A Tennessee sex offender received a record-breaking sentence this week after being convicted of sexually assaulting six children over more than a dozen years.
Matthew Cody Ball received what boils down to a life sentence on Tuesday, April 14, when Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Nichols sentenced him to 438 years behind bars.
The jaw-dropping prison term comes a month after the 36-year-old was convicted of continuous sexual abuse of a child, nine counts of child rape, and various other sex crimes against six victims as young as 4.
Ball’s offenses dated back to 2011, according to investigators, who claim he raped children in Tennessee and Texas.
The sentence does not include the possibility of parole.
Otherwise, Ball’s sentence “is the longest, short of life without parole, which has been imposed in a child sexual abuse case in Sumner County history,” District Attorney Thomas Dean announced in a Facebook post.
Ball was apparently ineligible for a formal life sentence or the death penalty due to “the time frame during which his offenses were committed,” Thomas explained in the post.
Ball’s sick, vile crimes came to an end with his arrest in 2024, authorities said. Police charged Ball after a girl, who was 10, reported that he had touched her in a sexual way for years.
“During a forensic interview … the victim gave a graphic disclosure of sexual abuse carried out against her by Ball over a 6-year period, beginning when she was just 4 years old,” Thomas wrote.
Five additional victims have come forward since Ball was arrested.
Once the case was turned over to the jury, it took them only 20 minutes of deliberation before returning their guilty verdict.
During his sentencing, prosecutors presented evidence against Ball that showed two additional victims had been identified, meaning he sexually assaulted six children.
In handing down the record-setting sentence, the judge cited Ball’s long criminal history, the severity and duration of the sexual abuse, the lasting impact his crimes have had and will have on the victims, and the position of trust he held in their lives at the time of the sexual assaults, reported News Channel 5.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual violence, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
