Missoula man sentenced to five years in prison for receiving child pornography

MISSOULA - A Missoula man who admitted to receiving and storing thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse material from the internet was sentenced today to five years in prison, to be followed by 10 years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Bryan Michael Balog, 31, pleaded guilty in May to receipt of child pornography.

U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided. The court also ordered $39,000 restitution to 13 victims.

In court documents, the government alleged that in September 2022, Dropbox reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) that a Dropbox user had uploaded images of child sexual abuse materials to its server. The Missoula Police Department investigated and determined that the Dropbox account belonged to Balog. Images in Balog's account included children as young as babies engaged in sexually explicit conduct. A Missoula Police detective executed a search warrant at Balog's home and spoke with Balog, who admitted he had been "saving" images and videos of child pornography from the internet since 2011. Electronic devices seized from Balog's home contained thousands of images and videos of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct.

The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecuted the case. The Missoula Police Department, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and FBI conducted the investigation.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys' Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

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