who contacted the principal and coach. BIC terminated Ballard on Feb. 6, 2019.
Ballard is a 2005 graduate of BIC, starring in basketball and baseball.
He was a former Mr. Basketball in Arkansas and was hired by BIC in 2017.